This program is presented by ArteEast in collaboration with Independent Curators International
The removal of work at the 2011 Sharjah Biennial was met with outrage and indignation amongst the arts community in the Middle East and beyond but often ignored the sensitive cultural context in which the work was situated. One year after these events, the Spring 2012 issue of ArteZine considers censorship in Iran as a signal of change rather than simply a method of suppressing art. In the context of potential transformation in the Middle East and beyond, C+ (guest edited by Sandra Skurvida) invites readers to view censorship through the transformative possibilities for art in restricted environments and includes contributions by Media Farzin, Barbad Golshiri, Sohrab Kashani, Sohrab Mahdavi, Negar Mottahedeh, Anahita Razmi, Slavs and Tatars, Katayoun Vaziri, and Kaelen Wilson-Goldie (for the full issue click here).
In conjunction with the launch of the Spring 2012 ArteZine, we deepen our discussion of the conditions of censorship in transnational contexts and feature issue contributors speaking on value and power within censorship that reveals the transformative possibilities for art in restricted environments. The panel features writer and curator Media Farzin and professor and author of Displaced Allegories: Post-revolutionary Iranian Cinema, Negar Mottahedeh, with a response by co-editor of e-flux journal Brian Kuan Wood; moderated by ArteEast Artistic Director Barrak Alzaid and Sandra Skurvida.
This event is free and open to the public, though seating is limited. Please RSVP to rsvp@curatorsintl.org with ArteZine in the subject field.