On the occasion of its second year of publishing, Ibraaz is pleased to announce the launch of Platform 005: Globalising Tactics in Contemporary Art.
For Platform 005, we have posed a question concerning the impact of globalisation on artistic practices across North Africa and the Middle East. We are pleased to announce the publication of a significant number of essays responding to this theme, including a reflection on the Saadiyat Island boycott by the coalition group Gulf Labor (Haig Aivazian, Walid Raad, Andrew Ross, Rene Gabri and Ayreen Anastas, Mariam Ghani, Doris Bittar, Naeem Mohaimen, Doug Ashford, Gregory Sholette et al.), alongside in-depth essays by Hanan Toukan, Ahmad Zatari, Sara Giannini and Nadia Mounajjed. We are also pleased to announce the publication of an extended examination of the Sharjah Biennial 11 and its themes by the eminent semiotician Walter D. Mignolo.
Platform 005 also sees the publication of exclusive artist projects by Hans Haacke, Raed Yassin, Sophia Al-Maria, Cynthia Zaven, Lasse Lau and Adelita Husni-Bey, alongside interviews between Visualising Palestine and Haig Aivazian; Simone Fattal and Mirene Arsanios; and conversations with Hoor Al-Qasimi, Yuko Hasegawa, and Mario Rizzi, amongst others.
The Platform 005 question can be read in full at www.ibraaz.org/news/55 and the fully searchable Ibraaz archive is available at www.ibraaz.org.
Initiated by the Kamel Lazaar Foundation in June 2011 and launched at the 54th Venice Biennale, Ibraaz continues to support the publication of critically engaged and accessible writing. Later this year, in partnership with I.B. Tauris, we will publish Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East. This volume will be edited by Anthony Downey and will be the first in an ongoing series.
Ibraaz would like to formally thank all of contributors and our ever-growing readership.
‘Ibraaz is perhaps the most exciting new platform for the exchange and the making of knowledge of and about the Middle East today.’
–Dina Matar, Director, Centre for Media Studies, SOAS
‘Ibraaz provides a critical voice in support of contemporary art and artists in the Middle East and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the differences that enrich contemporary art in the region.’
–Tarek Al-Ghoussein, artist
‘In two short years, Ibraaz has built up an impressive arsenal of knowledge and explosive insights as well as a cache of creativity from and about the North Africa and the Middle East. More so, it is driving discourse and raising the level of sophisticated thinking—and questioning—about the region.’
–Aaron Cezar, Director, Delfina Foundation
‘As an artist who has worked with Ibraaz, from first contact to the publication of my project online, I was impressed not only by the attention to detail but the ‘think-tank’ approach to producing cultural knowledge collaboratively.’
–Roy Samaha, artist
‘Ibraaz offers a refreshing change from some of the weary, clichéd ways people in mainstream media and academia talk about the Middle East. Instead of focusing on the usual ‘issues’ through the usual set of lenses, it seems to tip everything upside down in the most creative ways.’
–Ian Almond, Professor of Transnational Literatures, Georgia State University, Atlanta
‘Ibraaz promises to be an indispensable resource that engages inquisitively and intelligently into the cultural practices of a loaded region.’
–Aleya Hamza, curator
‘Ibraaz is a much needed platform which has been since its inception at the forefront of publishing new ideas and critical discourses on and from the Middle East.’
–Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, artists
‘Ibraaz is the leading critical forum and resource for those wanting to engage in discussions about culture in North Africa and the Middle East today.’
–Professor Jonathan Harris, Director of Research, Winchester School of Art
‘Ibraaz is a great resource and a well-edited platform; it enters and opens up discourses. I always enjoy following it.’
–Anahita Razmi, artist
