Artists from Saudi Arabia participated in the opening of “Bienalsur”, the International Biennale of Contemporary Art of the South, at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires. This year’s exhibition was titled “Strangers in the Palace”. The inauguration was attended by the Director General of Bienalsur, Anibal Jozami, Bienalsur’s artistic director and curator of the exhibition Diana Wechsler and participating artists from Saudi Arabia and the world.
Curator Diana Wechsler praised the participation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the exhibition, stating, “The Kingdom was the first country in the Middle East to join the Bienalsur network. For us at Bienalsur, working with artists from the Kingdom is a wonderful opportunity to experience diversity and exchange.”
Wechsler also explained the title of the exhibition: “The expression “Strangers in the Palace” refers to the contrast between the contemporary nature of the artworks presented by the artists and the nature of the exhibition space: the National Museum of Decorative Arts is located in a historical palace that hosts a unique collection of classical artworks and artifacts. The title also reflects the international nature of the exhibition, as artists from all over the world come to exhibit in Argentina, thus contributing to cultural exchange through art.” She added: “The exhibition sparks an unexpected dialogue between classical and contemporary art. It also promotes cross-cultural dialogue and encounters through art”.
This year’s edition of Bienalsur, which was inaugurated on 28 July in Buenos Aires, showcases the artworks of more than 400 artists from 27 nationalities, including ten artists from Saudi Arabia: Dr Zahra Alghamdi, Sara Abdu, Hmoud Alattawi, Saad Alhowedi, Hatem Al-Ahmad, Saeed Gamhawi, Saeed Gebaan, Tasnim Sultan, Moath Aloifi, Shahad Yousef.
Bienalsur is the first world-traveling multipolar contemporary art biennale. It works as a network of associative collaborations between museums, cultural centers and universities around the globe. Bienalsur links artists and curators of different origins and trajectories across an egalitarian horizontal network, thus building new circuits of exchange.
Following its inaugural exhibition in Buenos Aires, this fifth edition of Bienalsur will travel around the world from July to December 2023, passing through 170 venues in 70 cities across 27 countries and welcoming the participation of 400 artists, before ending its tour at the University of Fine Arts in Tokyo, Japan. Saudi Arabia will be one of the host countries of Bienalsur, making this the third time the Kingdom has hosted Bienalsur. In 2019, the Saudi Arabia made history as the first Middle Eastern country to host the exhibition at the National Museum in Riyadh. In 2021, Bienalsur returned to Saudi Arabia with installations at Jax District in Riyadh and Khuzam Palace in Jeddah, welcoming over 20 artists from five continents, including five artists from Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Ministry of Culture is commissioning the works of the participating artists from Saudi Arabia, which will be displayed in Buenos Aires in Argentina, in Sao Paolo and Brasilia in Brazil, and in Montevideo in Uruguay during the traveling exhibition.
