‘25 Years of Arab Creativity’ show begins today

A major traveling exhibition in collaboration with the Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabe will kick off in Riyadh today in Naila Art Gallery in Takhasussi Road, celebrating 25 years of Arab creativity.
Announcing the inauguration of the show at a press conference held in Riyadh yesterday, Mona Khazindar, executive director of the Arab World Institute told newsmen here that the month-long event will be held under the patronage of Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, minister of Culture and Information, and Jack Lang, president of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.
She said the show would promote cultural exchange and enrichment between France and the Kingdom. The show comprises the work of 40 contemporary artists from different countries, cultures, generations and even artistic practices from artists of Arab origin.
“Created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabe, the exhibition showcases major contemporary artworks from Arab artists and gives an informative perspective on the development of visual arts in the Arab world. These contemporary Arab artists experience life as it is today and express it with the various media outlets of their time,” she said.
Curated by Ehab El Labban, the Egyptian artist, critic and gallerist, the carefully selected collection of innovative work by artists of Arab origin aims, in El Labban’s words, “To paint a precise picture of the distinguishing traits of an Arab artist.”
El Labban had worked on the collection for a year, selecting the artists and their works and gathering them in what he calls a “visual adventure.”
In an essay written to introduce the exhibition, El Labban, who twice headed the Cairo International Biennale, addresses the difficulties of presenting the panorama of Arab contemporary art given its often opposing sensibilities. In it he also writes that he intends the show to have an “educational value and serve as a reference for researchers and historians in the years to come.”
The exhibition was first conceived and presented by the Insitut du Monde Arabe in October 2012 in Paris, France. Ever since, it has traveled to Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
Commissioned by the former President Francois Mitterrand, designed by the distinguished architect Jean Nouvel and completed in 1987, the Institut du Monde Arabe is situated on the banks of the Seine and attracts more than one million visitors a year.
Layla Fahim, manager of the Naila Art Gallery, said her organization is proud to host the exhibition in Riyadh for a period of one month from today until Jun. 7.
The exhibition’s opening hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday through Thursday and 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays.
Naila Art Gallery is a private initiative that exposes and represents both emerging and established local and international artists by providing them with a platform for exhibitions that lead to discovery, knowledge and appreciation of the arts.