Institut du Monde Arab, Paris
Curator:
Ihab El Laban, Egyptian Artist, Critic & Gallerist
Organised by:
Institut du Monde Arabe
Press:
Touring destinations
Abu Dhabi, as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival
Naila Art Gallery, Riyadh
Magnetism was presented as part of this definitive survey of contemporary Arab art, marking the 25th anniversary of the French institution. The exhibition later toured to the UAE as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival, and to Riyadh where it was presented at Naila Art Gallery.
Furthering the Institut du Monde Arabe's founding mission to publicise and support the creation of contemporary art, the exhibition charted the diversity of creativity across 25 years.
Following the legacy of more than 100 exhibitions during the first 25 years of existence, Institut du Monde Arabe celebrated the pinnacle of contemporary creativity. The exhibition proposes to present the principal directions recently borrowed by Arab artists and their sources of inspiration in an art whose characteristics have come little by little to take a lead. A panorama is elaborated with the most exhaustive trends possible and research which, for 25 years, are of interest to the contemporary Arab creation, no matter which media is used: painting, sculpture, photography, media installation.
“Created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabe, the exhibition showcases major contemporary artworks from Arab artists and gives an informative perspective on the development of visual arts in the Arab world. These contemporary Arab artists experience life as it is today and express it with the various media outlets of their time.”