Politics in Modern Arab Art
Crossing Boundaries Lecture Series
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Acknowledgment
UAE-based writer and art collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi discussed the political undertones of iconic artworks of the 20th century in the Arab world for the first Crossing Boundaries Lecture of the 2016-2017 year.
From the Baathist regimes of Syria and Iraq to Egypt’s pan-Arabism under Gamal Abdel Nasser, paintings and sculptures 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 government patronage of the arts, many artists have chosen to challenge their authorities through their art practices.
This talk is an attempt to shed light on an often neglected dimension in the modern history of the Arab world.
Biography
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
Art Collector and Writer
@sultanalqassemi
sultanalqassemi.com
barjeelartfoundation.org
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a United Arab Emirates-based columnist whose articles have appeared in The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The New York Times Room for Debate, Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, and The Globe and Mail, as well as other notable publications.
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is also a noted commentator on Arab affairs on Twitter. He rose to international prominence during the Arab Spring, with his tweets rivaling those of the major news networks as a news source. This led to TIME magazine listing him as one the 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011.
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi was an MIT Media Labs Director’s Fellow from 2014 to 2016, and in 2014, Arabian Business listed him as one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs under the Thinkers category.
He continues to write and tweet about the Arab world both from his home in Sharjah, as well as while giving lectures internationally.
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative established to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region by building a prominent and publicly accessible art collection in the United Arab Emirates. The Barjeel Art Foundation currently has an exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
Video
Excerpt from 'Politics in Modern Arab Art', the Crossing Boundaries Lecture by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
Excerpt from 'Politics in Modern Arab Art', the Crossing Boundaries Lecture by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
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