Ministry of Culture and Youth and the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi announce UAEs participation at 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art
The Ministry of Culture and Youth has announced the participation of three artists at the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, which will run from September 14 December 31, 2022. The ministry is collaborating with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi to support the UAE artists participation in the exhibition, which is being held under the theme Manifesto of Fragility.
Multi-disciplinary artist Hashel Al Lamki, conceptual artist Mohammed Kazem and mural artist Chafa Ghaddar represent the UAE at the biennale and showcase their interpretations of fragility and the impermanence of the world around them.
Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, the 16th Lyon Biennale brings together artworks spanning historical, geographical and socio-political spheres. The exhibition, according to the curators, represents varied understandings of our current state of global uncertainty.
Her Excellency Noura Bint Mohammed al-Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth, said: Its a wonderful opportunity for the UAE to showcase its talent at such a prestigious platform. We have immense respect for the Lyon Biennale, which is marking its 16th edition this year. The UAE is making its presence felt at global art events and this is one of its significant participations.
The UAE artists exhibiting at this event are known names in the contemporary art world and they will be presenting distinctive works enriched by Middle Eastern and Arab influences. I look forward to seeing their participation in the biennale, wish them a very successful exhibition and I look forward to seeing the fruitful results of the collaboration between these artists come to life.
His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, said: The artists representing the UAE at the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art are continuing a proud tradition of sharing our culture with the world whilst at the same time exploring how our influences react when placed in dialogue with cultures from the rest of the world, as well as with the themes of this artistic platform.
Featuring 230 artworks by 34 artists and more than 300 archival documents from nearly 40 collections worldwide, the exhibition will showcase new works by living artists alongside historical pieces from museums in the French city. It will also showcase loaned collections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (also known as the Met), the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and from many of Lyons leading cultural institutions, such as the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, the Lugdunum Museum and Roman theatres, and the Muses Gadagne.
Structured along two distinct axes, a horizontal line carrying the contributions of 87 contemporary artists from 39 countries, and a vertical, temporal line comprising hundreds of historical artworks and objects spanning two millennia on loan from several diverse collections in Lyon and abroad, the biennale presents an intersection between the two axes focusing on the 1960s era of Beiruts so-called Golden Age, highlighting Lyons historical entanglements with Beirut. The Biennale is spread over several venues across the city of Lyon with more than 50 site-specific commissions.
