Published on 12:00 AM, September 04, 2018

Asaduzzaman Noor's vision on AABB

Photo: Shahrear Kabir Heemel

After the opening ceremony of the 18th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh (AABB), the Minister of Cultural Affairs Asaduzzaman Noor, MP, in an interview with The Daily Star, shared his vision of a creative and humanistic Bangladesh shedding light on the AABB. 

“After taking office I planned to expand the horizon of AABB. Following that trend, in 2016, the organising committee of the exhibition decided to expand its glory throughout the world,” he said. “As a result, artists from 55 countries from around the world had participated in the 17th edition of AABB.” This year, the number of participating countries rose to 68 including Bangladesh, breaking the previous record. “I thought that if we demarcate its horizon only within Asia, the art will not reach to the global stage. We should not bind art within a certain geographical area. As many things are happening in the global art scene, we cannot deprive ourselves from those,” Asaduzzaman Noor added. 

The minister thanked everyone including the director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy together with the National Committee for arranging the event at such a grand scale. He was also immensely pleased with the participation of artists and the diversity and quality of artworks.

About curating, the minister said that he is not entirely satisfied with the way the artworks are on display. ”Curating is a time-consuming and resource intensive matter. Aesthetic designs, meaningful display of artworks and artistic space division of walls are associated with it,” he said, “This year, we couldn't look after the matter as we planned to. We'll definitely sit together to discuss and take necessary steps to ensure international standard curated shows for the upcoming AABB.”

Asaduzzaman Noor hopes to hold the pioneering biennale in a grander scale in upcoming editions. “To make a creative and humanistic Bangladesh, we have many ongoing and upcoming projects and programmes. In this biennale, we have engaged a few hundred talented school students from all over Bangladesh to participate in cultural programmes,” he said.

“We believe that if the forthcoming generations are aware of our artistic, literary and cultural heritage, we will reach our cherished goals.”