The Mori Art Museum will present “Contemporary Art from the Arab World,” the first exhibition of its kind ever to be held in Japan from 16 June through 28 October, 2012.

Art from the Arab world is currently attracting attention across the globe. In the past decade, major exhibitions have been held at museums in Europe and the United States and art from the region has also become increasingly prominent in the art market. Meanwhile, in Doha (Qatar), the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art opened in 2010 and in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) there are branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim Museum under construction. In Sharjah, a biennale and in Dubai, an art fair have been created – indications that the art industry is gradually maturing. At the same time, the interests of the local people are shifting. No longer are they focused on the art of Europe, but they are now re-examining works by artists from their own communities, too.

It is within this context that we present Japan’ s first exhibition of contemporary art from the Arab world. Approximately 30 artists, working in a variety of media, will be included in the exhibition. They will be selected as a result of comprehensive and original research in the region. This exhibition will not subscribe to the commonly held, negative stereotype of the Arab world as a realm of terrorism, conflicts, religious fundamentalism and so on. Instead, through the diverse creative expression of the region’ s own artists, it will depict the people of the Arab world as they are, in real time. And by introducing the state of Arab cultures in Japan, it will seek to contribute to greater understanding.