Once artists leave Syria many find that international borders are closed to them as they try to build a professional and creative life in exile.
Ari Akkermans
Arie Amaya-Akkermans is a freelance writer and art critic based in Beirut, his research focuses on visual culture in the Middle East, politics of memory, and architecture.
Posted inArt
Art that Resists Being Pigeonholed by Nationality
A recent exhibition presents the work of three Turkish artists connected through material and conceptual strands through modern and contemporary periods.
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How Archaeology Has Fueled Successful Art Experiments
An arts festival in Athens created an opportunity for international artists to think through the power and impact of archeology on nationalism and history.
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Paintings About the Intersection of Architecture and White Privilege
The emphasis in this series of paintings by Chris Barnard is to highlight the role of institutions of privilege in the perpetuation of racial violence in the United States.
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Art Jameel Unveils Plans for Complex in Dubai, Launches Acquisition Fund for Metropolitan Museum
A new arts complex in Dubai may suggest a new direction for contemporary art in the UAE.
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Reconsidering the Work of a Lebanese Female Artist Who Deserves a Closer Reading
Most reviews of Saloua Choucair’s work are still confined to some superficial observations on her paintings, and her sculptures are nowhere yet offered any serious treatment.
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A Sculpture Stretches the Tension Between Construction and Destruction
The elements in this anti-composition have almost fallen out of time, and they are about to break apart, or at least to disjoin.
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Pavel Pepperstein’s Obsession with a Utopian Apocalypse
In these works, the present moment remains altogether elusive.
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Remembering the Light in Dark Times: Dispatches from the Turkish Art World
Conversations with artists reveal a dark mood, and everyone is focused on one topic: When to leave? Where to go? What to do in the meantime?
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A Photo Show Romanticizes Yosemite at the Expense of Native Americans
It’s through exhibitions like this that you can see the profound disconnect between institutions and the history they are entrusted with.
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A Dreamlike Distortion of Turkish Patriarchal Society
In Lara Ögel’s work, structures of power appear encoded in unexpected ways and emerge from the most commonplace situations.
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At a Remote Russian Observatory, Contemporary Art Invokes the Wonder of Stargazing
The Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science, near the village of Nizhny Arkhyz, is hosting a contemporary art exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of its construction.