1. Conferences and debates

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Aula Árabe 3.16. Post-Petroleum Museum and soft power, between crisis and “second life” Play

Aula Árabe 3.16. Post-Petroleum Museum and soft power, between crisis and “second life”

Published at 59 22,,, 22 2022
On Monday 28 March, the sixteenth conference of the Aula Árabe Universitaria programme will take place in Madrid, given by the art curator Morad Montazami. The session will also be available on Casa Árabe's Youtube channel in Spanish and English. After the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies, the National Museum of Iraq was looted in 2003. In the ensuing chaos, over fifteen thousand items were stolen from Baghdad's collections of ancient artefacts, not even counting pieces pilfered from archaeological sites in the vicinity. 16 years after the theft, more than half the loot has since been tracked down, recovered and returned to the museum's collection, where the items can now be viewed by the Iraqi public. The first photographs of the damage show Iraq's pre-Islamic cosmopolitan heritage (Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian etc.) reduced to dust and ashes. In enlightening contrast, the “digitized” version of Mesopotamia and pre-Islamic arts at the Louvre Abu Dhabi represents a reenacting mirror of that archaeological heritage. Crossing the looks of archaeologists, 3D engineers, as well as the customs agents who contributed in recovering the objects, how can we account for soft power museums and nomadic collections in this critical context ? The curator, editor and art historian Morad Montazami will be giving this conference, organised by Casa Árabe in collaboration with the Degree in History of Art and the Master's Degree in History of Spanish Art, UCM. Presented by Susana Calvo, lecturer in History of Art at the university. Moderated by Nuria Medina, Casa Árabe's Cultural Programmes Coordinator. Morad Montazami is an art historian, a publisher and a curator. As director of the platform Zamân Books & Curating, he is committed to transnational studies of Arab, Asian and African modernities. He published several essays on artists such as Zineb Sedira, Walid Raad, Latif al-Ani, Bahman Mohassess, Michael Rakowitz, Éric Baudelaire... He was a curator for Bagdad Mon Amour, Institut des cultures d’Islam, Paris, 2018; New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School, The Mosaic Rooms, London; MACAAL, Marrakech; Alserkal Foundation, Dubai, 2019-2020; Monaco-Alexandria. The Great Detour. World-Capitals and Cosmopolitan Surrealism, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, 2022. Photo: Joanne Farchakh-Bajjaly, National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad: the looted museum, 2003. Copyright JFB Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/post-petroleum-museum-and-soft-power-between-crisis-and-“second-life”-from-the-iraqi-national-museum-of-baghdad-to-the-louvre-abu-dhabi Credits for the images shown in the presentation: Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeckin collaboration withMedia Farzin.Detailof Alexander Calder’sperformingmobile Orange Fish (1946) atthe TehranMuseum of ContemporaryArt, 2008. Fromthe series‘Cultural Diplomacy: An Art WeNeglect’ (detail), 2007–09. Photo:Ehsan Behmanesh.CourtesyofGalerie Martin Janda, Vienna Collection Petite Planète, éd. Seuil, numéro Iran, 1957 Design graphique et concept de Chris Marker M. Nakhai, Le Pétrole en Iran, éd. Félix, 1938 Anonymes, Faculté des Beaux-arts de l’Université de Téhéran occupé par les groupes étudiants marxistes, 1970-1980 modernité Musée de la Défense sacrée, Téhéran, 2014, Photo Sajed Avini Musée de la Défense sacrée, Téhéran, 2014, Photo Sajed Avini Joanne Farchakh-Bajjaly, Pillages du Musée de Bagdad, 2003 Catalogue du Musée de Bagdad, Département des antiquités, 1975-1976 Catalogue du Musée de Bagdad, Département des antiquités, 1975-1976 (salle centrale) LostTreasuresfromIraq database, Universityof Chicago, Oriental Institute, 2003-2008 Vues d’exposition Bagdad mon amour, Institut des cultures d’Islam, Paris, 2018 LatifAl Ani (Irak), HatjeCantz, 2017 LatifAl Ani, publié dans Iraq Petroleum, années 1970 LatifAl Ani (Irak), HatjeCantz, 2017 Mohamed Melehi, Biennale de Bagdad, 1974 JilaDejam, TehranMuseum of ContemporaryArt, Iran, 1977-1979 Louvre Abu Dhabi, Emirats Arabes Unis, 2017- Manifestation contrele mal logementdevantle muséedu Louvre, Paris, 2019

ALL VIDEOS IN THIS CATEGORY

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    Published at 45 29,,, 17 2017
  • (2) Constitutions undergoing mutation: Between legality and legitimacy  (ARABIC)Show video

    (2) Constitutions undergoing mutation: Between legality and legitimacy (ARABIC)

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    Published at 22 29,,, 17 2017
  • (5) Arab women after a decade of transformationsShow video

    (5) Arab women after a decade of transformations

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    Published at 18 29,,, 17 2017
  • How are “millennials” changing the Mediterranean?Show video

    How are “millennials” changing the Mediterranean?

    Arabisms: Festival of young creators: Conference given (05/18/2017) by Juan Cole, a professor of History at the University of Michigan, and Nesreen El Hachlaf, a lawyer and journalist in Spain. The event was moderated by Alfonso Carlos Bolado, director of the Contemporary Islam Library, Edicions Bellaterra. The youths who were born from 1982 through 2004, referred to as millennials, will become more than 70% of the developed world’s labor force in 2025. Not all groups of adolescents and youths in their twenties create historical movements focusing on their identity as young people, but it appears as though Arab millennials have. Six years ago, an urban youth movement broke onto the scene, given momentum by social and economic malaise, for the discovery of new life experiences, in confrontation with a series of regimes whose only interest lay in perpetuating their own power. But how did they do this? Juan Cole took a look at the cases of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. At the time, people spoke of a contagious effect spreading out from Tahrir Square to Spain’s May 15th movement. Can the Arab experience be compared with that of youths in Spain? Nessrin el Hachlaf delved further into the matter, examining the case of the migrant population residing in Spain and their descendants. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/arabisms-festival-of-young-creators
    Published at 47 29,,, 17 2017