Saudi Arabia, Jeddah hosts the 2nd Biennial of Islamic Art

*Islamic Arts Biennial features the participation of more than 30 artists *Art Biennial seeks to modernize Islamic tradition

Transcript

00:00The second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennial is being held in Saudi Arabia,

00:05a meeting that seeks to modernize the Islamic tradition. Let's see.

00:11The city of Jeddah, on the shores of the Red Sea, hosts this event covering 100,000 square meters

00:16with five exhibition halls and numerous open-air spaces, displaying more than 500 pieces, including

00:22modern objects and ancient works. The Biennial, the first and only exhibition in the world

00:27dedicated to the arts of the Islamic civilization, is committed to the juxtaposition of relics with

00:32the aim of transforming the ultra-conservative image of this religion. Islam is a lived system.

00:39It is experienced by billions of people from around the world. Our experiences with Islam

00:45shape culture, shape our understanding of ourselves. In the Biennial, this bringing

00:51together of the contemporary past really emphasizes the change that Saudi Arabia is going through.

00:58This Islamic Arts Biennial features the participation of more than 30 artists from

01:03all over the country, as well as guests from the Gulf region and other countries,

01:07allowing visitors to view objects and works from various parts of the world. Included in the

01:11exhibitions are displays from sacred sites such as Mecca and Medina, including Islamic holy objects

01:17such as the sacred Kiswah. There are also collections from the cultures of Mali,

01:21Qatar, and Turkei, and samples from more than 30 of the world's most important institutions,

01:26including the Vatican Apostolic Library in Vatican City, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and the

01:31Victoria and Albert Museum in London. For me, the Islamic arts context, it's definitely given

01:38me a lot of thought and research and diving deeper into what it means to me and what it means to us

01:43regionally. And again, it's about, I think, recontextualizing, reframing, putting it within the

01:51global context, but also historical, you know, so.

01:55The Biennial seeks to offer a perspective on the way in which diverse cultures interact and endure.

02:01By combining historical objects from Islamic cultures with contemporary art,

02:05it allows to explore the beliefs of faith through feeling, thought, and creation. The exhibition

02:11will be open until May 25th of this year.