Discussion of artistic developments in the Gulf

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)

Exhibition of Mahmoud Dayoub in The Hague

I recently set up an exhibition in the headquarters of the Humanistic Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) in The Hague. The works are by the young Syrian artist Mahmoud Dayoub. Hivos headquarters are situated on the Raamweg 16 in The Hague and the exhibition can be seen every weekday during office hours (8am to 6pm) until 7 December 2011.

Mahmoud Dayoub, untitled; oil on canvas, 180 x 140 cm, 2011

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Radio-cursus hedendaagse kunst in het Midden-Oosten

This post is in Dutch because it concerns a Dutch-language radio programme I made about contemporary art in the Middle East, presented as a course in 4 chapters (one every evening)

Op verzoek van het VPRO programma ‘De Avonden’ heb ik vier avonden lang een ‘cursus’ gegeven over hedendaagse kunst in het Midden-Oosten. De uitleveringen werden van 28 juni t/m 1 juli uitgezonden.

Aflevering 1: algemene introductie
Aflevering 2: hedendaagse kunst in Saoedi Arabie
Aflevering 3: de verdwenen kunstenaars van Irak
Aflevering 4: kunst in Syrie en huidige toestand

Iedere aflevering begint tussen de 3 en 6 minuten na aanvang van het programma en duurt zo’n 10 minuten

Flying Dinner in Paris

Flying Dinner (c) in Restaurant Zelda, Paris

RobertK presentation of Middle Eastern art at Flying Dinner, Paris. Photo Lea Santamaria

The Flying Dinner team (curator and contemporary art specialist Samantha Barroero and art & wine-expert Linda Grabe) invited me to give a presentation of contemporary Middle Eastern art in Paris, for a select group of collectors, curators and other specialists that were brought together for a lovely Moroccan lunch. The event took place on March 19 2011, after I returned from the Sharjah Biennial and Art Dubai. Continue reading

My current exhibition in Amsterdam: The New Middle East

Installation View of the New Middle East

The wave of popular uprisings throughout the Arab world have revealed a new Middle East – young, dynamic, secular, pragmatic and creative – which few people in the West knew about. It did not however come out of nowhere: as this exhibition shows, contemporary Middle Eastern culture has been developing very quickly over these last few years. Continue reading

Snow Whites Invade The Hague

Performance organized by me on 22 Sept in the city hall of the Hague

Performance organized by me on 22 Sept in the city hall of the Hague

On 26 September a group of Snow Whites will invade the city hall of The Hague. This performance by the French choreographer Catherine Baÿ will be accompanied by an sound and video installation on the adjacent Spui Plein and an exhibition in <tag>, a temporary exhibition space nearby. Continue reading