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More than a year has passed since the Egyptian Revolution initiated a falling domino effect throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. The opening of the new Middle Eastern Art wing serves as proof that the Middle East and its intricate, yet fascinating, conflicts are of interest to a large audience, and to the art world as well. The energy unleashed by the unrest and cries for change is still building up and is still felt strongly, and the energy I am looking at now is the art that resulted from this Arab Spring. |
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“Anisa Ashkar uses her face as a canvas, and translates Arab poems into Hebrew. Conversation for Ashkar is essential.”
Friday’s Links: The Art of Revolution
By Dounia Lomri
More than a year has passed since the Egyptian Revolution initiated a falling domino effect throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. The opening of the new Middle Eastern Art wing serves as proof that the Middle East and its intricate, yet fascinating, conflicts are of interest to a large audience, and to the art world as well. The energy unleashed by the unrest and cries for change is still building up and is still felt strongly, and the energy I am looking at now is the art that resulted from this Arab Spring.
“Spring 2012” at MECA is concise, diverse and uses a variety of media. The references to the revolutionary context are sometimes discrete or otherwise more obvious. Anisa Ashkar uses her face as a canvas, and translates Arab poems into Hebrew. Conversation for Ashkar is essential. And without the translation of it into art, many more questions would go answered. Fatma Shannan tweaks traditional symbols and transforms them into striking, yet familiar pieces. Finally, Gal Weinstein is using sculpture and 3D installations to recreate moments of distress and violence. Yes, it’s in Jersey, but so worth the time and train ticket.
A few other shows scattered around the city – Annabel Daou uses calligraphy and emphasizes the “you” in “You say I want a revolution.” She has had enough outsiders tell her what she thinks and wants for her own culture. These emerging artists all voice their personal revolution, what it means to them, and how they are able to express the chaos. The art of revolution apparently does exist; does art about revolution?
Here is the listing for this week:
-“Spring 2012”, at MECA, Middle East Center for the Arts, 888 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306. Artists: Farid Abu Shakra, Hannah Abu Hussein, Anisa Ashkar, Asad Azi, Micha Bar-Am, Jenifer Bar Lev, Gideon Gechtman, David Ginton, Fahed Halabi, Michael Halak, Vered Kaminski, Raffi Lavie, Manal Mahamid, Efrat Natan, Khader Oshah, Sasha Serber, Fatma Shannan, Dina Shenhav, Micha Ullman, David Wakstein, Gal Weinstein and Reuven Zahavi. Curated by David Wakstein.
Gal Weinstein, Fire tire, wax, wool, polyester wool, Styrofoam, graphite, 2010, Courtesy of the MECA.
-“Egypt Reborn, Art for Eternity” at the Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway , Brooklyn, New York, 11238.
-“Change: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present” Exhibition, at The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012. Curator: Hassan Rodoine. Artists: Ends June 23.
The Middle East hasn’t only changed on a political or social level, but has also evolved in many other ways. Architecture happens to be one of them.
-“City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952-1982” at The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012. Curator: Pedro Azara. Artists: Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, José Luis Sert, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Gio Ponto, Alison and Peter Smithson, Constantinos Doxiadis, Ricardo Bofill, Willem Marinus Dudok, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Ends May 5.
Baghdad wasn’t always what it is now. “City of Mirages: Baghdad” gives us the information we were missing about the city. And its evolution.
-“You say I want a revolution” by Annabel Daou at Josee Bienvenu Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011. Ends April 21.
-“The Long Fight for Kawtoolie: Portraits from the Jungles of Burma.”, by Jason Florio at Messineo Art Projects and Wyman Contemporary, 511 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001. Ends April 28.
-“Oriental Accident”, by Mounir Fatmi, at Lombard-Freid Projects, 518 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011. Ends April 14.
Fatmi is interested in the conflict between tradition and youth culture the Arab world is a victim of. His installations for example include traditional rugs, high-tech speakers and a sound system that resemble traditional dishes. A coincidence? Sure.
Annabel Daou, You say i want a revolution (pieces of the wall, 10), (detail), paper, gesso, acrylic, ink on mat board, 2012. Courtesy of the Josee Bienvenu Gallery.
-“Composed: Identity, Politics, Sex” at the Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave, New York NY 10128. Artists: Marc Adelman, Gloria Bornstein, AA Bronson, Debbie Grossman, Adi Nes, Collier Schorr, Rona Yefman. Ends June 30.
-“The Cosmopolitans” by Zubin Shroff, at Washington Square North, New York, NY 10011. Ends May 14.
