Arab World Institute in Paris to Open New Museum

Jack Lang, president of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, announced a new museum project that will expand the iconic Jean Nouvel-designed building on the Left Bank of the Seine. The institute, a French intergovernmental foundation, holds a collection of 2,500 works spanning ancient, modern, and contemporary art. A major donation this year—1,677 works by 148 international artists from the collection of Franco-Lebanese gallerist and collector Claude Lemand and his wife France—confirmed the need for more exhibition space. The new project will include a gallery named after the couple. The French Ministry of Culture is contributing €6 million to the renovation, with work expected to begin in 2024. Nathalie Bondil, the museum's director and former director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, plans to create intercultural galleries covering periods from the Neolithic to the present, emphasizing the role of women in art and music. Spaces for photography, books, and manuscripts are also planned. The institute is seeking approval for an outdoor space to display contemporary works. The building's facade features 240 mashrabiyya, traditional Arabic ventilation devices with diaphragms that regulate light and temperature.