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From Indonesia to Bangladesh Biennale 2008
Bangladesh has successfully staged the 13th Asian Art Biennale 2008 across three impressive venues
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Bangladesh has successfully staged the 13th Asian Art Biennale 2008 across three impressive venues.
The event, held recently, was organized by the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, who have managed the exhibition since 1981.
"Initially the event was going to be held last year but due to the political situation (in Bangladesh), it was postponed until this year," said Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam, director general of Shilpaka Academy.
The Bangladesh Biennale was held at three concurrent venues -- the Osmani Memorial Hall, the Bangladesh National Museum and the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpaka Academy (BSA).
In his opening speech, chief advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed urged artists to portray the hopes and aspirations, as well as the suffering, of people through their works.
"The rich tradition, values and glorious heritage of the orient are facing a challenge in today's extremely competitive globalization era," he said.
"Therefore, there is a need to further concentrate on the development of our own art and culture... I believe artists have the merit and aesthetic sense to meet these challenges."
Artists from 27 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America including Chile, India, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia gathered in Dhaka for the exhibition.
“Dreams” by Cecilia Patrice Untario. (Courtesy of Cecilia Patrice Untario )
A total of about 480 art works, from paintings to drawings, sculptures, prints, installations, woodcuts and works in mixed mediums featured in this event and competition.
A Bangladeshi artist named Anisuzzaman, with his wooden work "Complexity 59", Budoor Riami from Oman with her video artwork titled "The Peak of Burning" and Mazem Al Miestikawy from Egypt with his cardboard work titled "Pattern" received the Grand Prize awards in the competition.
Indonesia was represented in this event by 10 artists, who displayed sculptures, paintings and installations.
The 10 artist were Innes Indreswari Soekanto, Cecilia Patricia Oentario, Lydia Liem, Kian Santang and Monica from Bandung, Neneng Ferrier and Muhammad Pasha from Jakarta, Polenk Radiasa, Agus Cahaya from Bali and curator Rizky A. Zaelani.
Innes, Cecilia and Lydia participated in this event with the support of the Education Ministry's foreign cooperation bureau and its artist scholarship program
"We would like to thank the ministry. Without the scholarship, we would not have been able to enter our artworks," Innes said.
