February 4, 2013

Inauguration of the “Flight to Baku. Modern Azerbaijani Art” Exhibition in Moscow

The “Flight to Baku. Modern Azerbaijani Art” Exhibition was inaugurated at Moscow’s  Multimedia Art Museum with support from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and joint organizational assistance by Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Russia and the “Baku” magazine, February 4.


In an opening ceremony attended by Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, Russia’s influential persons, public figures, people of art and guests coming from various countries of the world were present.


Leyla Aliyeva addressed the ceremony.


Speech by Leyla Aliyeva:


- Respected Guests,  Dear Friends.


Today I’m pleased to welcome you all to the “Flight to Baku. Modern Azerbaijani Art” Exhibition. I’m glad to say that this exhibition is being held at Moscow’s  famous Multimedia Art Museum, which has always been open to the most advanced and interesting types of creativity and represented talented people from all over the world. Today we are going to present to you the Azerbaijani modern art reflecting the most diverse styles and  trends. 21 Azerbaijani artist have worked on this exhibition. Some of them are young and have just started their creative activity. But, among them, there are also very famous artists. Today you will see here over 100 works in video, installation, sculpture, painting and photo genres. The most interesting aspect of the exhibition is that  majority of the works has been prepared for the “Flight to Baku” exhibition. This exhibition has already been demonstrated in London, Paris and Berlin and, I hope it will be seen in a lot of world cities.


We have prepared this exhibition for about 2 years. I hope the exhibition will talk with you in its own language - the language of art – what high achievements our Homeland has made in all spheres. After all, Azerbaijan is an unmatched country with rich culture and old history, linking the East with the West. Azerbaijan may be proud of a lot of things.  Many people may not know that in 1901 Azerbaijan  opened a girls’ school, in 1918, first in the Orient, granted women the right to elect and be elected. First opera in the East – Leyli and Majnun – was written in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has always linked moral values with traditions. Today, there is a Muslim Mosque, Zoroastrian Temple, Christian Church and a Synagogue in our country. Our country’s architecture combines the most diverse architectural styles  from the Maiden Tower to Zaha Hadid’s postmodernism architectural chef-d'oeuvre, and of course the Baku Boulevard on the Caspian shore, which we all very much love.


I hope this exhibition will give you a chance to learn Azerbaijan’s modern art more closely. I’m happy this exhibition is inaugurated today in a very beautiful city like Moscow, in this very beautiful hall. This is not the first event we hold here. A year ago we held the presentation of the Baku magazine’s English version. I would like, with the feeling of gladness, to tell you  that today is the 5th anniversary of our magazine. During the past period, we have found our readers and could talk of our country’s culture, old history and interesting people. But 5 years is not a long period. Therefore, I’m confident,  a lot of articles on very interesting matters are expecting us in future.


Dear friends, thank you for being with us this evening and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Olga Sviblova. We have been cooperating for many years. This is not our first project. We are going to have a lot of interesting projects in future. I would also like to thank all, who have worked on this exhibition, including our curator Erve Mikaleloff and nice and talented artists, who have created all these works. I wish you all a pleasant evening and invite you to fly to our magic city of Baku. Thank you very much.

 

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