Projects tagged "Middle East"

Ai Weiwei poses as drowned Syrian infant refugee in 'haunting' photo
Practitioner:
Ai Wei Wei
Date:
Feb 1 2016
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has recreated the image of drowned infant Alan Kurdi that in 2015 became the defining symbol of the plight of Syria’s refugees. For the recreation, Ai lay on a pebbled beach on the Greek island of Lesbos. His pose was similar to that of Kurdi’s lifeless body, which washed up on a beach near the Turkish town of Bodrum and was captured in a September 2015 photo.
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Protests and Posters in Kafranbel, Syria
Practitioner:
Activists in Kafranbel, Raed Fares
Date:
Dec 30 2011
A town in northwestern Syria has become the creative center of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Since the beginning of the uprising, the residents of Kafr Anbel have drawn signs that skewer the Assad regime and express outrage that the world has not done more to stop the killing in Syria.
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Spec Ops: The Line
Practitioner:
Walt Williams; Richard Pearsey
Date:
Jun 26 2012
Often in military style video games we kill without much regard for the enemy. They are faceless or stereotypical, the Nazi or evil Cold War–era Russian. They are enemies that were fought on the battlefields of great wars, or they are aliens that have no resemblance to humans save for a general humanoid form.
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Tel Aviv Museum of Art to darken galleries in protest on Thursday
Practitioner:
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Date:
Mar 23 2023
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is joining the countrywide judicial overhaul protests planned for Thursday, March 23, and will darken the halls and galleries of the museum, closing exhibits to the public and canceling planned tours and lectures. The only exhibit that will be open to the public, for free, is the exhibit of Israeli art from the museum’s collection, “Material Imagination: Center of Gravity,” which has been open for a year.
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Yemen Women Use Digital Tech to Improve Society with Safe Streets
Practitioner:
Defying Silence
Date:
May 14 2012
From Women's News NetworkYEMEN: Even though the connection to the internet has been intermittent at best and often too slow, women advocates in Yemen are now working to push digital tech as a means to improve society and gain human rights. As women continue to battle extreme sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, women
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The Bank
Practitioner:
SUPERFLEX
Date:
Oct 2 2013
Many of the banks originally situated on Bank Street in Sharjah have left for more lucrative locations, so we have imagined a new, non-monetary banking model for the street. What if we were to regard the sum total of memories and stories of the people in this area as the real capital of the street? And what if this new currency could be invested in the new Bank Street and converted into physical objects?
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Why Is Iran’s Regime So Afraid of This Song?
Practitioner:
Shervin Hajipour
Date:
Sep 27 2022
“Baraye,” the anthem of Iran’s “Woman, Life, Liberty” protest movement—a song woven together entirely from a Twitter hashtag trend in which Iranians express their investment in the current protests—continues to unite Iranians in their opposition to the Islamic Republic several weeks after it was first released online.
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Two Female Graffiti Artists in Afghanistan
Practitioner:
Shamsia Hassani and Malina Suliman
Date:
Apr 3 2013
Meet Shamsia Hassani. At age 24, she is one of Afghanistan's first female graffiti artists. An associate professor of sculpture at Kabul University, she was first introduced to graffiti in 2010 by British artist, Chu, during a week-long course in street art. Meet also Malina Suliman, 23, who has been receiving threats from extremists due to her work in graffiti.
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Burkaphilia
Practitioner:
Behnaz Babazadeh
Date:
Jun 1 2012
When Behnaz Babazadeh was young, her family moved from Afghanistan to the US. She loved almost everything about her new home — especially America’s amazing selection of candy — but she also loved wearing her familiar pink-flowered headscarf, which she’d grown used to wearing as part of her school uniform in her old home.
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Beirut Graffiti Artist Uses His Murals to Unite A Fragmented City
Practitioner:
Yazan Halwani
Date:
Jan 1 2011
Yazan Halwani is a young Beiruti artist who paints murals of revered Lebanese and Arab figures on prominent walls in a bid to help overcome sectarianism in this fragmented city. “What I try to do,” he explains down a fuzzy line from Beirut, “is write the stories of the city, on its own walls – creating a memory for the city.”
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Fashion label Vaqar is dispelling conservative perceptions of what Iranian fashion looks like
Practitioner:
Vaqar
Date:
Feb 4 2021
Iran is a nation with a fine art tradition that stretches back thousands of years; its reputation for contemporary fashion design less so. Writing that from an external, Western perspective may read unduly dismissive, but it’s a statement that holds up even from within the country’s borders, Shiva Vaqar assures us. “Being a designer has never really been considered a serious job here,” she says over the phone from Tehran.
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Thousands march against amendment to Animal Protection Law
Practitioner:
The Animal Party
Date:
Sep 30 2012
Thousands of animal rights activists marched against a draft law on Sunday that would make changes to Turkey's Animal Protection Law No. 5199, seeking to introduce practices currently used in other countries such as collecting stray animals from the streets and euthanizing members of the “excess” population.
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Young Women For Change: Fashion as Activism
Practitioner:
Young Women For Change
Date:
Feb 2 2013
Founded in April 2011, Young Women for Change (YWC) is an independent non-profit organization committed to empowering Afghan women and improving their lives through social, economical , political empowerment, participation, awareness and advocacy. YWC was co-founded by Noorjahan Akbar and Anita Haidary and consists of dozens of volunteer women and male advocates across Afghanistan.
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Art Behind Bars: Prison Art by Soudabeh Ardavan
Practitioner:
Soudabeh Ardavan
Date:
Nov 30 1985
Charged with participating in demonstrations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Soudabeh Ardavan was held for eight years (1981-1989) in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. She found sanity and solace through the forbidden activities of drawing and painting, secretly producing paint from flower petals and tea, using brushes made from toothpicks and human hair.
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On World Cartoonists Day India’s political cartoonists on the art of cartooning
Practitioner:
Cartoonists in India
Date:
May 5 2016
On your doorstep, or in their neighbourhood hotel, or the local tea shop, the media bring to you a world full of troubles. But along with that, they’ve had some consideration for your funny bone and give you a daily dose of laughter by publishing the work of some of the finest cartoonists in the country. “ On May 5 – World Cartoonist Day – here’s bringing you a glimpse of your favourite illustrators and what keeps them going. EP Unny
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post (r)evolutionary exercises
Practitioner:
Kultivator
Date:
Feb 16 2014
The post (r)evolutionary exercises are the outcome of a meeting/friendship/project that started in summer 2010, when we took part in "Goings on" seminar in Beirut, Lebanon. In this seminar, curated by Cecilia Andersson, Scandinavian and Middle east art groups were invited to meet and learn about each others practices. That's what we did, we got along really well, and we started at once to think of ways to do something together again.
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Lawmaker Arrives at Parliament on Donkey
Practitioner:
Republican Turks Party
Date:
Apr 16 2012
Turks Party (CTP) deputy Arif Albayrak arrived at the Parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) on a donkey on Monday in protest of rising oil prices and a recent government decision to purchase new cars.
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5 Broken Camera
Practitioner:
Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
Date:
Jan 1 2005
In 2005, Emad Burnat got a video camera to record the birth of his son. That same year, Israel's security barrier went right through his village of Bil'in in the West Bank. The fence cut off some fields and olive groves on the other side. When protests broke out against the establishment of the barrier, Burnat became the unofficial cameraman for the weekly anti-wall protests that drew support from around the world.
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Healing Torture Through Art
Practitioner:
Najah al-Bukai
Date:
Feb 1 2018
Najah al-Bukai cannot forget. As an accomplished artist in Syria before the war, Mr. Bukai had long thought his photographic memory was his greatest asset, allowing him to recreate scenes on his sketch pads and canvases days, months and even years after he witnessed them. But now, after he has survived two stretches in the Syrian government’s notorious detention centers, his sharp memories only serve to haunt him.
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Hearing impaired man is moved to tears after discovering his entire neighbourhood has learned sign language so they can talk to him
Practitioner:
Samsung
Date:
Mar 12 2015
A deaf man was moved to tears after learning that his neighbourhood had learned sign language just for him to promote the heartwarming message: 'A world without barriers is our dream'. Muharrem was unwittingly placed at the centre of an elaborate stunt in which he was secretly filmed encountering a host of strangers in a series of staged meetings through Istanbul.
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Art in Exile: Women Without Men
Practitioner:
Shirin Neshat
Date:
May 31 2009
For third world artists who are forced into exile, the creativity process could be greatly challenged due to displacement in language, community and history. Many filmmakers in exile tend to look at their connection to the homeland in strictly political terms, or give up making films overall.
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Syria: Third Space
Practitioner:
Unknown
Date:
Jan 21 2015
This exhibition is a collection of work by displaced Syrian artists. With the support of the British Council, 'Syria: Third Space' demonstrates the roles that artists play in supporting recovery and resilience. It seeks to show how artists can break boundaries, support and unite communities, re-interpret and offer alternative viewpoints through their practice. Syria: Third Space
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Visualizing Palestine
Practitioner:
Visualizing Palestine
Date:
Oct 9 2013
Over the past 2 years, Visualizing Palestine (VP) has harnessed visual storytelling to bring public attention to the daily injustices facing Palestinians, from demolition of homes to mothers forced to give birth at military checkpoints. VP wants to start 2014 by raising global awareness around two key issues.
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A Viral Dance and ‘Happiness Campaign’ Frustrates Iran’s Clerics
Practitioner:
Date:
Dec 16 2023
It all started when a 70-year-old fish market stall owner nicknamed “Booghy” was grooving in public, in violation of Iranian law. A new form of protest against the government is rocking Iran: a viral dance craze set to an upbeat folk song where crowds clap and chant the rhythmic chorus, ‘oh, oh, oh, oh.’
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Jesus: Creative Activist
Practitioner:
Jesus Christ, the disciples
Date:
Aug 23 0030
Regardless of one's spiritual ties (or lack thereof) to Christianity, all artistic activists can take a note or two from Jesus's playbook--the actions of "a radical Mediterranean Jewish peasant building a revolutionary movement two millennia ago."1.  Jesus: Media Mogul.  Jesus was a master of making a scene, ensuring that news would spread.  If he was around today, the media wouldn't be able to get enough of him.
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