The Diriyah Biennale Foundation says it is “delighted” to announce the appointment of Ute Meta Bauer, as Artistic Director of the second edition of its Contemporary Art Biennale, scheduled for January 2024 – and well it might be. Ute Meta Bauer is a big hitter in the curatorial field, and the appointment underscores the Diriyah Biennale Foundation’s determination to establish itself as one of the major players in the (somewhat crowded) international biennial market.
The Foundation’s brief is “to bring international contemporary art to Saudi Arabia, while also providing a platform for Saudi Arabian artists to contribute to global contemporary art discourse”. There’s no mention of the wider desire to add lustre to Saudi Arabia’s image, but it’s not unreasonable to see the Diriyah Biennale in concert with the likes of the Saudi Grand Prix and LIV Gold, the Neom and Mukaab developments, the whole multifaceted AlUla project, and even the tentative rapprochement with Iran.
Whatever the backstory, the immediate benefit is sure to be an interesting biennial. An international advisory committee apparently pursued a “rigorous” selection process before settling on Bauer, but there’s no denying her achievements as an academic, as a creator of new institutions, and as a curator of exhibitions across varied formats including contemporary art, film, performance and sound.
Her CV ranges from four years as Artistic Director of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart in the 90s, founding director of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway in Oslo, a couple of years as Dean of the School of Fine Art at the RCA London (2012/2013). and several years at MIT including founding its Program in Art, Culture, and Technology. Her curatorial chops include the Singapore Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale and artistic director for the 3rd Berlin Biennale, co-curator roles at the 17th Istanbul Biennale and Documenta11, and an honorary mention for best National Pavilion when she co-curated the Joan Jonas US Pavilion at Venice in 2015.
Since 2013 she has been director of the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore. Her professorial roles there include recent research on the links between cultural loss and the climate crisis.
Not a bad résumé, then. As Aya Albakree, CEO of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation (right) observed: “A profound commitment to curatorial excellence sits at the heart of our Foundation, and we are thrilled to welcome Ute Meta Bauer as the Artistic Director of the second edition of our Contemporary Art Biennale”.
Bauer herself said she considers the Biennale “a unique opportunity to capture this special moment in time through works of art … This country stands on the cusp of unparalleled change, and art and culture are languages able to express the nuances and dynamics of these shifting sands”.
The second Diriyah Biennale will surely build on the success of the inaugural edition in 2021, curated by Philip Tinari and co-curators Wejdan Reda, Neil Zhang, Luan Shixuan with the theme “Feeling the Stones” – described as “a metaphor for action at a time of profound social transformation in the 1980s”. Located at Diriyah’s Jax District, the biennial had an impressive roster of artists and more than 100,000 visitors.
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