Leyla Aliyeva: ‘Baku is like infinite art space attracting new creative people’
Moscow, July 4 (AZERTAC). ‘The image of Baku has evolved for centuries. This city was glorified as a unique point on the Silk Road, as the oil Klondike, and as the Windy City, and as the capital of the Land of Fire. There are so many comparisons, associations, metaphors, songs and poems related to Baku that it is time to create a specialized vocabulary,’ said editor-in-chief of Baku magazine and vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva in the new edition of the magazine.
The article of the editor-in-chief titled “Ornaments” tells about many faces the capital city possesses today.
‘As the appearance of the city changes, new infrastructure, works of architecture and new images appear. One of them, Baku is like an infinite art space, which is attracting new creative people. Its openness makes people with a striving to create desirable guests,’ Mrs. Aliyeva says.
As to the 55th Venice Biennale where Azerbaijani exhibits were showcased under the title of “Ornaments”, she says that this once again stresses the deep ties linking contemporary art environment with cultural traditions dating back to the rock drawings of Gobustan, ancient carpet ornaments, copper coinage and shebeke art. “Creativity does not happen too much, especially in a city like Baku with strong traditions of art. After all, this city has always had a magical ability to absorb all the extra-ordinary, without losing its individuality," Mrs. Aliyeva notes in her article.
Art expert of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Emin Mammadov in his stories titled "From the room of horror to the realm of shadows" and "In the arsenal of Love" tells about the Azerbaijan pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art and two projects - presented there - "Ornamentation" and "Love me / Love me not".
The section Gossip Column, through a variety of bright pictures, tells about exhibition of contemporary Azerbaijani art “Fly to Baku” that was held in the Austrian capital Vienna and presentation of the English-language version of “Baku” in Venice following London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and Rome. First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva also attended the ceremonies.
Faraj Garayev, son of the great Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev, in the article "The writer of music" shares memories of his father with the readers of the magazine. The magazine also tells about the V International Festival of Contemporary Music after Gara Garayev held in Baku and the gala evening, held at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in honor of the 95th anniversary of the outstanding Azerbaijani composer.