Overview
Registration is now closed for this event as we have reached full capacity.
Join us for an insightful talk from renowned columnist and researcher Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi.
The talk will survey the political underpinnings of Arab art in the 20th century, and the socio-political conditions that shaped cultural production in the region. Whether it is under the Baathist regimes of Syria and Iraq or under Egypt’s pan-Arabism championed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, painting and sculpture in addition to film and performance have been employed by various governments as a tool of soft power to propagate their policies to the public not only in their respective states but throughout the region and beyond. Despite this widespread government patronage of the arts, many artists have chosen to challenge their authorities through subversive movements and practices. The talk will shed light on an often neglected dimension of the modern history of the Arab World and other parts of the Middle East.
Agenda
Registration & networking
- 4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Art and Politics in the Middle East
- 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Networking & light bites
- 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Speaker
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is an Emirati columnist and researcher on social, political and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf States. He is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative established in 2010 to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region. He has taught ‘Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art’ at New York University, Yale University, Georgetown University, Boston College, The American University of Paris, Brandeis University, Harvard Kennedy School, Columbia University and most recently at Bard College Berlin. Sultan also recently completed a Fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Sultan is currently a Research Associate at SOAS Middle East Institute, London.
Jassim Zaini (Qatar, 1943-2012)
When & Where
Tuesday, 5 March
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Bloomberg Head Office,
10th Floor,
Al Fattan Currency House,
DIFC,
Dubai