From Mathaf to Madrid

The exhibition Looking at the World Around You: Contemporary Works from Qatar Museums is being held from 9 February to 19 June 2016 at the Santander Art Gallery in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, the "first major loan exhibition in Europe of works from Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art in Doha."   This selection, more …

Bahrani Poet Abdulrahman Rafee Passes Away

Bahrani poet Abdulrahman Rafee' has recently passed away at the age of 79.A poet of vernacular dialect, he commented on the state of Bahrani society and the wider Arab world. As one of the commentators on the video below states, like Ahmad Matar, Abdulrahman Rafee's black humour made many "cry with laughter." On the state …

Arts of the Arab Uprisings

The exhibit "Arts of the Arab World Uprisings" is ongoing at the Arab American National Museum, up to February 9, 2014. The exhibit was created in conjunction with the 2013 Freer Symposium at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Participants of the symposium include Wael Abbas, Khaled Matawwa, Lina Ben Mhenni, Jill Dougherty, Stephennie Mulder, …

An Apartment Called Freedom

An Apartment Called Freedom, by Ghazi al Qusaibi, is set between 1956 and 1961, and tells of the experiences in love and politics of four Bahraini young men studying at university in Cairo. The novel begins on the plane, where 16 year old Fuad is on his way from Bahrain to Egypt to study law. …