Mona Khazindar, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Mona Khazindar has joined CIMAM as Supporter in May 2024.

Mona Khazindar studied and worked in France from 1978-2014. She was nominated Director General of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (Arab World Institute) from March 2011- March 2014.

From 1987 till her appointment as Director General she headed the Department of Contemporary Art and Photography in the museum of the Institut du Monde Arabe.

In 2010, she was appointed co-curator of the first Saudi Pavilion in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale. She has also collaborated with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran as a curatorial consultant.

Upon her return to Saudi Arabia in 2014, Mona Khazindar was appointed cultural advisor for the President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). Since February 2019 she works in the Saudi Ministry of Culture where she holds the position of CEO of the Museums commission.

In 2019, she was appointed board member of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC and in 2022 she was appointed member of the advisory board of the Institute of Art in the Arab World in the Lebanese American University.

Khazindar has written widely in Arab and European publications on Arab art, culture and history. She has authored a book that was released in March 2019, in English, French and Arabic. Titled Visions from Abroad, Historical and Contemporary Representations of Saudi Arabia, the book is published by Skira (Milano) in French and English and by Kaph (Beirut) in Arabic. Since 2021, she is also the editor of The Art Library, an editorial collection co-published by Misk Art and Rizzoli.

Khazindar holds a postgraduate degree (DEA) in Contemporary and Modern History from the Sorbonne and a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature from the American University in Paris.