[Interview] The new museum and the new ambitions of the Arab World Institute in Paris

The Arab World Institute (IMA), in February 2023. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

9 mins

It is the consecration of ten years of presidency of Jack Lang and a turning point for the Arab World Institute: “ 

 ”.

Thursday, February 2 was presented the configuration of the long-awaited new museum of the IMA, the "Beaubourg of Arab arts", which should see the light of day in 2025/2026, thanks to the extraordinary donation of more than 1700 works by Claude and France Lemand and a financial contribution of 6 million euros from the Ministry of Culture.

Joint interview with Jack Lang and the director of the museum, Nathalie Bondil.

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Jack Lang

Many people could testify that this house has been transfigured, metamorphosed.

When I became president of the IMA, the newspaper Le Monde headlined on an entire page: “ 

 ”.

Today, many will recognize that the IMA has regained life and vigor, projects, a meaning, a philosophy, a dream which is being fulfilled every day, through exhibitions which are arousing growing enthusiasm, through the full and whole of the Arabic language [

, editor's

], through conferences, debates, film screenings, and above all the growing presence of young people from all over.

RFI

Jack Lang

The ambition is for this museum to be both a museum of the history and culture of the Arab world, and a museum of modern and contemporary culture in the Arab world.

This will be a unique institution in the West, the most important if not the only one of its type, having the good fortune to benefit from an exceptional donation, that of the collector and gallery owner Claude Lemand who gave us nearly two thousand absolutely remarkable works of art. modern and contemporary art.

RFI

Nathalie Bondil

Compared to the current presentation of the museum, the break, the innovation, the originality, the singularity will be that we are going to present artists of modern and contemporary art who, through their works, will bring us in a trip.

A journey through history where we will meet ancient, pre-Islamic, Islamic, popular, indigenous civilizations… Therefore, the artists themselves, with their works, will be so many windows to understand these Arab worlds in their complexity.

Jack Lang, president of the Arab World Institute (IMA), in February 2023. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

The new IMA museum will remain a museum anchored in France which will speak of the Arab worlds, from antiquity to the contemporary world, addressing both the Arab caliphs and the Ottoman sultans, colonization, decolonization or artistic patriotism in the Arab world.

How are you going to deal with these themes without having a French or European-centric vision which could harm the universality of the project

Nathalie Bondil

I am Canadian, and also of Mediterranean and Algerian origin… At the Arab World Institute, most of the colleagues I work with also come from these Arab worlds by their origin or their family.

All these questions that are linked to colonization, to decolonization, to the decentering of the gaze, to history, to iconography, all these questions will be addressed in the exhibition thanks to the artists, because the artists approach in a very frontal, very direct, these issues which are important and which we must show and expose for our audiences.

Why did you particularly underline the creation of a section entitled “

Nathalie Bondil

The Lemand donation, with our collection of modern and contemporary art, will allow us to address subjects that were not present at the Arab World Institute.

Previously, we had a collection that was more ethnological, ethnographic.

Now, thanks to works of art, paintings, sculptures, engravings, art books... we will be able to approach the Nahda, for example, to show the emancipation of these Arabs who want to get out of the Ottoman yoke, but also the very fruitful exchanges that all this Arab intelligentsia was able to create with the West.

We are also going to explain how they were able to affirm their identity by reconnecting with their past and launching the wars of decolonization, fighting against imperialism, asserting their patriotism and their independence.

These are important subjects and that the younger generations want to see.

And we have very strong works that allow us to approach these questions from a peaceful but uncensored angle.

What is the vocation of this new museum compared to other existing museums in the world

Jack Lang

The positioning is to show the relationship between history and the present.

The part that will be reserved for modern and contemporary art will be very important.

Nowhere else in the West will we have the chance to see such beautiful masterpieces that represent this Arab creativity.

And in a few days, I am going to Rabat to inaugurate an unprecedented exhibition at the Mohammed VI museum, with masterpieces from the collection which will be presented outside the Arab World Institute and will tour several cities of Morocco, Rabat, Marrakech, Fez, Tangier…

Arwa Abouon (Libya, 1982 - Canada, 2020): "I'm Sorry, I Forgive You", 2012. © IMA Museum

What will be the positioning in relation to other flagship institutions such as the museum in Doha, Qatar

Nathalie Bondil

The Mathaf Museum in Doha has a sensational collection [9,000 works, from 1840 to the present day, editor's note], they collected very early on.

Then there is the Sharjah Museum, from the Barjeel Foundation, which also has a remarkable collection [

,

) on the Arab world.

We position ourselves in the West with the largest collection of modern and contemporary art.

For this, these modern and contemporary artists will serve as our guide through this great journey through civilizations.

The important thing for the new IMA museum was not to compete with what the Louvre Museum does very well, with an extraordinary Islamic arts department, or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, or the Victor and Albert Museum in London.

Here, we have the chance, the privilege, to have works of modern and contemporary art, which no other museum in the West has in such quantity and with such quality.

Relying on this collection allows us to examine the past while looking at current issues and challenges – we talk about gender issues, decolonization, all these very relevant issues.

In doing so, we are not going to duplicate what other museums do very well on the Paris square.

We are going to bring a new stone.

For me, this is very important, because the knowledge and recognition of Arab arts is fundamental – in making Arab art part of the global performing arts at the highest level.

This new museum will make it possible to give recognition, pride, to this exceptional, international scene - which is also ours -, to an extent that has never been done before.

When it was inaugurated in 1987, under the presidency of President Mitterrand where you were Minister of Culture, the adventure of the IMA began with the member countries of the Arab League, some twenty countries.

What will be their part, their contribution, their participation in the new museum of the Arab World Institute (IMA)

Jack Lang:

Since the creation of the IMA, a lot has changed.

Originally, the Arab countries, the Arab League, were to participate in the financing.

It's over.

It's been over for twenty years.

Therefore, they participate by their “moral support”, by their presence within the Council of the Institute.

Beyond the Council, there are obviously the relationships that we can establish ourselves with such and such a country.

Most often it's with creators, artists, universities, rather than governments, however, we do have relationships with some governments.

Will there be a museum standard-bearer like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre

Nathalie Bondil: We

will have to talk about it with the teams [laughs].

Me, personally, I have some works that I really like.

I'm thinking of

[

] by M'Hamed Issiakhem [

], a work with both a political and independence consciousness, but at the same time an artistic consciousness.

A deeply moving painting from an autobiographical point of view and with universal significance.

For me, it's one of the masterpieces of the collection, but I imagine you have yours too...

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