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Contemporary Practices is a biannual publication covering visual art movements from the Middle East, including Iran and Turkey. Founded in 2007, the journal observes regional and international developments, from the gallery to the museum, the auction house to the art fair. Covering emerging and established producers in the region and its diaspora, our writers vary from cultural anthropologists to artists and curators committed to sharing their groundbreaking pursuits. VOLUME V, 2009
Opening on the 18th of November, 2009 comes a much anticipated annual spectacle to the world of photography. Without any restrictions to geographical biases, Paris Photo will be center staging Photography from the Arab World and Iran. Held at the Carousel du Louvre, the exhibit addresses the medium from its first inception in the mid-19th century to its inescapable present-tense, coinciding with other major events happening around the vibrant city, such as the Henri-Cartier Bresson Foundation on August Sander, an exhibit on the Subversion of Images and Surrealism at the Centre Pompidou, 150 Years of Iranian Photography at the Museé du Quai Branly, amongst many other sincere happenings across the platform.
On that note, Contemporary Practices has welcomed the concept of bringing to life a Fifth Volume on the nuances of photography from the region. With our usual interest on contemporary projects, their diligent concepts and accommodating mediums, we bring forth a strict choice of photographer’s from the late 1940s, to a contemporary Action-based series only associated to the name of Reza Aramesh. As the cover image suggests, we introduce a new sequence that continues to re-stage Reza's thoughts on the tragedies of art vs. war through his action-based processions, shared with Gemma Tully in his London studio.
Furthering the content, Van Leo is revealed for his Turkish beginnings, and Egyptian/Armenian encouragement. A celebrity in and of himself, his work will never die. Recognizable regardless of the time it is offered in, Van Leo charms us with saturated shades, and a muse of poses he captured in his Cairo studio. Youssef Nabil offers self-portraits as emblems to his cinematic other. Welcoming the paths of life and death with his book I Won’t Let You Die, a tribute to the faces that celebrated the Egyptian cinema during the Golden Years, he wraps himself amongst the celebrities of his childhood. Thierry Bal and Idris Khan are the defining points for Stephanie Sykes’ “Dubai: The Bodiless Image”, a reportage-like study on what defines this emerging city. Bibnaz Zavieh sheds light on Shirin Neshat, a photographer’s criticism on her own work in the context of the orient and its debilitating prisms. New York's Sundaram Tagore Gallery and Guild Art Gallery attribute Signs and Signatures of Arab painters and the movement of Iranian culture to transnational states. Observations on Palestinian landscape photography are brought forth by Adila Laidi-Hanieh, and Najwan Darwesh redefines prevalent Palestinian structures in Europe.
These are but a few suggestions to what our journal can offer to this quarter.
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