This 2-day conference wants to investigate where contemporary art from the Arab world is heading to and the role played by Venice as a long-term showcase for the international art scene. Placing the Biennale at centre-stage and taking the artworks and installations of artists from the Arab world as a source of inspiration, the purpose of the conference is to create an intellectual platform which would bring together academics, artists and professionals actively engaged in the field of Modern and Contemporary Art in the Arab world.

The conference will take place in Venice, a city whose past has been deeply intertwined with the commercial and cultural history of the Arab world and whose present, and we believe the future, still are.