The Adventures of Aluminum Hagop is an Arabic sci-fi comic, based on a thirteen-issue limited series in Armenian published under the name Hagop Aluminum. After the 13th Armenian issue was mischievously titled “Is this the End of Hagop?” H Publishers revived the series in Arabic, with occasional bilingual (Arabic/Armenian) special editions. The story is set […]
Even after a week Mohtaram could not believe that her sister, Narghes, was really with her in the living room of her house. But there she was, her polka dot chador wrapped around her, sitting in a patch of the sun on the rug in the living room to warm her legs, although it […]
When I think of cinema in Ramallah, I think of Esther Jallad. She and her family were expelled from their wealthy home in the port city of Jaffa in 1948 and found themselves in the hilly village of Ramallah. In her displacement, Esther carried one passion with her: she loved to go to the movies. […]
Ahmed Zaki is one of the many legendary figures of Egyptian cinema. During his lifetime (1949–2005), he reached the status of icon in Arab culture, since he played the roles of some of the key figures of these cultures, such as both presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat and singer Abdel Halim Hafez. In […]
I’m an Iranian artist and my work is mostly about my culture, religion and gender. I started working around 2 decades ago, when I was thinking about these subjects and started to look for a medium that best expressed my thoughts. After trying different media such as Theater, video, painting. I found photography and then […]
Q: How do you see the state of contemporary international art? How does art function in today’s global society? A: There is no one transcendental state of contemporary international art, but if you are speaking of the ‘art market’ then it is generally as it always has been, mediocre, self-serving, ahistorical, neo-liberal or conservative […]
“In vain, great-hearted Kublai, shall I attempt to describe Zaira, city of high bastions. I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades’ curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling […]
On August 7, 2008, an Amsterdam court ruled that an exhibition at the Tropenmuseum commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of al-Nakba, a term used by Palestinians to refer to their catastrophe of 1948, could remain open. The case against the museum was brought by a visitor who accused the museum of using the exhibition to incite […]
“The blind alleys that run alongside human conversation/like lashes are a sign of God…From these diverse signs you can see/how much work remains to do./Put away your sadness. It is a mantle of work.” Anne Carson, “The Truth About God” They say it takes ten years to make a dancer and twenty […]
Over the course of the last fifteen years or so, I have had the fortune of being engaged with various artist residency programs as a founder, director, juror, board member and donor. These residencies have taken on a variety of forms: from retreats to exchanges; site-specific, studio-based, workshop and community-based efforts; formats which focus on […]