by Tasnim
I’m taking a short break from the blog. I will be defending my Phd dissertation in June, so the next two months are crisis time for me. Edit: postponed till September! Things will be slower than normal around here until then. The Arab Hyphen facebook page will continue though, be sure to check it out for the latest news on art, film, literature and music from the Arab world/MENA/WANA/NAWA/whatever you want to call the region 🙂
Categories: Art
by Tasnim
Ahmed Mater’s first US exhibition, focusing on his landscape photography on the impact of urbanisation and the rapid change that Saudi Arabia has experienced, will be on view at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery from March 19–Sept. 18. The exhibition, curated by Carol Huh, includes “Empty Land,” a series of aerial photographs, “Desert of Pharan” (2011-13) which focuses on the redevelopment around Mecca, and “Ashab Al-Lal/Fault Mirage” (2015), which examines the confluence of religion and urbanisation in recent history. There’s a program of […]
Categories: Art, Photography • Tags: Ahmed Mater, Saudi Arabia
by Tasnim
The short film Alia directed by Raghed Charabaty is a “haunting and poetic glimpse into the flashpoint that started the Lebanese Civil War.” In the film, a man reminisces about Alia and “the last few moments before the death of his beloved” which are imagined as marking the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War. The monologue is spoken like a poem and references the famous song, To The Hum of The Bus ع هدير البوسطة, complete with the dark eyed Alia, the lettuce and fig eating and […]
Categories: Art, Film, Music • Tags: Fairouz, Lebanon, Raghed Charabaty, Ziad Rahbani
by Tasnim
D-Caf (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival) returns for its fifth edition on March 31 running until April 22. “Egypt’s only international multi-disciplinary contemporary arts festival,” D-CAF has everything from literature readings to concerts, to film and theatre, comedy stand up and a puppet show. Dina El Wedidi and Khansa Batma open the show with a concert at Horreya Garden. The music program focuses on North Africa, and features Egyptian composer Bahaa El Ansary, Arabstazyfrom Tunisia, Ahmed Elseweasy and Abdelbaset Hammouda. In the performing arts section, Egyptian […]
Categories: Art, Dance, Film, Literature, Music, Theatre • Tags: Arabstazy, Bahaa El Ansary, Danya Hammoud, Ezzat Ezzat, Fouad Nafili, Hassan El Greatly, Laila Soliman, Shaymaa Shoukry, Tania El Khoury, Youness Khoukhou
by Tasnim
Myrna Award writes about Al Hangar (The Warehouse) an initiative by young Saudi artists, who describe it as a cultural movement which aims to “ignite a sense of community.” Artists are individually invited to show work at Al Hangar, similarly to a biennial. And so far, they’ve been inundated with requests to participate, an indication of both the buzz around the alternative space, and the growing energy around Saudi’s art scene. The initiative is led by Ramy Alquthamy and Nasser Al Salem who hope […]
Categories: Art, Sculptor/Installation Art • Tags: Abdulnasser Gharem, Ajlan Gharem, Nasser Al-Salem, Saudi Arabia, Shaweesh
by Tasnim
BBC Radio 4 has a series called The Museum of Lost Objects presented by Kanishk Tharoor, and produced by Maryam Maruf which “traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria.” There are currently five episodes available to listen to or download, and you can subscribe to the podcast here. One of the episodes is on the Temple of Bel, demolished by ISIS in August 2015. In this BBC article on Palmyra’s history and what […]
Categories: Art • Tags: archeology, heritage, history, Iraq, ISIS, memory, nostalgia, Palmyra, Syria
