| What conditions affect creative processes in the Arab world? The region’s strong politicization inevitably means that art is also perceived in a political context, raising the question of the relationship between “creativity, crisis and criticism” - especially in the Middle East. How do artists react to political and social pressure? And how do they deal with self-censorship? How do they operate with the tension between aspirations toward free artistic expression and socio-political repression in societies that are based on collective structures and oriented toward unity, such as predominate in the Middle East? Thus, the aspect of provocation through artistic confrontations with taboo issues such as homosexuality, female sexuality and conflicts between Western and Eastern ways of life will be thematised as well. Artists and art critics from the region and the Diaspora discuss the conditions under which they produce their art.
Program:
Sat. April 5
2:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Politics and Aesthetics - On the Political Context of Art and Artists
Podium discussion Kamal Boullata, painter and journalist, Menton/Jerusalem Amjad Nasser, writer, culture editor of the daily “Al-Quds al-Arabi”, London Jalal Toufic, essayist and video artist, Beirut Akram Zaatari, film director and artist, Beirut Language: English and German with simultaneous translation Concept and organisation: Sven Arnold and Thomas Hartmann
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Creativity and Criticism - Their Recognition by Society
Podium discussion Awni Karoumi, theatre director, Berlin/Baghdad Jack Persekian, curator of the DisORIENTation exhibit, gallery owner, director of the al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem Nehad Selaiha, theatre critic for Al-Ahram Weekly, Professor at the Art Academy in Cairo William Wells, owner, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo
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