On September 28, inauguration of three exhibitions – “Live Life”, “Hurufism: Art and Identity” and Brian Eno’s “77 million art works” – took place at the Heydar Aliyev Centre, within the framework of the festival “Nasimi – Poetry, Art and Morality”.

Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) Public Association attended the exhibitions’ inauguration ceremony.

Delivering her congratulations on the festival’s inauguration, Leyla Aliyeva expressed confidence this festival would contribute to advancement of art and culture around the world. Saying that Nasimi had played a significant role in the development of the Azerbaijani poetry, having created master works in poetry, Leyla Aliyeva noted that Nasimi’s poems continue to live today, and remain urgent. It was brought to attention that in this festival, the spirit of the Nasimi poetry would be discovered through music, dance, art, video-installations and yogic meditations, travelling deep into consciousness.

Citing the opening of three exhibitions within the framework of the Nasimi Festival, Leyla Aliyeva underscored that, having been authored by her, the exhibition “Live Life” had been shown in London, Berlin, Moscow, Paris and Tbilisi, noting that it drew attention to environmental challenges. She mentioned that this exhibition stressed the beauty of our planet, and unity of all people.

Talking about the exhibition called “Hurufism: Art and Identity”, presented by the Barjeel Art Foundation of the United Arab Emirates, Leyla Aliyeva said works by contemporary artists residing in a number of Arab countries were displayed here. Moreover, it was mentioned that at the exhibition “77 million art works” by Brian Eno, display of a music and video-art installation took place.

Having thanked the guests coming to the festival, Leyla Aliyeva underscored that she was fond of the Nasimi poetry. Saying, “While reading these works, one feels the spirit of human. I am hopeful a number of new readers of Nasimi poetry would emerge as a result of this festival, disseminating more positive ideas throughout the planet.” – Leyla Aliyeva wished successes in the Festival’s work.

Speaking at the event, representative of the Barjeel Foundation Charles Pocock and Nasimi’s relative Mohammad thanked for the Nasimi Festival, and for its organization.

Then, attendees of the event became familiarized with the exhibition.

Exhibition “Live Life”

The exhibition “Lıve Life” has been organized at Leyla Aliyeva’s initiative.

After being shown in London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and Tbilisi, the exhibition was brought to Baku. It aims at drawing attention to environmental issues and protection of nature, and enlightening the public on the role of art in this sphere.

The exposition includes works by Leyla Aliyeva, Azerbaijani artists Maryam Alakbarli, Aylel Heydarova, Naila Sultan, Rahim Chopurov, Timur Ozdemirov, whose works have been demonstrated in all cities where the exhibition was presented. Moreover, local artists too had been invited to participate in an exhibition held in each country.

At the exhibition taking place at the Heydar Aliyev Centre, works by local artists Vasif Najafzadeh and Khazar Nabiyev are displayed. Andreas Al Chreiki (born in Syria), David Mkhedlishvili (Georgia), Viktor Semyonov (Russia), Jennifer Westcon (France) and Sabina Murmeister (Germany) too joined the Baku exhibition. Over 200 works are displayed in the exposition.

A visitor of the exhibition “Live Life” arrives at a conclusion that life means creativity. From this viewpoint, being able to live a meaningful life may be considered as creativity. By real acts we save nature, while by art we save human spirit, as truly striving for beauty would help us understand laws governing the universe.

“Hurufism: Art and Identity” Exhibition

The exhibition “Hurufism: Art and Identity”, inaugurated at the Heydar Aliyev Centre, is presented based on the collection of the Barjeel Art Foundation of the Unites Arab Emirates. Here are displayed over 30 examples of painting, sculpture and graphics.

This exhibition displays examples of creativity associated with hurufism and the path of its development to this day. The exposition embraces compact pictures related to different times, approaches and artists, as well as issues these artists were concerned about in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Exhibition “77 million art works” by Brian Eno

Within the framework of the Festival, a music and video-art installation called “77 million art works” by Brian Eno, the creator of the ambient music genre, eminent British composer, was also presented in the Heydar Aliyev Centre.

The “77 million art works” exhibition comprises numerous combinations of visual and sound elements created by Eno. It is almost impossible to conceive the catalogue of numerous recording that it includes. The “Art Works”, by being created in an algorithmic fashion directly before the eyes of the audience, form constantly developing audio-visual, kaleidoscope-type video effects.

This work has so far been demonstrated in Tokyo, London, New York, Buenos-Aires, Barcelona, Sydney, Mexico, Cape Town, Rome etc.

Brian Eno is a British musician, singer, music theorist, voice-recording producer, and multimedia artist. He is considered to be the founding father of the ambient music.

Brian Eno was for the first time recognized as one of the members of the “Roxy Music” Group early in 1970. A little later, his first solo album was released. As a producer, he realized his imagination and skills through the groups “Talking Heads”, “Devo”, “Laurie Anderson”, “U2” and “Coldplay”. His numerous joint creative works include voice recordings with David Bowie, John Kale, David Bern, Grace Johns, and James Blake etc.

Eno has, at the same time, conducted visual experiments with light and video. They have occurred along with his musical creativity for the recent decades. He has shown his works in various parts of the world, from Venice Biennale to Saint Petersburg, to Beijing and Sydney.