Jack Lang has been re-elected president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World, IMA) in Paris. Lang, who has led the Institute since 2013, was “unanimously” renewed for a three-year term by a board of 14 Arab ambassadors and personalities appointed by the French government. His appointment was supported by President Emmanuel Macron.
Lang was the only candidate after former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian withdrew from the race to lead the French agency for the development of the Saudi province of AlUla (Drian was appointed president of the French Agency for the Development of AlUla earlier this year). anus).
His re-election was preceded by speculation that President Macron would renew his position (the newspaper The world he even assumed two days before his appointment that Lang’s term would not be renewed for more than a year).
According to an official source, Macron wanted to avoid another age-related controversy after the French court of audit criticized the French government’s decision to keep the contract of 69-year-old Versailles president Catherine Pégard. The French government kept Pégard. even if he exceeds the official retirement age by more than two years.
Jack Lang is 84 years old, but there is no age limit written into the IMA constitution. He recently expressed his support for Palestinian artists and the victims of the war in Gaza. Against the backdrop of Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, expressing his intention to ban all pro-Palestinian street demonstrations, Lang decided to extend the Palestinian season until December 31, including lectures and debates along with an exhibition drawn from the collection of the National Museum of Palestine in Exile (according to the IMA websitethe project of a Palestinian Museum involves compiling a collection based on “solidarity”, which includes donations from some Western artists).
Jack Lang, who announced a plan to set up a museum of Arab art in Jean Nouvel’s building on the banks of the Seine, also developed educational activities and offered free entry to young people under 27. The Institut du Monde Arabe has around 700,000 people. visitors every year and a budget of 25 to 28 million euros, 12 million euros financed by the French State and the rest through commercial flows.
