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President Nada Shabout
President Nada Shabout and Board Member Salwa Mikdadi edited New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century published by Transglobe Publishing Ltd. with a second release in Oct by Thames and Hudson. The publication includes essays by Mikdadi, Shabout, Tarek Atrissi, Venetia Porter, and Sarah Rogers.
http://www.tgpublishingltd.com/arab1.html
Nada Shabout received a National Endowment for the Humanities-Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant for her project, The Open Modern Art Collection of Iraq: Web tools for Documenting, Sharing and Enriching Iraqi Artistic Expressions.
The Open Modern Art Collection of Iraq (OMACI) project will prototype a robust, participatory content-management system to trace, share and enable community enrichment of the modern art heritage of Iraq. The project represents a collaborative effort of the University of North Texas, the Alexandria Archive Institute, and the School of Information at UC Berkeley. OMACI will create a virtual gallery with images of works of art, many of them now lost, from the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad, linked to publications, exhibition catalogs, and personal documentation. Technologies deployed in this project focus on ease of use and localization, extensive and inclusive documentation, community contribution, and syndication of content elsewhere on the web. The success of the system lies in its ability to reach a wide and participatory audience across the globe, offering users the ability to document, discuss, explore, and enrich Iraqi artistic expressions and experiences.
Secretary Dina Ramadan
*Secretary Dina Ramadan presented a paper, "Imagining Audiences: The Unstable Categories of "Art" and "Politics" in al-Tatawwur," on June 6th 2009, at the Courtlaud Institute, London, as part of Artists' Writings 1850-Present conference.
President-Elect Sarah Rogers
In August 2009, Sarah Rogers will begin a Terra Foundation Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Her project is titled, “Innocents Abroad, Again: American Artists in Beirut, 1953-1975.
Board Member Beral Madra
Since
In
Salwa Mikdadi has recently accepted a position as "Head of Arts and Culture Programme at the Emirates Foundation."
For further information: bmadra@tnn.net; info@nuovaicona.org
Board Member Salwa Mikdadi
The first Palestinian participation at the Venice Biennale
June 7 – September 30 2009
Ex Convento Cosma e Damiano,
Campo S. Cosmo, Giudecca
Vaporetto Stop: Palanca, lines nº 1- 2, 41- 42
opening reception June 6, 2009 at 5:00 pm
participating artists - Taysir Batniji - Shadi HabibAllah - Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti - Emily Jacir - Jawad Al Malhi - Khalil Rabah The seven participating artists, commissioned to create new art works, were chosen for their outstanding commitment to their art as well as their ability to bridge local and global themes. Among them are emerging and established artists. They employ diverse techniques including sound installation, multimedia performance installation, site specific work, animation, photography, and video. Their art tackles themes ranging from the epistemology of the concept of biennales to the dialogue of cultures within architecture and urban design, and explores visual perception of objects in the mechanical state. It also examines marginality via the structural geography of the refugee camp, and activates an almost non-exiting community discourse on the colonialist socio-spatial reconfiguration of urban centers. To insure that Palestinian communities under siege join in celebrating this inaugural exhibition, six Palestinian art institutions in Jerusalem and the West Bank will show duplicates of the art works opening the exhibitions simultaneously with Venice. The Palestinian venues are: - A. M. Qattan Foundation - Birzeit University Art Museum - Al-Hoash Palestinian Art Court - International Academy of Art Palestine - Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art - Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation Exhibition curator: Salwa Mikdadi, Independent Curator Exhibition commissioner: Vittorio Urbani, Director of Nuova Icona SYMPOSIUM Conversations June 5, 2009 From 9:30 am until 5:00 pm Limited seating, early registration required info@palestinecoveniceb09.org Issues to be discussed will focus on art in the time of perpetual crisis, the role artists play in civil society as activist and as catalysts of democratic discourse, and the artists’ activation of public spaces as alternative venues in the absence of museums and state support. Symposium participants include the artists, art historians and art professionals representing several Palestinian art institutions. CATALOGUE A fully illustrated catalogue will be available in two editions, Arabic and English. CONTACT info@palestinecoveniceb09.org www.palestinecoveniceb09.org PATRONAGE Exhibition granted patronage by the City of Venice SPONSORS - Rana Sadik and Samer Younis - The Khalid Shoman Foundation - Darat al Funun - Welfare Association - CCC: sponsor of Khalil Rabah’s art project A Geography: 50 Villages – 3rd Riwaq Biennale
Board Member Salwa Mikdadi curated Palestine c/o Venice at the Venice Biennale, marking the first Palestinian participation at the Biennale.
Rather than adopt one theme, the exhibition takes on a conceptual framework that embraces the Palestinian people questioning the disproportionate use of the media image of nameless faces and voiceless people. Two of the art projects are collaborative interventions with diverse Palestinian communities whose members will travel to Venice to participate in the art performance and/or the Symposium.
In the same spirit, it is appropriate and necessary to insure that the Palestinian communities under siege, unable to obtain travel passes, join in celebrating the first Palestinian exhibition at the Venice Biennale. In this respect, six Palestinian art institutions in Palestine will exhibit duplicates of the art works, thereby allowing Palestinian audiences to participate in the opening of the exhibition simultaneously to its opening in Venice. The Palestinian venues are: A.M. Qattan Foundation, Birzeit University Art Museum, Al-Hoash Palestinian Art court, International Academy of Art Palestine, Al Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, and Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation.
The seven participating artists, commissioned to create new works, were chosen for their outstanding commitment to their art and their ability to bridge local and global themes. Among them are emerging and established artists. They employ diverse techniques including sound installation, multimedia performance installation, site specific work, animation, photography, and video. Their art references Palestinian issues within an international artistic discourse. It is self-reflexive on the artistic process outside the boundaries of the traditional exhibition space, tackles themes ranging from the epistemology of the concept of biennales to the dialogue of cultures within architecture and urban design, and explores visual perception of objects in the mechanical state, marginality via the structural geography of the refugee camp, and the activation of an almost non-exiting community discourse on the colonialist socio-spatial reconfiguration of urban centers.
Participating Artists
Taysir Batniji, lives and works in Paris
Shadi HabibAllah, lives and works in Ramallah
Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, live and work in Bethlehem
Jawad Al Malhi, lives and work in Jerusalem
Emily Jacir, lives and works in Ramallah/New York
Khalil Rabah, lives and works in Ramallah
Curator: Salwa Mikdadi, Independent Curator based in Berkeley, CA
Commissioner: Vittorio Urbani, Director Nuova Icona
Symposium:
Conversations
Free Admission. Limited seating, early registration required
Contact: info@palestinecoveniceb09.org
Issues to be discussed will focus on art in the time of perpetual crisis, the role artists play in civil society as activist and as catalysts of democratic discourse, and the artists' activation of public spaces as alternative venues in the absence of museums and state support.
Symposium participants include the artists as well as art historian Yazid Anani (Birzeit University, W. Bank), Kamal Boullata (artist & art historian), Salwa Mikdadi, Vittorio Urbani, Tina Sherwell (art historian and director of The International Academy of Art Palestine), Jack Persekian (curator, al Ma'mal Foundation for the Arts, Jerusalem & artistic director of the Sharjah Biennale) architects Suad Al Amiry (Director, Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation) and Farhat Yousef (Head of Planning Unit, Riwaq), Ramallah.
Catalogue: A fully illustrated catalogue will be available in two editions, Arabic and English.
For more information contact Salma Tuqan, Exhibition Coordinator at:
info@palestinecoveniceb09.org
http://www.palestinecoveniceb09.org
Exhibition granted patronage by the City of Venice Sponsors: The Khalid Shoman Foundation-Darat al Funun; Welfare Association; Rana Sadik & Samer Younis
Secretary Rhonda Saad
Treasurer Rhonda Saad will present the paper, “A Distant History: Modern & Contemporary Art of the Arab World,” as part of the panel, “Palestinian Identity at Home and Abroad,” for the conference Mirror Images: The Challenges for Arab and Islamic Studies held at Villanova University,
Board Member Silvia Naef
Board member Silvia Naef's 1996 book on modern art in Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon has been translated into Arabic by Dr. Hussain Qubaysi:
Bahthan an hadatha 'arabiyya, Tatawwur al-funun al-tashkiliyya fi Misr wa Lubnan wa-l-Iraq (Beirut: Agial li-l-funun al-tashkiliyya, 2008).
The book is available through www.alfurat.com