The world’s first Islamic Arts Biennale is being organised by the 33-year-old South African Architect, Sumayya Vally in Saudi Arabia.
A biennale is a large art exhibition held every two years.
She became the youngest Architect commissioned to design London’s Serpentine Pavilion in 2020.
Born in Pretoria (1990), Vally co-founded the experimental architecture and research firm, Counterspace, in 2015 and went on to become the youngest ever architect commissioned to design London’s famed Serpentine Pavilion in 2020.
The following year, Vally was recognized in the Time 100 Next list as an emerging leader shaping the future.
Themed as Awwal Bait (First House), Sumayya Vally, who is the founder of Counterspace, believes that the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia “is a historic moment for the canon of Islamic Art.”
2023 Islamic Arts Biennale is taking place from January 23 to May 23 (the biennale has recently been extended from 23 April to 23 May) in the Western Hajj Terminal designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1981 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Set within “a desert-like landscape”, where the scenography was worked by OMA, Vally served as Artistic Director of Saudi Arabia’s inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale.
Underlining how the philosophies of Islam and the potential forms of being can offer creative worlds in relation to art, the architect picked seven artworks that embody the themes of the biennale for the World Architecture Community.
