Exploring current issues in contemporary Middle Eastern art.

Friday, April 17

Special screening of Terrance Turner’s new documentary film, Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze.The new film from award winning director, producer, writer, and artist Terrence Turner (dir. Adele’s Wish, 2008) screens with the director in attendance. Q&A and a reception follow.

5:00 PM Film Screening and Q+A: Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze, Dir. Terrence Turner, Collins Cinema

7:00 PM Reception, Davis Museum Lobby

Saturday, April 18

Daylong symposium considers Tanavoli’s art and the “new” field of contemporary Middle Eastern art, questions of creative freedom and the social responsibility of artists, and matters of “soft power” in the region.

Join us for an exploration of current issues in contemporary Middle Eastern art, an area of newly heightened interest among institutions, collectors, curators, scholars, and patrons. Organized in conjunction with the groundbreaking exhibition Parviz Tanavoli, the event kicks off with a special screening of Terrance Turner’s new documentary film on the artist. A day-long symposium considers Tanavoli’s art in context and expands to the “new” field of Middle Eastern art, curatorial and cultural support structures, and the growing art market in the region.

Presented with major support from the Kathryn Wasserman Davis '28 Fund for World Cultures and Leadership.

Free and open to the public; Reservations required.

For full schedule and reservation, please click here. 

Schedule:

9:00 AM Registration, Davis Museum Lobby

9:30 AM Welcome Remarks, Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director of the Davis, Collins Cinema

All panels take place in Collins Cinema

 9:45 AM – 11:00 AM  Resurgent: The Contemporary Visibility of Iranian Art

Shiva Balaghi is a Visiting Scholar of art history at Brown University and co-curator of the Parviz Tanavoli exhibition.

Maryam Eisler is an editor of books on contemporary art. She is an alumnus and Trustee at Wellesley College and has established the Maryam and Edward Eisler/Goldman Sachs Gives Fund on Art and Visual Culture in the Near, Middle, and Far East at the Davis Museum.  She is also a Co-Chair of the Tate Middle East North Africa Acquisitions Committee.

Lisa Fischman is Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director of the Davis Museum and co-curator of the Parviz Tanavoli exhibition. 

David Galloway is Professor Emeritus at the Ruhr University Bochum and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was the Founding Curator of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Vali Mahlouji is a London-based curator, writer and translator.

Nasser Rabbat is the Aga Khan Professor and the Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT.

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM  Emergent 1: Contemporary Middle Eastern Art in the Academy and the Museums

Ladan Akbarnia is a specialist in the art of Iran and Central Asia and is Assistant Keeper of the Islamic Collections at the British Museum. 

Omar Kholeif is a curator at Whitechapel Gallery in London and Senior Editor at Ibraaz.

Vassilis Oikonomopoulos is Assistant Curator of International Art Collections at Tate Modern. He is a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art. 

Sara Raza is the Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator for the Middle East and North Africa; YARAT Head of Education; an editor at Art Asia Pacific Magazine; and a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art.

Nada Shabout is Professor and Director of Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute at the University of North Texas.

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch Break

Box lunches are available for purchase through this site.  Attendees may also seek restaurant options in easy driving distance.

2:15 PM – 3:45 PM Emergent II: Cultural and Market Infrastructures in Support of Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

Dina Amin is Senior Director, Senior Specialist of Post-War and Contemporary Art At Christie’s. 

Aaron Cezar is the founding Director of the Delfina Foundation.

Shirley Elghanian is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Magic of Persia Foundation that promotes Iranian art and culture to a wider audience outside of Iran.

Taymour Grahne is President of Taymour Grahne Gallery, founded in 2013.

Roxane Zand is Deputy Chairman, Middle East at Sotheby’s.

 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM  Soft Power: Creative Freedom, Contemporary Artists, and the Middle East

Hossein Amirsadeghi is a writer, editor and publisher who established TransGlobe Publishing.

Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller is President of Leila Heller Gallery, founded in 1982.

Moukhtar Kocache is an independent consultant with experise in philanthropy, cultural and civil society development and curatorial practice.

Marjaneh Moghimi is a film producer and founder of Butimar Productions.

Francis Ricciardone is Vice President of the Atlantic Council and Director of its Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. He has served as US ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, and the Philippines.

5:30 PM Closing Reception, Davis Museum Lobby