The Lebanese Visual Art Association (LVAA), organizer of the Lebanese Pavilion under the patronage of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, is pleased to announce the appointment of the filmmaker and video maker, Danielle Arbid, and the visual artist, Ayman Baalbaki, to represent Lebanon at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which will take place from 23 April to 27 November 2022.
Nada Ghandour, the curator of the Lebanese Pavilion, mandated by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, explains the choice of the two artists, Ayman Baalbaki, who lives and works in Beirut, and Danielle Arbid, from the diaspora and based in Paris: “This project invites on a symbolic journey into our contemporary world through a theme, a city, and two artists who maintain a political and aesthetic dialogue from a distance, by presenting artworks which are so far and yet so close”.
Aline Asmar d’Amman, architect and founder of Culture in Architecture, has been entrusted with the scenography of the Pavilion.
After a five-year absence from the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, and for the second time in its history, Lebanon will be located in the Arsenale to highlight Lebanese contemporary creation and to showcase Lebanon on an international level through its art and culture.
A press conference is scheduled in Beirut. The date, place and time will be announced shortly.
THE ARTISTS
DANIELLE ARBID
Danielle Arbid draws her inspiration from a combination of cultures and intimate stories. For her, cinema replaces memory. At the crossroads of genres and territories, those of Lebanon or of France, she documents, explores, and experiments to produce a rich, multifaceted, uncompromising body of work.
Born in 1970 in Beirut, the Lebanese-French filmmaker, videographer, and artist moved to Paris at the age of 17. In 1997, she directed her first film. Since then, she alternates between fiction, first-person documentaries, and video essays. Danielle Arbid also works as a photographer.
Nominated in numerous festivals throughout France and around the world (Cannes, New York, Tokyo, Busan…), she has won various awards and several retrospectives have been devoted to her. Her work has been screened in several prestigious museums, notably the Centre Pompidou, the MAC VAL – Musée d’art contemporain du Val de Marne, the Foundation Boghossian, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes.
AYMAN BAALBAKI
Ayman Baalbaki’s work focuses on Lebanese and Middle Eastern issues. His art creates an emotional impact and testifies to the incessant conflicts that afflict the Middle East.
Born in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon, Ayman studied Fine Arts (painting and sculpture) at the Lebanese University (Beirut) before obtaining a Graduate Diploma in “Art – Space” at EnsAD (Paris) and a Diploma of Advanced Studies in ” Arts Images and Contemporary Art” at the University of Paris VIII.
He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Lebanon and internationally: Belgium, Canada, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, United States, France, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, United Kingdom, Italy, and Turkey.
NADA GHANDOUR, Curator of the Lebanese Pavilion
Art historian and expert in modern and contemporary art, Nada Ghandour is a Heritage Curator with a degree from the Institut National du Patrimoine (Paris).
An independent curator, she is a specialist in cultural management and digital technology. She has worked in some of the most prestigious museums around Europe and North America, notably the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Montreal), the Musée National Picasso – Paris (France) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris).
ALINE ASMAR D’AMMAN, Scenographer of the Lebanese Pavilion
Born in Beirut, Aline Asmar d’Amman is the architect and interior designer behind Culture in Architecture, an interior design and scenography firm. Based in Paris and Beirut, the firm builds bridges between cultures, while establishing a link between the past and the present.
Approaching each project with an evocative and powerful narrative, Aline Asmar d’Amman draws from the intricate dialogue of the raw and the precious, of heritage and of modernity, of poetry and of materiality.
Culture in Architecture is at the helm of several iconic interior design projects around the world, including the renovation of the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, the interiors of the Eiffel Tower’s gastronomic restaurant Le Jules Verne, and the current renovations of the Palazzo Dona Giovannelli, one of the historic jewels of Venice.