Welcome to Mid East Art
Mid East Art is a digital storytelling platform of art and culture of the Middle East region that focuses on analyzing the regional modern art scenes, and a digital periodical of current artists and contemporary practices within and across the Diaspora. Its content is displayed through curated series, showcased in essays, video and text interviews, published articles and its Instagram @mideastart that includes informative posts and engaging stories.
RECENT POSTS:
How are movement and dance be an integral part of artists’ practices? What are the variety of ways participating and capturing performance and dance makes us more human and attune to our bodies - in our gender and ethnicity? How do viewers interact with performance?
Step into a day in the life of Mid East Art! Check out this mini documentary on Suzy’s work an art researcher of the Middle East and specialist at Christie's.
How does daydreaming, fantasy, myth-making and childhood nostalgia impact creativity? In what ways does fantasy reinforce an understanding of our realities? How much of this impacts your artwork production? Is it a constant part of your thought process?
An interview with Suzy on The Wise Fool Podcast, hosted by Matthew Dols, covering her role as a specialist at Christie’s in Dubai and as founder of Mid East Art platform. Conversation shifted from Seinfeld, to the regional art history and market, and the Fulbright Program!
Art Dubai’s 14th edition was celebrated as the first in-person art fair to take place internationally between March 29th – April 3rd. Artmejo partnered up with Mid East Art’s Suzy Sikorski as she walked around the exhibition halls doing what she loves—collecting and sharing artists’ stories!
Mid East Art founder Suzy Sikorski is featured in December 2020’s issue of ‘Zahrat Al Khaleej’ (زهرة الخليج) - the leading women's lifestyle magazine in the Arab world today! Read about her early inspirations researching in the Middle East and her current work archiving the Gulf art scene on our digital platform. Tracing her early days along the Sharjah corniche, sunrise photography shoots along Dubai creek, trekking across the country to Khorfakkan, with too many servings of balaleet and luqaimat later!
As part of a new series of online talks, two photographers discuss their similar styles, but different subjects. The pair were recently brought together again in a series called Artist Reflections, organised by Dubai art researcher Suzy Sikorski's online platform Mid East Art, on behalf of the UAE Embassy in the US. The programme, which is available online, features the American and Emirati speaking side by side.
In collaboration with the UAE Embassy’s Cultural Diplomacy Department in Washington DC, Mid East Art produced as digital programming series throughout the quarantine this spring 2020. A series of artist interviews culminated with a panel discussion, shedding a light on the regional and specifically local UAE art history and the early foundations of the art scene in the country. Stay tuned for the comprehensive coverage!
How does virtual viewing galleries enhance art appreciation? As part of Mid East Art’s ‘Art & Tech’ series, we interviewed Bahraini artist Sheikh Rashid bin Khalifa on his recent work in the quarantine and his early embrace of virtual art display on Google Arts & Culture.
Covering interviews with artists, gallery owners, museums and foundations on the impact of the digital in their line of work during these isolating days. Reflected across the art market and educational initiatives, the series unveils some cutting-edge topics, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality in artworks, exhibitions and auctions that has since been accelerated as we embrace current and new technologies.
Welcome to the 'Quaran-themed' Newsletter! Delivering a pocketful of sunshine in writing, video, photography and poetry during these uncertain times. Where are we running to or from these days? Jump into the newsletter highlights and enjoy the latest reads.
Jump into week 7 of the quarantine with Emirati artist Hassan Sharif in his early 1980s performances in Dubai and London! Finding a few parallels to our methodical and rather mundane day-to-days in self-isolation, we are reminded of Hassan’s carefully constructed activities rooted in Fluxus and British Constructivist thought. We sit down (virtually) with his nephew Mohamed Sharif to discuss the role of performance in his uncle’s practice and Mohamed’s archival work at the Artist’s Estate.
Introducing the ‘Artists in Quarantine’ series that is documenting artists from the region who are finding creativity in self-isolating times. What are artists doing while under quarantine in their studio and creative spaces? The series featured in short episodes on Instagram and MEA blog includes photos, short videos and inspiring quotes—opening a window into these artists’ intimate spaces to see how they have been creatively coping.
While unraveling time-warped thoughts one month into the quarantine, Suzy interviews Munira Al Sayegh on her experience curating ‘Bayn’ with UAE Unlimited in 2017. Reflecting on this shared ‘in-between-ness’ sensation, their conversation trails from their personal lives growing up in Abu Dhabi and New York and Munira’s takeaway moments of her first-ever curated show.
‘The Quarantine Files’ series presents of the most inspiring stories of the pioneer Egyptian female artist Inji Efflatoun during her time as a political prisoner in jail from 1959-1963. Including first hand accounts from Inji herself, this article is a story of how bravery, perseverance and ingenuity lead to self-discovery and artistic explorations —all while confined and quarantined within a jail cell. Hope is just as contagious these days - read on.
This April, Suzy shared her ‘story on Instagram storytelling’ in promoting further Middle Eastern art education during Sultan Al Qassemi’s first online cultural majlis. Speakers included HE Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development; Vilma Jurkute, Director of Alserkal Avenue; Manal Ataya, Director-General of the Sharjah Museums Authority; Suheyla Takesh, Curator at Barjeel Art Foundation; and Bill Bragin, Executive artistic director of The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi.
In this interview, uncover the stories of Emirati photography Fatima Albudoor on adapting to college life in Boston as illustrated beautifully and intimately in her artist book ‘Making Cathedrals.’ Exploring the sensations of transience, dislocation and the ‘in-between-ness’ of our life journeys, this emotional read is a must during our quarantine days ahead.
In this interview, uncover the stories of Emirati photography Fatima Albudoor on adapting to college life in Boston as illustrated beautifully and intimately in her artist book ‘Making Cathedrals.’ Exploring the sensations of transience, dislocation and the ‘in-between-ness’ of our life journeys, this emotional read is a must during our quarantine days ahead.
Digging into the 2017 archives of the first time I interviewed Ammar Al Attar, we trace the Emirati photographer’s evolution of his four-year-long archival Cinema in the UAE Project. How do we remember what’s lost and give importance to the unwanted and overlooked? Read on!
Meet Ali Cha’aban, a Lebanese born, Jeddah based artist who is tackling what it means to be Arab in today’s world. His works are triggering new debates relevant to global politics and social realities, explored through his interactive installations, street and fashion photography. Mid East Art sits down with the artist to discuss his unique inspirations and where he's going.
Just in time for her Degree Show at Goldsmiths, Kuwaiti/Ukrainian artist Amani discusses the evolution of the dowry in her work "Codes of Conduct."
Taqwa's vision is in line with these older artists, in that she uses materials from her environment and understands the importance of listening to her elders, both at home and in her local art community. A native of Khorfakkan and an artist since a young age, she has now developed a passion for bookbinding and printmaking that uses the stories and materials that are close to her.
As part of our first "Artwork of the Week" spotlight, meet Ayesha, a recent graduate of Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. Her studio space includes the deep waters of Abu Dhabi (yes, she dives as part of her practice!) while also threading her memories and reviving her passions for fashion design with her arts practice.
Nouf is an experimental photographer and visual communications designer who uses her background in English Literature and Linguistics to explore identity politics and gender issues from a feminist perspective.
How do we navigate finding and reinterpreting our identity within cross cultural contexts and interdisciplinary techniques? Farah Behbehani is a Kuwaiti visual artist and designer who explores this within traditional Islamic and historical elements found across literature, calligraphy and local history and customs. In what ways can we activate the past within the present, and how can this call for bridging cultural and inter-generational divides?