The Minister of Culture and Youth, Noura Bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, visited the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, held in France from September 14 through December 31. This year’s theme is “Manifesto of Fragility.”
Al Kaabi visited the exhibition, which included 230 pieces of art by 34 different artists and more than 300 archive records from around 40 different collections worldwide. She observed pieces by UAE artists Hashel Al Lamki, and Mohammed Kazem, and muralist Chafa Ghaddar, the country’s representative at the exhibition. Their participation is funded by the Lyon Biennale Foundation, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, and the Ministry of Culture and Youth.
Al Kaabi applauded the artists for their outstanding efforts to give French and worldwide audiences a new perspective on the contemporary art scene in the UAE. She said that the theme of this year’s biennale, which is about the fragility and volatility of existence, has been effectively captured by the artists.
Al Kaabi underlined during the visit that art transcends boundaries and divisions. With its capacity for cross-cultural communication, art has the enchantment to unite people from different backgrounds.
These exhibitions introduce the elite Emirati art movement to art lovers from all over the world. The Biennale this year features both brand-new creations by contemporary artists and historical items from Lyon, France, and other museums. Along with works from prominent cultural institutions in Lyon like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Lugdunum Museum, Roman theaters, the Jadani Museums, and others, it also includes loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in Dresden, Germany, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.