5th Aluminium International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Baku this December

Organisers: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan / The Union of Artists of Azerbaijan / YARAT Contemporary Art Space

Sponsors: Embassy of the Republic of France to the Republic of Azerbaijan / STATOIL Oil Company of Norway / Koridoor Contemporary Art Programs, Turkey

The 5th International Biennial of Contemporary Art Aluminium will be held in Baku on 11th-16th December 2012.

Aluminium, held in Baku every two years since 2003, has already become a tradition and attracts artists, art critics and curators from all over the world to Azerbaijan. The Biennial represents both the traditional and the contemporary art of our country to the experts of international authority and has given a creative impetus to the artists, both in Azerbaijan and abroad. The exhibitions held in the framework of the Biennial have been comprehensively reported by mass media, and many experts have also published their analytical and research articles on this event.

The Biennial has been a significant stimulus to the development of contemporary art in Azerbaijan. Many talented young artists have premiered their most interesting works at the exhibitions of the Biennial. They have gone on to successful participation in a great number of significant international exhibitions abroad. In 2007 and 2009 the International Biennial of Contemporary Art Aluminium, being held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has been a considerably larger scale event. The Biennial to be held in Baku on 11th -16th December 2012 will bring together the artists, art critics and curators from Europe and Asia again. The main aims of the event are to introduce the contemporary art of Azerbaijan to viewers and experts outside of Azerbaijan, as well as to promote the development of contemporary art within the country and to support the artists’ activity.

The concept of the Biennial is The Faces of Time

We live together. We love, we hate, we create idols for ourselves and then overthrow them. We influence each other, adopting the good and the bad. We are a society, and whatever happens to each of us, becomes a part of the lives of the rest of us. We benefit each other as well as we create obstacles for one another. Time changes and we change too. Is it us who determine our time? Or is it time that forms us? That is the question.

The faces of time are our faces; ours and our idols’. Who are the 'heroes of our time?' Are they the politicians or the artists or the scientists? Are they our parents or our friends? Or maybe we are the heroes... By making graven images we realise an ideal of our own. Our time is us as we are, and it is specific for each of us.

Participating venues:

Art Gallery of the Museum Centre
YARAT Contemporary Art Space
Contemporary Art Centre and United Artists’ Club in Icheri Sheher
Vajiha Samadova Exhibition Hall at the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan
ART SALON Contemporary Art Centre at the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan
Yeni Gallery
Absheron Gallery
Qiz Qalasi Gallery
ART Group
Kichik QalArt
Bakı Gallery
LN Art Centre
Baku Creative Centre
Art Council
YAYGallery

Biennial Coordinator: Aida Mahmudova, Founder of YARAT Contemporary Art Space

Biennial Curator: Dilara Vahabova, art critic

Biennial Director: Galib Gasimov, Head of the Fine and Applied Arts Department, Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Participating countries are: Azerbaijan, Turkey, France, the USA, Germany, Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Finland, South Korea, Morocco.

On the closing day (15th December) there will be a conference on 'The Practice of Contemporary Art Today' held in the conference hall of the Museum Centre at 3:00 p.m.. The participants of the Biennial will talk about their principal art projects and creative plans as well as share their ideas about works presented at the Biennial.