ArtReview
Today brings tentative optimism that the artworld’s enforced lockdown might be coming to some sort of end, after announcements on curators and themes by various international biennials. While barely a handful of major exhibitions were able to go ahead in 2020 (many either postponed or going online), the organisers of the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art and a new project in Saudi Arabia, the Ad-Diriyah Biennale, are confident enough to announce curators and themes. Last week the Istanbul Biennial also announced its team for an event scheduled for late 2021.
Ad-Diriyah, an eighteenth-century town on the outskirts of Riyadh known for its traditional mud-brick architecture, and which is being redeveloped as a heritage site (it was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2010) will host Saudi Arabia’s first biennial. The kingdom’s newly formed Ministry of Culture has asked Philip Tinari, the director of Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art to lead. From China Tinari will bring two members of his staff, curators Shixuan Luan and Neil Zhang, joining local curator Wejdan Reda, founder of Sahaba Art Consultancy to complete the team. Last year the government announced that the seven-sq-km site will become home to a new collection of museums and galleries, as well luxury retail outlets and over 100 cafes and restaurants. Every other year, from 2022, Ad-Diriyah will also host a biennial of Islamic art.