Symposium Etel Adnan
Donnerstag 27. September 2018
Freitag 28. September 2018
Organisiert von Prof. Dr. Nadia Radwan (Universität Bern) und Dr. Nina Zimmer (Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern) in Zusammenarbeit mit Prof. Dr. Silvia Naef (Universität Genf) / organized by Prof. Dr. Nadia Radwan (University of Bern) and Dr. Nina Zimmer (Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern) in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Silvia Naef (University of Geneva)
“The Arab Apocalypse”: Art, Abstraction and Activism in the Middle East
On the occasion of the Etel Adnan exhibition (Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, 15.06 - 07.10.2018), the University of Bern and the Zentrum Paul Klee are jointly organizing a symposium focusing on themes that are reflected by the work and career of the American-Lebanese artist and writer Etel Adnan. “The Arab Apocalypse” refers to her series of 59 illustrated poems about the Lebanese Civil War (originally published under the title L’Apocalypse arabe, 1980) and offers a starting point to discuss the issues of Art and activism in the Arab World. This symposium questions the ability of art and the museum to function as mediums for political protest and humanitarian activism. What does the relationship between art and activism tell us about the aesthetization of politics? Additionally, the symposium seeks to address the issue of abstract forms of art and avant-garde in the region by examining its current goals and historical roots. What does it mean to be an abstract artist in the Middle East? How can abstraction inform us about political and social dissent? Other themes will be addressed in relation to Adnan’s works, such as the role of Arab women in the global art scene. This event will bring together scholars, as well as PhD students working on these topics.
Programme
27.09.2018
17:00 Visit of the exhibition
Fabienne Eggelhöfer, Head Curator, Zentrum Paul Klee
18:00 In conversation with Etel Adnan (via Skype)
Nadia Radwan, University of Bern
28.09.2018
Morning session:
09:30 Nina Zimmer, Director, Kunstmuseum Bern/Zentrum Paul Klee
Nadia Radwan, University of Bern
Welcome address and introduction
10:00 Silvia Naef, University of Geneva
“Painting in Arabic”: Etel Adnan, Diasporic Existence and the Arab World
10:30 Sonja Mejcher-Atassi, The American University of Beirut
Cross-cultural encounters in contemporary book art between Baghdad and Beijing:
Etel Adnan and Rafa Nasiri’s A Library Set on Fire (2008)
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 Nadine Atallah, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Women Artists from Egypt on the Globalised Scene
12:00 Lunch break
Afternoon session:
13:30 Kirsten Scheid, The American University of Beirut
Visual Objections: Subjectivity and Sovereignty in Art by Arab Women
14:00 Nadia von Maltzahn, Orient-Institut, Beirut
The Museum as a Platform for Emancipation? Women artists in Beirut’s
Sursock Museum
14:30 Morad Montazami, Tate Modern, London
Hamed Abdalla: an Arab Letterist/Leftist fighter
15:00 Coffee break
15:30 Charlotte Bank, Art-Lab Berlin, Berlin
Critical, committed, engaged. Modern and contemporary artistic practice in Syria
16:00 Sébastien Delot, Director of LaM, Villeneuve d’Ascq/Curator of the
Etel Adnan Exhibition
Civil Wars, Etel Adnan, Bob Wilson and Delphine Seyrig. An Unedited History
16:30 Break
17:00 Joan Grandjean, Riccardo Legena , Mirl Redmann, Firouzeh Saghafi,
Zouina Ait Slimani
Roundtable and conclusive discussion with the PhD students
17:30 Keynote: Samia Halaby, Artist and Activist
The Political Basis of Abstraction in the 20th Century
Admission free, no registration required