Visual arts
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Interview with Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar
"Opposition to the religious patriarchal system is female"
As an artist, she translates experiences into images – for her political engagement, she was brought to trial. The Iranian contemporary artist Parastou Forouhar talks about idyllic places and war, suicide and opulence, and how women in Iran are fighting for equality. Interview by Siri Goegelmann
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Beyond the hackneyed Syrian refugee trope
Engage with our work, not our biographies
Since 2015, interest in Syrian literature in German translation has risen sharply. Artists, translators and publishers talk about their experiences – and why the hype is not only beneficial. By Mari Odoy
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Repression in Turkey
Art in exile: a prison cell as exhibition venue
What form does artistic freedom take in prison? The exhibition "Museum of Small Things" by exiled Turkish journalist Can Dundar explores the topic. By Ceyda Nurtsch
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Interview with Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri
"We are lucky to be alive today"
In August 1978, four men set fire to the Cinema Rex in the Iranian city of Abadan, killing more than four hundred people inside. The event is said to have started the Iranian Revolution to overthrow the Shah's regime. Forty years later, "Careless Crime" by Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri depicts four men planning to burn down a cinema in a contemporary Iran where ghosts of the past haunt the current society. Interview by Schayan Riaz
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Art and liberation
Modern Arab art and the depiction of blue collar workers
The rise of liberation movements in the Arab World during the 20th century brought with them an array of complimentary works from the creative sector. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi examines the phenomenon
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Film review: Iranian-German movie "Bandar Band"
Hope amid adversity
Iranian director Manijeh Hekmat expected the production of her latest movie to go ahead as planned – but then she found herself having to improvise. The resulting film is more than just an homage to Iran's landscapes. By Heike Mund
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Film review: Mati Diop's "Atlantics"
Ada, to whom the future belongs
The outstanding debut feature of French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop is an eclectic cinematic composite of genres and a startling social drama on contemporary transatlantic migration, in which a tragic scenario spiked with supernatural elements proves a catalyst for transformation and reversal. By Adela Lovric
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Kuwaiti artist Monira al-Qadiri
In awe of the cosmos
With "Holy Quarter" by Monira al-Qadiri, Munich’s Haus der Kunst gallery is showing a work by one of the Gulf region’s most significant contemporary artists, in an exhibition that runs until the beginning of June. By Claudia Mende
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Book review: Riad Sattouf’s graphic novel "The Arab of the Future"
Between worlds
Despite his main focus being on his childhood and youth, spent between East and West, Riad Sattouf also describes the current state of the Arab world in his much-lauded graphic novel series "The Arab of the Future". By Schayan Riaz
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2020 Singapore Art Week
Of spirituality in a contemporary age
How to talk about spiritual matters in a highly secularised, hyper-pragmatic society? This was the question artists exhibiting at the Stamford Art Centre in Singapore grappled with during the 2020 Singapore Art Week. By Naima Morelli
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Film review: "Tlamess" by Ala Eddine Slim
Enchantment at the end of the world
"Tlamess", a visually striking experimental feature by Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim, brings two drop-outs together in a weird, wild cohabitation in the woods: a desperate army deserter and a pregnant woman who walked away from her seemingly perfect life. By Adela Lovric
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An Arab reading of the Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum
Tea with the bogeyman
Contemporary artist Mona Hatoum is one of those figures whose presence in western capitals stimulates much attention and critical writing, while her exhibitions in Arab cities like Amman or Doha don’t seem to generate more than a few lines in the culture and entertainment sections. Yazan Loujami explores why this is so