Sumayya Vally Discusses the Phenomenal Popularity of Jeddah's Islamic Arts Biennale

T he Islamic Arts Biennale is a significant statement - the biggest display of Islamic and Islamic-inspired art across centuries, at one time, in the heart of the Islamic world. What were the aims and objectives at the outset?
The Islamic Arts Biennale was born out of the need to broaden cultural understanding alongside sparking new perspectives and conversation around what Islamic art is. The Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the organisers of the event, conceived of this idea alongside the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh in 2022, and there was a clear need for something that exclusively speaks to and represents the diverse experiences of the Muslim world.

Platforms like this have a role to play in understanding the profound cultural and artistic heritages around us; and in nurturing and promoting understanding between communities. This is a historic moment for the entire Muslim world, and for all the parts of the world that Islam touches. For a long time, we have been waiting for a moment to represent ourselves from our perspectives, from our voices.

To understand the Islamic Arts Biennale as a platform for contributing to the discourse and canon of Islamic arts has been profoundly personal and important to me. It is important that we acknowledge that Islamic faith, Islamic practice, and Islamic tradition can and should be making a creative contribution to the world.

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How did the airport become the site and what opportunities and challenges did that present the curatorial team?
For billions of Muslims across the centuries, Makkah has been a place formed continuously through our rituals and dreams. The physical site for the Biennale, the Hajj Terminal, designed as a contemporary gateway to Makkah, is in the historic city of migration, Jeddah. It is imbued with significance for generations of Muslims the world over, witnessing their moment of arrival in the Kingdom.

Situated within the historic Hajj terminal in Jeddah (the southern gate of the haramayn); a monumental site layered with meaning, memory, and significance for Muslims for its position as the gateway to the pilgrimage - the Biennale recognised this site as a home for the rest of the world, making it one of the most hybrid sites of cultural exchange on earth.

The scenography of the site, implemented by [architects] OMA, was particularly exciting for me to direct, because I was intent on producing scenography that draws on worlds from our rituals - the spaces in the Qiblah theme, move from darkness into light through a series of spaces inspired from the sounds and atmospheres of our rituals. Outside, in the Hijrah theme, we experience a series of spaces for communing and gathering in the landscape - drawing on the energy of the Hajj terminal as a city of gathering for the world. Not white cube scenography, but really working with developing atmospheres related to rituals and spaces in the landscape for communing and gathering.

What were the guiding principles for the curatorial process as planning for the event got underway?
I think what became most important to me was to present a diversity of perspectives and experiences, of not only being Muslim, but of being of the Muslim world. To present works that are rooted in the experiential, the oral, the aural, and our ritual practices.

We have inherited a definition of Islamic art in the world tied to 17th century France, and focusing on chronology, style and geography and on ritual practice or themes from Islamic philosophy. I was intent on working with the platform to present a different definition of Islamic art - one that is resonant with the life and experience of being of the Muslim world. I chose to focus on what these experiences can generate for our creative and artistic worlds.

It was also important that the works blur a sense of time, to create a narrative in which contemporary works expand our understandings of ancient artifacts, and vice versa.

My co-curators, Dr Julian Raby and Dr Omniya Abdel Barr were instrumental in artifact and object research and selection, as well as the negotiations and stakeholder management with dozens of institutions to secure the more than 240 objects we have on display today, while Dr Saad Alrashid brought a wealth of knowledge related to the pilgrimage routes across the Arabian Peninsula since the days of early Islam, which was a significant thread running through the galleries.

How does one define what ‘Islamic art’ is?
As the Biennale demonstrates, ‘Islamic art’ is so many things, yet the very definition is in crisis. We urgently need a redefinition of Islamic art, and I think this is a significant part of why the Biennale exists. Rather than being hostage to a purely aesthetic set of definitions, Islamic art is plural, diverse, and resonant with our practices and experiences of being in and of the Muslim world.

Existing definitions of Islamic art often focus on style, tradition, geography, pattern, and geometry. The ambition of the Biennale is to build on and challenge these criteria, expanding on the existing canon of Islamic art, and to question the narrative, museological, and artistic practices of this time. Islamic artworks may have surface similarities, but what really unites them is inherent in how they are made, used, and understood. In describing a few of the works commissioned and loaned for the Biennale, I have attempted to imagine what an exhibition can be when conceived as a series of experiences and forms of worship. Considering both the material and immaterial dimensions of the artworks and artifacts throughout, the Biennale delivers an appreciation of the knowledge we inherit - available wisdom for our daily lives.

The works in the Biennale are experiential - they put forth an entirely different definition for Islamic art - rooted in the experiential, the oral, the aural, our ritual practices and the ingredients and infrastructures of gathering and community. In the broader context of the project of the museum as we know it, which is deeply in crises and looking for relevance - this project puts forward worlds that are resonant with our lives and come from different bodies of knowledge that can push forth the future of museum and creative practice differently.

These definitions are not only important for the world of Islamic art, but also for our understandings and conceptions of museum practice, institutional configurations, and the future of built typologies for the arts. They show us that we can and should have different conceptualizations of these typologies, which are more resonant with ways of being from non-Western worlds.

Was the decision to juxtapose contemporary and antique artworks a deliberate move to underline the connections between past and present?
Absolutely. At its essence, this Biennale is about giving contemporary objects a home by giving them a lineage and giving historic objects a home by giving them a future. It is important to situate contemporary work in the historical narrative because it is only in context that things can belong. Almost all the works in the Biennale blur time, and that was not by coincidence.

For the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, this was always important in conceptualizing the Biennale. Their mission is also to create a legacy and community of institutions focused on Islamic art through the Biennale. This involves collaborations with Islamic art institutions from around the world. They have presented this community of institutions through the Al Madar exhibition - in which several institutions are invited to contribute their own research and artifacts to the biennale.

Some of the artists in the Biennale work with embodying living archive through their collaborations, for example, Igshaan Adams, whose source material is used prayer mats that have been passed down over generations within his community in Bonteheuwel in Cape Town. Together with a group of women from the same community, he worked with the imprints of the markings, and of the bodies, to weave these tapestries as an homage to these bodies who have come together through their faith, against apartheid, in very difficult conditions over generations.

Then Haroon Gunn Salie’s Amongst Men cites the funeral procession of his namesake, apartheid martyr and Muslim cleric, Imam Abdullah Haron, who was killed by apartheid police in 1969. He spent a lot of time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which influenced his ethos, his way of being, and his politics. His funeral was attended by forty thousand mourners. This work is very prescient because the trial of Imam Haron’s killers is currently happening in South Africa. And in this work, we see these hats, which reflect a fraction of the people who gathered to pay their respects and say their last goodbyes. And we hear an audio piece, with narrations from Imam’s daughters and poetry about his life and the impact he had on his community.

Many of the works also interrogated an idea of preservation, in a living and breathing way. As an architect, I believe this can offer something for the future of architecture. I also believe that it can offer something for the future of artistic practice.

For example, the artwork by Syn Architects, Anywhere Can Be a Place of Worship, specifically focused on nesting architecture, architecture from the Arab region, and what it can offer for the future, in terms of how we think about sustainable futures and ecologies, and how we think about preserving heritage and lived practices.

It was inspired by the Prophet’s (PBUH) first space of prayer, which was not ornate, or like the mosques we have today. It was created with palm fronds and was integrated and disappeared entirely into the ground; it touched the earth lightly. It was a space that was made by rituals of community and by people coming together. And that, for me, is an architecture that’s different. It’s putting forth an art and an architectural future that's different.

How has the public response struck you? How have people responded and have there been any unusual or especially thought-provoking reactions?
We have seen a true cross-section of Jeddah come to experience the Biennale - for many, this is their first experience of art in a setting like this - we have seen young and old people alike return to the Biennale with their families. It has also been very special to witness pilgrims come over from the functioning airport across the road.

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The Diriyah Biennale Foundation reported that they’d even run out of wheelchairs on the premises, given how popular it became with the older folk. We found that some people were so inspired and excited about the content of the Biennale, they returned with their parents and grandparents. This has been incredible to witness.

I have had an avalanche of generous messages, emails and voice notes of love and celebration from people who came to the opening of the Biennale. Many of these messages expressed a wish for the Biennale to be in the West, so that non-Muslims can access it and learn more about Islam, and see it presented in this way - deeply personal expressions from our artists about our ways of being. As much as this Biennale is an open hand and an invitation for all - north, south, east, west - the power of seeing ourselves represented in this way is also at the heart of the project.

Many a night, leaving the site past midnight, I gazed over at the pilgrims across the road and was reminded that these could be my parents, or my grandmother, or my nieces and nephews.

How has Sotheby’s support of the event helped?
The talks hosted by Sotheby’s in Jeddah with industry veterans furthered dialogue on both existing and new definitions of Islamic art. Sotheby’s specialists Mai Eldib, Benny Cartwright and Edward Gibbs came to Jeddah shortly after the Biennale launched and gave guided tours and panel discussions. They also spoke of their delight at the energy and enthusiasm they found among the visitors, which has been echoed by all those involved with the event. Furthermore, partnering with Sotheby’s gave the Biennale an international platform which has been invaluable in promoting the event globally.

Why has the event been extended – and following the success of this event, can we expect to see more presentations of Islamic art in the future?
The turnout - both from locals in Jeddah and those passing through - has been phenomenal. This Biennale was initiated to share the diverse experiences of Islam and being of the Muslim world, and I think the further we can share these perspectives, the better. I think that our objective for it to be a sort of homecoming for Muslims around the world has been achieved, and because it is so unprecedented, visitors are doubly taken by what they experience in these galleries.

Finally, what is next for you after this huge project? How has the experience inspired you in your own career?

I’ve decided to focus on purely architectural practice for the next while. I am lucky to be occupied with several cultural projects concurrently — the design of a presidential library for the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Foundation in Liberia, in collaboration with Nigerien architect, Mariam Kamara; a public plaza in honour of the pan-African conference that took place in Manchester in 1945; and several cultural projects in Saudi Arabia and West Africa.

For now, I am taking in the experience of seeing the public inhabiting the Islamic Arts Biennale. It has been a lifelong interest for me to have the opportunity to honour my background as a Muslim and the practices I grew up with. I am also looking forward to developing several legacy projects with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation.

This Season in the Middle East