Category Archives: Announcement

My dissertation co-director no longer hostage in Iran

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UPDATE: on 20 March 2020, on the eve of Nauroz, Roland Marchal was freed from prison, in exchange for the liberation of an Iranian engineer arrested in France for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran. Although he has generally kept quiet since then, arriving in Coronavirus-confined France, he gave a moving interview to French public radio-TV on 8 April.

Fariba is still in prison (on 15 April) but apparently she’s feeling much better, not only physically but also for having been put in charge of the woman’s section of Evin Prison library, which she says ‘is not at all bad’.

Roland Marchal, probably the major French specialist on Somalia and the Horn of Africa, was taken hostage by Iran’s revolutionary guards, together with Fariba Adelkhah, another researcher belonging to the Centre de Recherches Internationales, to which I am also affiliated. Following is the text of the Fariba and Roland Support Committee, that we publish on the eve of the celebration of the Iranian revolution (11 Feb). We request the Iranian leader to free both researchers and all other prisoners in Iran who have been unjustly detained.

There is no indication that either researcher was targeted for what they wrote; Fariba has worked as a researcher in Iran for years, sometimes being harassed by security services but never imprisoned. Roland didn’t even work on Iran. They were clearly taken as hostages in the geopolitical game opposing Iran and the West.
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‘Searching for Ancient Arabia’ – further information about the research project

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A workshop will be held for all those interested in participating in this research project at the Downtown Campus (off Hamdan Street) of NYU Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 25 February, from 18:00 to 20:30.

For details about the workshop and registration see the bottom of this page.

Introduction to the research subject

Stone Altar from Marib (5th - 4th Century BC) and Bronze Statuette of the warrior Ma'dikarib, South Arabia, 6th century BC
Stone Altar from Marib (5th – 4th Century BC) and Bronze Statuette of the warrior Ma’dikarib, South Arabia (6th century BC). These and all other photos and maps/diagrams on this page are reproduced from the book “Arabia and the Arabs from the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam’ by Robert Hoyland, 2001. See below for ordering information

“Only a small proportion of the lore of the Arabs has come down to you. Had it reached you in its entirety, much scientific and literary knowledge would have been yours”

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Searching for Ancient Arabia

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I’m about to start a FIND fellowship at New York University Abu Dhabi called ‘Searching for Ancient Arabia’ and I’m looking for artists, curators, critics and scholars to participate in this research project.Ancient Arabia 1

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A Saudi Artist in Paris

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An exhibition I’m curating in Paris: it will only remain open for 2 days (Sat 28 and Sunday 29 September). Don’t miss the opening party / vernissage !

Ibrahim invitation

Ibrahim Abumsmar is an artist specializing in minimalist sculpture with a sociopolitical message. He hails from the Asir, the mountainous southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. After participating in exhibitions in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar, Italy and Istanbul, Ibrahim is now completing a two-month residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris. Continue reading →

Gulf Art Guide online

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Finally, after a year and a half working on project proposal and funding, followed by nearly a year intensive research and writing, the Gulf Art Guide is online. Some of the cities (Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha and Manama) are covered by my co-author Neil van der Linden. The rest is written by me, and I worked a lot on website layout, design, functionalities and editing and proofreading the whole site.

I first looked forward to the day the Gulf Art Guide would finally be finished and online, as a day of relief. But the same evening that it went online I realized that it is like a baby: now I will have to nurture it, help it get over infancy diseases, and help it grow up. No time to celebrate!

The essay, which you can download here, provides an unusual take on the Gulf art scene.

We have over 1000 likes on our Facebook page, which is a good way to keep abreast of what’s going on in the Gulf Art World.

A version 1.1 is being prepared for release in the summer of 2013.

Discussion of artistic developments in the Gulf

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I’m participating in a program called ‘Art of the Revolution’ in De Balie in Amsterdam, with a presentation of how social and cultural developments are behind the art that is emerging in the Gulf countries (with a focus on Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Kuwait). My presentation will provide a counterpoint to the usual overview of how governments in the region are creating massive cultural districts with imported skills and talent, by examining the artists themselves within their context.
After my presentation there will be a discussion
See www.debalie.nl/art for more information about the program. Highlights are a performance by Tashweesh and a concert of Zeid and the Wings, later in the evening.

My presentation is on Saturday December 10 at 3 pm.
I will also present some works by the Syrian artist Mahmoud Dayoub (see my following post) in the Balie cafe

Ayman Yossri Daydban: I wanted peace but prepared for war (from his Subtitles series, 2009)