Saudi Arabia in the City of Venice, what a thought! Venice has historically been described as ‘the eye to all the West’ and was the main portal that the Middle East came filtering into Europe and continues to do so. The Venice Beinnale, the Olympics of art events, was founded in 1895 and has been ongoing every two years since. Today we find countries from across the world represented showcasing an abundance of international talent. From the Middle East we have the UAE, Palestine and for the first time, Saudi Arabia.

The Palazzo Contarini Dal Zaffo Polignac is the magnificent, early Renaissance palace that will house the exhibition for two months. It is a classic Renaissance building with a long history and was once immortalised by Claude Monet in 1908. He painted the series Thirty-Seven Views of Venice and of all the thousands of glorious sights, this for him, was one of the most breathtaking.

Edge of Arabia in Venice features the work of 8 Saudi contemporary artists, male and female. Their work explores the complex and diverse reality of 21st century life in Saudi Arabia, combining installation, performance and a variety of other media with a multi-disciplinary approach to artistic practice – one artist is a GP, another an army Major.

Saudi Artists are engaging more with an increasingly globalised society. Even when exploring Islamic themes of cultural heritage you will find many of the artists make implications about the rapid developments in Saudi or comment on the integration of traditional values in a modern society. It is this engagement from the point of view of an artist based in the Kingdom that I believe has facilitated the emergence of contemporary art from Saudi Arabia into the international cultural community.

A visitor of EOA 2008 said:

“At last.
Dear artists, I must congratulate you all for such an impressive and unique display of Arabia! The blend from the past and the mixture of the present contemporary world speaks volumes!! Please keep up the excellent work and continue to enlighten such exposure of Arabian work throughout the world. I know that Ansha’llah such work will reach the sky with its brilliance.”

With this platform in Venice, these artists shall continue to enlighten such exposure of Arabia.