AHC 312-Seminar: Issues in Modern and Contemporary Art in the Middle East and the Arab

Syllabus

Catalogue Description

AHC 312-Seminar: Issues in Modern and Contemporary Art in the Middle East and the Arab World 3; 3.0 cr. Offered Annually.

The seminar offers topical treatment of issues related to modern and contemporary art in the Middle East and the Arab World. Specific case studies of artists and institutions from Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and so on will be combined with theoretical discussions upon anti-colonial struggles, post-colonial dilemmas, cosmopolitanism, identity politics and others issues.

Course Description

There has been an unprecedented international interest in contemporary art from the

Middle East and the Arab World. While triggered by political motivations and exacerbated

after the attacks in the World Trade Center in New York in 2001, this interest has helped to

strengthen the local institutional field of contemporary art in the region and encourage

reflective artistic and curatorial practices.

Throughout the seminar we will discuss specific art practices from the region (Egypt,

Lebanon, Palestine, UAE and Syria) as starting points to engage larger questions pertaining

to what constitutes an art practice in the region; the institutional frameworks that

accommodate these practices; the way in which value (both symbolic and monetary) is

constructed through these institutional structures and the dynamic of internationalization

of these practices and their participation in the global art scene. Particular attention is paid

to the historical contexts of art production and reception and various methods of

interpretation. While the course is framed around a region, we will pay a close attention to

the singularity of specific practices and the heterogeneity of various contexts. The course

combines in-class discussions and lectures with mandatory attendance to public talks,

exhibitions and institutional visits scheduled throughout the semester.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course, students should have gained the following skills and aptitudes:

Identify individual works of contemporary art from the Middle East;

Develop methods of interpretation;

Evaluate (describe, interpret, theorize and contextualize) individual works of visual culture;

Develop a thesis and argue it consistently and coherently;

Identify the importance of context and reception issues for the understanding of individual works of art;

Reflect on their learning processes;

Course Assessment

Attendance: 15% - This includes students’ class attendance record. More than 6 absences

result in failure.

Participation 15% - This includes students’ active engagement with in-class discussions

and demonstration of the knowledge and understanding of the daily reading. The syllabus

will be made available as a work in progress document, to which students are encouraged

to add further bibliographical references, artists’ names a well as any other resources they

find relevant for the course. The on-going work on the syllabus is also part of the

participation grade.

Writing Assignments – 40% -This includes an interview with an artist (1000 words, max.

points: 10), two exhibition reviews (500 words each, max points: 7 each) and two critical

writing texts focusing on individual artworks (500 words each, max points 8 each).

Presentation: 10%- Each student should choose an artist and introduce his or her work to

the class. The issues to be discussed should include but are not limited to the

contextualization of the work(s) in larger social and cultural contexts as well as relevant

artistic practices. Students are encouraged to open up questions for in-class discussion and

address their peers directly.

Final Paper: 20% - 3000 words. The final paper should be an argumentative essay,

addressing one of the topics discussed during the course and engaging the course literature.

Plagiarism results in an F grade. Papers should be submitted electronically. Confirmation

will be sent to each student upon reception. If the student has not received such

confirmation, it means that the paper is not submitted. It is the student’s responsibility to

contact the instructor and make sure that the final work is received. No late submissions are

accepted.

One month prior to the deadline for the submission of the paper, each student is

required to schedule a meeting with the instructor to discuss his or her topic and

submit a brief outline describing the argument, the method of writing as well as his

or her bibliographical references

Course Outline

Week 1: Middle Eastern Art? How to frame the course? What is Arab Art? What is Middle

Eastern Art? Regional taxonomies.

Reading: Kirsten Scheid, “What we do not know: Questions for a study of contemporary

Arab art”, ISIM Review 22 (Autumn, 2008).

“Introduction”, in NewVision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century. Eds. Hossein

Amirsadeghi, Salwa Mikdadi, Nada Sabout, Transglobe Publishing, 2009.

Samir Kassir, “Being Arab”, in The Future of a Promise.

Week 2: The Middle East as a Geopolitical Concept in Transformation

“Introduction and Conclusion”, Is there a Middle East: Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept, ed.

by Michael Bonine, Abbas Amanat

Anthony Downey, “Beyond the Former Middle East,” in Ibraaz, pp. 46-64

Ahmed el-Attar- “On the Importance of Being an Arab”, 2009 http://vimeo.com/30880171

Shady El-Noshokaty, “Rehearsal for an Important Statement”, video.

Week 3: Redefining the Other: Postcolonial Conditions and Questions of Knowledge and

Representation

Reading: “Introduction”, Orientalism, Edward Said, pp. 1-31.

“Authenticity and Its Modernist Discontents: The Colonial Encounter and African and

Middle Eastern Art History” by Prita Meier, in Arab Studies Journal, Vol. XVIII No. 1

Week 4: Photographic Practices in the Middle East

Reading: Maria Golia, Photography and Egypt, chapters four and five

Issam Nassar, “Early Photography in Palestine: Between Social and Imaginary Landscapes”

in Homeworks I

Screening of Akram Zaatari’s film Him+Her Van Leo

Week 5: Modern Art and Its Ideologies in the Arab World

Reading: Nada Shabout, Modern Arab Art: The Formation of Arab Aesthetics, Introduction

and Part I

Lilian Karnouk, Modern Egyptian Art, Introduction and Chapter 7-Internationalism and

Abstraction

Catalogue for Review: Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art. Mathaf: Doha, 2011.

Recommended: Sarah Rogers, “Daoud Corm, Cosmopolitan Nationalism, and the Origins of

Lebanese Modern Art” in Arab Studies Journal, Vol. XVIII No. 1

Kirsten Scheid, NECESSERY NUDES: H. ADA ̄THA AND MU–A ̄.SIRA IN THE LIVES OF

MODERN LEBANESE, Int. J. Middle East Stud. 42 (2010), 203–230 .

Week 6: The Construction of “Contemporary Art”

Reading: Jessica Weineger, Creative Reckonings… excerpts to be chosen

Llian Karnouk, Modern Egyptian Art, Chapters 12- 16

Recommended: Clare Davies, The Artist-Bureaucrat Speaks , Bidoun #23

Abbas Baydoun, “Culture and Arts. Re: the Actual” in Homeworks I

Week 7: Introduction to Contemporary Art in Lebanon

Reading: On Being “the Other” in Post-Civil War Lebanon: Aid and the Politics of Art in

Processes of Contemporary Cultural Productionby Hanan Toukan

Rasha Salti, “Framing the Subversive in Post-War Lebanon” in Homeworks I

Place at Last Walid Sadek, Art Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Summer, 2007), pp. 34-47.

Out of History: Postwar Art in Beirut, Sarah Rogers, Art Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Summer,

2007), pp. 8-20.

Week 8: Institutions of Modern and Contemporary Art (please, refer to the Resources

section at the end of the syllabus), International exhibitions of Middle Eastern Art

Reading: Clare Davies on the three opening exhibition catalogues for Mathaf: Arab Museum

of Modern Art, Doha: Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art by Nada Shabout, Deena Chalabi and

Wassan al-Khudhairi; Interventions: A Dialogue Between the Modern and the Contemporary

by Nada Shabout; Told/Untold/Retold: 23 Stories of Journeys Through Time and Space by

Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath (All three published by Skira, 2010). On AMCA’s website.

Recommended: Mirene Arsanios, How to Make Nice Things Happen, issue 0

Reading: Dina Ramadan, “Regional Emissaries: Geographical Platforms and the Challenges

of Marginalisation in Contemporary Egyptian Art”

Catalogues for Review: Contemporary Arab Representations, Africa Remix, Unveiled,

DisOrientation

Week 9: Who is the Curator? Exhibition-Making Practices in the Middle East

Reading: Curating Beirut: A Conversation on the Politics of Representation, Sandra Dagher,

Catherine David, Rasha Salti, Christine Tohme, T. J. Demos, Art Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2

(Summer, 2007), pp. 98-119

Some of the exhibitions to consider:

--Meeting Points, catalogue

--Invisible Publics, review by Clare Davis in Bidoun

--15 Ways to Leave Badiou ACAF, Alexandria

--Photo Cairo

--Khalil Rabah’s Palestinian Natural History Museum

--Homeworks

Week 10: Transnational Art Events.

When Global Art Meanders on a Magic Carpet: A Conversation on Tehran's Roaming

Biennial, in Arab Studies Journal, Spring, 2010.

“Event and Counter-Event: The Political Economy of the Istanbul

Biennial and Its Excesses” by Angela Harutyunyan, Aras Ozgun and Eric Goodfield in

Rethinking Marxism.

Recommended:

“When Matter Becomes Cultural Politics: Traps of Liberalism in the Tenth Sharjah Art

Biennial” by Angela Harutyunyan in http://www.red-thread.org/en/article.asp?a=48

Hanan Toukan, "Boat Rocking in the Art Islands: Politics, Plots and Dismissals in Sharjah's

Tenth Biennial," in Jadaliyya. May 02, 2011.

Catalogues to Review: --Sharjah Art Biennial catalogues

Jack Persekian, Introduction in Provisions, and Diary entries in Provisions 2.

ARTISTS IN FOCUS

Week: The Cinematic Image in Video Art

Sherif El-Azma, Hassan Khan, Akram Zaatari, Ghasan Salhab, Jalal Toufic, Maha Mammoun,

Rania Stephan

Reading: The War Works: Videos under Siege, Online and in the Aftermath, Kaelen Wilson-

Goldie, Art Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Summer, 2007), pp. 68-82

Shahira Issa , “Sherif el-Azma: Powercord, Skateboard”, Indicated by Signs. Ed.

Hamzamorlar, Bonner Kunstverein, 2010

Recommended: Salwa Mikdadi, “Should We Mind the Gap? New Media Arts and the Art of

Painting: the Case of Beirut and Ramallah” in Maidan: Prospective on Contemporary Art and

Culture…

Screening of video works

Week 12. Performing History

Walid Raad, Khalil Rabah, Wael Shawky, Ziad Antar, De-colonizing Architecture, Munira El-

Sohl, Basma el-Sharif, Rabih Mroue and Lina Saneh

Reading: Mining War: Fragments from a Conversation Already Passed, Hannah Feldman and

Akram Zaatari, Art Journal, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Summer, 2007), pp. 48-67

Silvia Naef, “Globalization, 9/11 and the Visual Art Scene in Eastern Mediterranean” in

Maidan: Prospective on Contemporary Art and Culture…

Resources:

Artists

Ayrene Anastas and Rene Gabri (Palestine)

Joana Hajothomas and Khalil Joreige

Vartan Avakian

Marwan Rachamou

Iman Issa

Hrair Sarkissian

Ziad Antar

Rokni Haerizadeh (SAB)

Adel Abidin

Walid Sadek

Maha Mahmoun

Doa Aly

Decolonizing Architecture

Amal Kenawy

Rania Stephan

Raed Yassin

Maha Mahoun

Sherif El Azma (Egypt)

Lara Baladi (Egypt)

Yto Barrada (Morocco)

Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)

Lamya Gargash (UAE)

Mona Hatoum (Palestine)

Emily Jacir (Palestine)

Rachid Koraïchi (Algeria)

Hassan Khan (Egypt)

Lara Baladi

Shirin Neshat (Iran)

Marwan (Syria)

Farhad Moshiri (Iran)

Rabih Mroue (Lebanon)

Shady El Noshoukaty (Egypt)

Walid Raad (Lebanon)

Khalil Rabah (Palestine)

Wael Shawky (Egypt)

Hassan Sharif (Dubai)

Adel El Siwi (Egypt)

Akram Zaatari (Lebanon)

Basma El-Sharif (Jordan)

Wafaa Bilal (Iraq)

Jannane Al-Ani

Oraib Toukan (Jordan)

Ghada Amer (Egypt)

Ala Younis

Salah Saouli

Tarek Attoui (Lebanon)

Kader Attia

Wafa Hourani (Palestine)

Bouchra el-Khalili (Morocco)

Institutions:

Palestine:

Riwaq Biennial

East Jerusalem Art Center

El Mahata Gallery in Ramallah

Jordan:

Darat El-Funun

Makan in Jordan

Lebanon:

Ashkal Alwan

Gallery Sfeir-Semler

Beirut Art Center

Espace SD

Dar el Fun, 196-1975

Janein Rubeiz Gallery

Sursock Museum

BIEL

Agail Gallery

98 Weeks

Egypt:

ACAF

Townhouse Gallery

Madrar

Mass Alexandria

Contemporary Image Collective

Zamalek Art Gallery

Palace of the Arts

Gezira Art Center

Modern Art Museum

Saad Zaghoul Cultural Center

Karim Francis Gallery

Foundation for Media Art and Education

Periodic Exhibitions and Biennials:

Alexandria Biennial (Egypt)

Cairo Biennial (Egypt)

Cairo Documenta (Egypt)

PhotoCairo (Egypt)

Meeting Points (multiple locations)

Homeworks (Beirut)

Riwaq Biennial (Palestine)

Sharjah Art Biennial (UAE)

Art Dubai (UAE)

Bibliography

Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents: A Collective Narrative; Reloading Images: 2010

Irit Rogoff “De-Regulation: With the Work of Kutlug Ataman” Third Text, Volume 97, Issue 2,

March 2009

Akram Zaatari, The Uneasy Subject, catalog of the exhibition in MUSAC.

Miren Arsanios , How to Make Nice Things Happen. Issue 0.

The Maghreb Connection: Movements of Life Across North Africa. Ed.Ursula Bienmann and

Brian Holmes, 2006, Actar, Barcelona.

Mapping Sitting: On Portraiture and Photography. Arab Image Foundation, 2002

With/Without: Spatial Products, Practices and Politics in the Middle East. Ed. Antonia

Carver, Shumon Basar and Markus Miesen, 2007

NewVision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century. Eds. Hossein Amirsadeghi, Salwa

Mikdadi, Nada Sabout, TRansglobe Publishing, 2009.

Art Journal’s 2007 Summer issue on contemporary art in Lebanon

Global Art Forum, 1 Transcripts.

Public Time: A Symposium. Modern Art Oxford and Out of Beirut. Modern Art Oxford, 2006,

“Contemporary Practices in Post War Lebanon: An Introduction by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie”

Tragedy in a Moment of Vision. A text by Bilal Khbeiz with annotations by Fadi Abdallah and

Hoda Taha.

Missing Links: Art Practices from Lebanon (Ashkal Alwan and Townhouse), 2001

Art Now in Lebanon, Darat el Funun, 2008.

Transit Visa: On videos and cities, featuring nine artists from the Middle East. Ed. Akraam

Zaatari and Mahmoud Hojeij, 2001

Arab Studies Journal, Spring 2010, vol. XVIII, No. 1 (Special Issue: Visual Arts and Art

Practices in the Middle East)

Presence Absence: Contemporary Art From Lebanon, Galerie Tanit

Parachute, 108, Beyrouth-Beirut

Beirut Bereft: the architecture of the forsaken and map of the derelict. Photographs by Ziad

Antar and text by Rasha Salti. Sharjah Biennial, 2009.

Palestinian Women Artists, Edited by Reem Fadda. Palestinian Art Court, 2007.

Is there a Middle East: Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept

Maria Golia, Photography in Egypt. Reaktion Books: London, 2010.

Lilian Karnouk, Modern Egyptian Art. AUC Press, 2009

Jessica Wineger, Creative Reckonings, Stanford University Press, 2006.

Provisions, 1 and 2, Sharjah Biennial 9, 2009.

Plot for a Biennial, Sharjah Biennial 10, 2011.

The Long Shortcut, Photo Cairo 4, ed. Molnar and Hamza, Cairo, 2009.

Mathaf- catalogues and Clare’s review: Clare Davies on the three opening exhibition catalogs

for Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha: Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art by Nada

Shabout, Deena Chalabi and Wassan al-Khudhairi; Interventions: A Dialogue Between the

Modern and the Contemporary by Nada Shabout; Told/Untold/Retold: 23 Stories of Journeys

Through Time and Space by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath (All three published by Skira,

2010).

Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran, edited by

Saeb Eigner with a forward by Zaha Hadid (London: Merrell Publishers Ltd, 2010)

Ramadan, Dina, ed. “Visual Arts and Art Practices in the Middle East.” Special issue, Arab

Studies Journal XVIII, no. 1 (Spring 2010).

Rogers, Sarah. “Producing the Local: Art in Lebanon,” Middle East Studies

Association Bulletin (Winter 2007).

--- “Postwar Art and the Historical Roots of Beirut’s Cosmopolitanism.” Diss., MIT,

2008.

Scheid, Kirsten. “Painters, Picture-Makers, and Lebanon: Ambiguous Identities in an Unsettled

State.” Diss., Princeton University, 2005.

---. “The Agency of Art and the Study of Arab Modernity.” MIT Electronic Journal of Middle

East Studies v7 (Spring 2007).

---“What we do not know: Questions for a study of contemporary Arab art”, ISIM Review 22

(Autumn, 2008).

Homeworks I, II and III, Ashkal Alwan publications. Beirut.

Nada Shabout, Modern Arab Art. University Press of Florida, 2007.

The Future of a Promise, ed. Lisa Lazar and Anthony Downey, Ibraaz, 2011.

Omar Kheif on Ahmed Bassiouny -

http://contemporarypractices.net/essays/volumeX/TheCaseforEgyptianMediaArt.pdf

Journals and Periodicals

Bidoun: Contemporary Art in the Middle East

Contemporary Practices in the Middle East

Canvas

Ibraaz

Nafas Magazine

ArteEast

Universesinuniverse

Art Territories

Not Non Arab, Third Text (forthcoming)

Critical Reviews:

“Art Now in Lebanon”Kaelen Wilson-Goldie in

http://www.daratalfunun.org/main/activit/curentl/art_lebanon/b.htm

Goal (on Ziad Antar) By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, in Bidoun, #13, Glory -

http://www.bidoun.org/magazine/13-glory/goal-by-kaelen-wilson-goldie/

FIAC Exhibition Uses Art to Open Public Discourse in Algiers, by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie,-

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2011/Dec-16/156997-fiac-exhibition-uses-art-to-

open-public-discourse-in-algiers.ashx#axzz1liXxfjdO

Many more reviews in Daily Star, Frieze, art Forum, The National, etc.

On the Politics of Art and Space in Beirut, by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, in Tate Papers, Autumn, 2009.

http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/09autumn/wilson_goldie.shtm

“Revolutionary Art in Egypt” by Clare Davies in Metropolism,

http://metropolism.com/magazine/2011-no4/egypte-kunst-na-de-revolutie/

Guest lecture by Bassam El-Baroni (Alexandria) – to be confirmed

Reading: Interview with Bassam El-Baroni, Hassan Khan, in 3 parts,

http://www.artterritories.net/?page_id=2063