Azernews.Az

An exhibition of world famous photographers Face to Face, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Statoil's work in Azerbaijan, was opened in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Baku with the assistance of Heydar Aliyev Foundation on Thursday.

Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev, the dean of the Baku branch of Moscow State University named after Lomonosov, artistic director of the UNS creative scene, Professor Nargiz Pashayeva, the director of the Heydar Aliyev Centre Anar Alekberov, the head of the EU mission in Azerbaijan Roland Kobia, representatives of Statoil and famous artists and public figures attended the opening.

In their speeches, the vice president of Statoil, Lars Christian Bacher and president of Statoil in Azerbaijan Lars Troyen Sorensen noted the rapid development of Azerbaijan's economy and its success in the oil and gas fields and in all spheres of national life.

"The introduction and communication with art is also possible outside cultural institutions. Commitment to art allows a company to create an inspiring and stimulating work environment, contribute to the promotion of the Statoil brand and culture, and also contribute to the development of culture in the countries where the company operates," Lars Christian Baker said.

"As an energy company Statoil believes that art is also energy. This energy differs from the energy of oil and gas, our core business. Energy of art inspires people. As a universal means of communication, art is helping people to understand each other through visual images and combines them independently of nationality, culture or origin," said Troyen Lars Sorensen.

The curator of exhibition Bjarne Voga said that Statoil's art collection consists of more than 1000 works of contemporary authors collected over the past 25 years. The main elements of the project are education, communication and exhibition activities, he said, and introduced the visitors to the world-known photographers from Statoil's art collection.

Face to Face is an exhibition of portraits, comprising 63 works, including photographs, sculptures and paintings by 16 artists from 12 countries - the UK, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, the U.S., South Africa, Argentina and Brazil.

The exhibition will run till November 11.