The 10th Cairo International Biennale was inaugurated at the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo where hundreds of international guests where present for the inaugural speech by the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny.

With more than 120 artists from all over the world, including Malta, showing everything from traditional oil paintings to weirdo-tech installations, the annual art bash offered a plethora of flavours, styles and mediums.

The Malta Council for Culture and the Arts selected a triptych of paintings by Luciano Micallef and a bronze sculpture by Charles Sammut to represent Malta at this event. Malta’s participation was made possible through the kind support of the Malta Tourism Authority and the Embassy of Malta in Cairo.
Launched in 1984, the Cairo International Biennale was the first of its kind in the Arab region. The Cairo International Biennale has established itself as one of the major events in North Africa.  Regional and international prestige is derived from the name Cairo, the capital of Al-Mo'ez, the centre of Arab culture, which has inspired civilisations across the world.

Due to the devoted efforts of its organisers, the event has successfully echoed across the world.  The symposiums held parallel to the event revive the glorious past of the Akkaz cultural fair (in the Arab country of Saudi Arabia), where intellectuals, poets and writers used to debate mankind's welfare, virtues of humanity, achievements and creativity. Likewise, the Cairo International Biennale has become a platform for illuminating dialogues.

This year's symposium was entitled ‘Collage as a Metaphor’.  The various sessions tackled various aspects of contemporary culture: Theatre of Memory, Faces of Modernity, Conceptual Collage, Concrete rejoins Virtual reality. The speakers at the three-day symposium were from, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Tunisia, Germany, USA, Australia and Malta.

Luciano Micallef was invited to represent Malta at the symposium where he delivered a speech concerning virtual reality that has dominated everyone’s life, the child’s life, the adult’s life, but also that of the artist.
 
Photo Caption: (from left) Charles Sammut, Ambassador Dr Richard Vella Laurenti and Luciano Micallef at the inauguration ceremony of the Cairo International Biennale.