The end of a successful exhibition

A viewer closely observes a life-size sculpture at the exhibition

Five jury members -- Wu Xiao Jiang from China, Iromie Wijewardena from Sri Lanka, Le Thong from Vietnam, and Sadek Khan and Syed Jahangir from Bangladesh -- selected the three Grand Prize winners and eight Honourable Mention Awards.

Like other popular international biennales, modern and technically rich art works such as installation and mixed media were predominant in the competition. Of the three Grand Prizes, two went to Dhali Al Mamoon of Bangladesh and Hiroshi Fuji of Japan for installation. Sedahgat Jabbari of Iran won the other prize for his mixed media work, which is a modern perspective of calligraphy. Mrinal Haque and Tejosh Haldar of Bangladesh, Maria Kristina Ulas of Estonia, Jagath Ravindra of Sri Lanka, Salman Al Malik of Qatar, Hilda Hyari of Jordan, Egidijus Rudinskas of Lithonia and Rashid Abdur Rahman of Oman won the Honourable Mention Awards for their modern approach both in terms of theme and presentation as well as use of matter.

A five-member selection committee-- Murtaja Baseer, Abu Taher, Alok Roy, Moinuddin Khalid and Hamiduzzaman Khan-- selected 174 art works of the 134 Bangladeshi artists from 1500 works by the 600 artists. ABM Salahuddin, director of Department of Fine Arts of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, claimed that this year's selection was unbaised. Moreover, 20 invited Bangladeshi senior artists exhibited one art work each at the biennale, he said.

Murtaja Baseer, a member of the selection committee said, "I sought a transparent selection process. Personally I'm not an admirer of installations, as the art form is not suitable for our socio-economic condition. However, in all the prestigious international biennales like Venice Biennale and others, the organisers always prefer to include art forms such as multi-media, photography and installation. Even the foreign jury members of the Asian Art Biennale prefer the technically rich art forms for the awards. It is a fact that Bangladeshi artists are doing quality installation. I suggested the inclusion of this art form in the Asian Art Biennale, so that the Bangladeshi artists can compete for the prizes."

Besides, a competition and exhibition, a two-day seminar was held at the Experimental Hall, BSA. Najma Khan Majlish and Syed Manzoorul Islam were the keynote speakers at the seminar titled "Gender Perspective in the Asian Art". Talking about the seminar, Baseer said, "The topic of the seminar was interesting and new. However, none of the speakers properly evaluated the topic. They have mixed up 'gender perspective' with the 'women's issue' and basically analysed from feminist point of view. However, male and female both are the part of gender perspective."

Local and foreign art experts are full of praise for the biennale. Foreign artists confessed to surprise at viewing such a huge event in Bangladesh. On overall arrangement Murtaja Baseer said, "I believe the Asian Art Biennale is a positive step in the development of art in Bangladesh. If we analyse and compare the development before and after the introduction of the biennale in 1981, we see that the Bangladeshi art has displayed dynamic development during the last two decades. The biennale has given a scope to indigenous artists to view the art works of foreign artists and thereby enrich their minds and work. I believe that young Bangladeshi artists are doing better than those of other South Asian countries. In this sense BSA is doing a great job."

Successful organiser ABM Salahuddin said, "The function was a fall out of the BSA's hard work. There should be a separate cell under the Fine Arts Department of BSA to organise the biennale."

Salahuddin has ambitious plans for the next biennale. He said, "The next biennale will include digital photography."