2018 seems to blow the wind of social reforms in Saudi Arabia. Among few: developing cultural events locally, and promoting Saudi artists on the international stage. An ambition integrated in the 2030 vision of the country, and revealed in a worldwide tour initiated by the crowned prince Mohammed Bin Salman over Western countries. Showcasing 9 emerging artists during Art Paris 2018 from 5Th to 8th April, the recently launched Misk Art Institute embodies this new generation of contemporary artists.
An artistic hub to promote Saudi contemporary art
Operating under the auspices of the Misk Foundation, established by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Institute was created in 2017 to encourage artistic production in Saudi Arabia and enable cultural international exchange.
Led by Saudi artist, Ahmed Mater Its mission is to support and promote the artists from the kingdom, at a local and international level. Focused as an artistic innovator, Misk Art Institute has its headquarters in Riyadh and an artist residency in Abha, Saudi Arabia’s southwest region of Asir.
It also released a year long programme of cultural events, in partnership with the MOMA at New York City, last January. A journey that continued its way to Washington where the work of 33 Saudi artists from across the Kingdom were featured, as well as a specially commissioned Al-Qatt Al-Asri mural paintings by women artists from southern Saudi Arabia. The cultural organization was also present at Dubai Art Fair through an exhibition about Middle Eastern graphic design, as well as a retrospective on Arab modernism.
Part of this agenda is Reframe Saudi, a Virtual reality documentary directed by Matteo Leonardi (the head of of Cultrunners media), which explores Saudi Arabia social transformations from the perspective of a generation of its young contemporary artists, each of them reflecting with their works on a different aspect of this metamorphosis. First presented at Dubai Art Fair and New York, the movie will be screened in Switzerland at World VR Forum next June.
Nine emerging Saudi under the glass roof of Le Grand Palais
This year, the famous French Art Fair hosts around 142 galleries and 2200 artists under the imposing glass roof of Le Grand Palais. The Misk Art Institute chose to showcase 9 artists of its wide catalogue: Sara Al-Abdali, Lulwah Al Homoud,Hala AlFadl, Eiman Al-Gibreen, Rawan Almqbas, Amr Alngmah, Ayman Zedani, Sarah Shaiban and Ahmed Angawi. All young and promising, they will be gathering between the World Exhibition 20th century building walls, using different mediums in order to convey a message about their culture.