ARTEEAST Visual Arts - Arts and Cultures of the Middle East and its diasporas

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ArteEast curates visual arts exhibitions and seminars as well as produces catalogs dealing with the production of art in the Middle East and its Diaspora. We aim to present American audiences with a different perspective of Middle East cultures through the arts, therefore setting the stage for an enlivened intellectual and intercultural dialogue.

Upcoming Exhibition: Spring/Summer 2009

Translation/Tarjama
Queens Museum of Art, New York City
May 10th - August 2009

Curated by Leeza Ahmady and Iftikhar Dadi
Assistant Curator Reem Fadda

Translation/Tarjama will be a groundbreaking exhibition featuring the works of Middle Eastern artists who explore processes of cultural and artistic translation from different angles. We are considering the work of emerging and established artists, in the Middle East and in the diaspora, who explore the interplay between cultures and societies. Included in the theme is how multiple identities and affiliations are created and challenged, how people and places are connected through economics or politics, how different histories and traditions (including artistic) are interpreted, and the relationship between languages, images, and texts from different sources.

By focusing on a particular and compelling theme within the larger field of visual art from the Middle East, Translation/Tarjama will present a wholly unique view of artistic practice, and of the region and its Diasporas. Rather than "representing" the Middle East through a panorama of its art, this show will compare and contrast how artists have been exploring this one important dimension of social life, politics, and visual culture. Just as the show examines how artists engage with processes of translation, Translation/Tarjama will also challenge audience's preconceived frameworks for translating art from the Middle East.

The exhibition will open in the spring of 2009 at the Queens Museum of Art in New York City. In addition to the artists’ works, supplemental programming will include curator panels and artist projects.

We are currently developing our Visual Arts program for the 2009 season. If you are a curator or artist and have a project that you think would be fitting for ArteEast, please contact us at: info@arteeast.org.