The most recent Biennale Arte in Venice broke all previous attendance records with more than 800,000 tickets sold, a 35 percent increase over pre-pandemic levels. More than a third of these visitors came to the National Pavilion UAE, which also featured an exhibition by Emirati artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim called Between Sunrise and Sunset. With 277,203 visitors, it set a new record.
Ibrahim’s exhibition featured 128 sculptures that examined how sunlight moves over the mountains of his home, Khorfakkan, in keeping with the biennale’s theme, The Milk of Dreams, which challenged how bodies are depicted and their transformations, as well as the relationship between bodies and the earth. The biomorphic sculptures cluster together in a single piece, their colors, and motion undulating.
According to Laila Binbrek, director of the National Pavilion UAE — La Biennale di Venezia, the narrative and presentation of Ibrahim’s exhibition emotionally connected guests from all over the world to the art exhibition.
“Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim has been a practicing artist over the last four decades and is a key member of a group of experimental, conceptual artists who have led the vanguard of the visual art scene in the UAE since the 1980s. He is an artist who has a deep and intimate relationship with his hometown of Khorfakkan and this relationship is clearly expressed in all his work,” Binbrek tells The National.
“The exhibition presented at the pavilion is a direct homage to Mohamed’s hometown and his ongoing dialogue with the mountains and the light that reflects on it; this relationship was easily relatable to anyone who visited our pavilion.”
As the UAE’s creatives compete with those from around the world, Binbrek says it is always satisfying to see another story from the country presented on La Biennale di Venezia’s international stage. The National Pavilion of the UAE has a permanent location at the Arsenale — Sale d’Armi of the Venice Biennale, thanks to a commission from the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation and assistance from the Ministry of Culture & Youth.
“Our consistent presence at La Biennale means each year gives us an opportunity to build on those untold stories, and this year was no exception. It was interesting to see audiences, who had seen previous UAE pavilions, discover and absorb Mohamed’s work, and in some cases be able to put it in context to the overall story we have been building on over the years.”
Binbrek says the success of this year’s biennale was a clear indicator of the public’s appetite to return and come together again. “The international art exhibition saw 58 national participations, including five from the region, including the Sultanate of Oman in their inaugural participation, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.”
National Pavilion UAE continues to provide online virtual tours of the exhibition at nationalpavilionuae.org even though the biennale ended last month. Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim: Between Sunrise and Sunset / Works 1986–2022, a companion publication to the pavilion, compiles years of thorough investigation and direct contact with the artist.
Cecilia Alemani, who curated the wider biennale, says it was a challenge organizing the event during the pandemic. “I have conceived this exhibition remotely, with hundreds of studio visits done on Zoom with artists from all over the world. Very few artists were able to come and do site visits,” Alemani says.
“Nobody knew if the artworks would get to Venice on time. Even if now things seem to have returned to a sort of normalcy, we all know it was an extraordinary period and that it took more than two years to get to this point. The fact that this exhibition could open on time back in April is still somewhat miraculous.”
Alemani says the 800,000 visitors “demonstrate that art has the power to foster participation and that after so many months of isolation, people want to celebrate and see art in person, in a joyful and communal experience shared with many friends, families, colleagues and art lovers.”
Now that Biennale Arte is over, Binbrek says the UAE Pavilion is excited about the coming architectural biennale.
“We look forward to next year’s exhibition at Biennale Architettura 2023, which will be curated by Faysal Tabbarah, associate dean and associate professor of architecture at the American University of Sharjah. Tabbarah and his team aim to explore the relationship between architecture and arid landscapes in the UAE and reimagine them as spaces of abundance and productivity.”