Middle Eastern Pavilions at the Venice Biennale: Memory, Conflict, and Play

The 2017 Venice Biennale features several Middle Eastern national pavilions that explore themes of ancient heritage, war, and creative play. The Iran Pavilion at Palazzo Donà delle Rose presents Bizhan Bassiri's large-scale installation "Tapesh. The golden reserve of magmatic thought," which uses gold dice and anthropomorphic statues to symbolize fate and the dualism of creation and destruction, referencing Iran's historical conflicts. The Iraq Pavilion at Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti juxtaposes 40 artifacts from the Baghdad National Museum with works by eight contemporary artists, including Jewad Selim, Shakir Hassan Al Said, Francis Alys, and Ali Arkady, to bridge past and present after years of war. The Lebanon Pavilion at the Arsenale Nuovo features Zad Moultaka's video installation inspired by an ancient Babylonian manuscript of the Arab Apocalypse, reflecting on justice and war through a modern simulacrum of the Stele of Hammurabi. The UAE Pavilion presents a group show titled "Rock, paper, scissors: positions in play," curated by Nasar, which examines the role of play in artistic creativity through dance, body language, and naive wooden artifacts.