The art world will descend on Italy in a few days for the 59th Biennale, which will have a strong representation of nations and artists from the Middle East this year. This year’s version, which runs from April 23 to November 27 and hasn’t been hosted since 2019 owing to the coronavirus pandemic, is curated by Cecilia Alemani and entitled “The Milk of Dreams.”
The festival, which began in 1895, allows each country to showcase its culture and art to the world. The Middle East region, which includes Iran, the Levant, the Gulf, and North Africa, is featured in this edition through country pavilions, side events, and individual artists. Participation is difficult, especially after the pandemic’s struggles and sufferings.
The work of Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, coordinated by Reem Fadda, will be on display for the Kingdom’s second showing at its permanent pavilion in the Arsenale. We can expect thought-provoking art that prompts us to think more deeply about the way we create and communicate—such as his idea of the line and its exploration of language and as a fundamental visual necessity for any form of art or written word—despite the fact that the details of what will be shown are still being kept under wraps.
Fadda is the director of the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation. She was most recently a co-curator at Desert X AlUla’s second edition and has worked on a number of shows in Saudi Arabia. Fadda organized the UAE National Pavilion in 2013, which featured Mohammed Kazem’s work.
Emerging Emirati artists at Palazzo Franchetti
Furthermore, In a first for Abu Dhabi Art, the annual fair held in the UAE capital each November will showcase the work of many rising UAE artists in Venice as part of the “Beyond: Emerging Artists” program at Palazzo Franchetti (April 20 to May 22).
The exhibition will present the 2021 work of the commissioned artists Christopher Joshua Benton, Maitha Abdalla, and Hashel Al-Lamki, who were supported by guest curators Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, co-founders of the multidisciplinary curatorial platform Art Reoriented and shown at Abu Dhabi Art 2021.
The Iranian artists Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh, as well as Hesam Rahmanian, from Dubai, will also be exhibiting their work in the Complesso dell’Ospedale in a new site-specific installation titled “ALLUVIUM.” The Iranian artists Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh, as well as Hesam Rahmanian, from Dubai, are exhibiting their work in the Complesso dell’Ospedale in a new site-specific installation titled “ALLUVIUM.”
The exhibition, which follows the artists’ 2017 OGR Award at the Artissima art event in Turin, Italy, and their display “Forgive me distant battles for bringing flowers home” at OGR, or Officine Grandi Riparazioni, in Turin, looks symbolically at the leftovers left over from the flow of news and history.
As a form of cultural resistance, the artists analyze what remains from this cycle and strive to give it new life and purpose through their art.