“Arab culture has sunk into a century long sleep.”

This lamentation is commonly heard and includes Arab intellectuals who widely bemoan an atmosphere of stagnation or reactionist attitudes. They state that the reasons for this perception are to be found in narrow constructions of history which led to the discourse of “Orientalism” or the feeling of an “Arab misfortune”. Contrary to that, artists in the Arab World seem to move in a cultural interspace. Through complex cultural translations and with new aesthetic forms and concepts they challenge and compete with common views on history. The question remains whether the impact of the Arts can suffice to counter concepts of cultural defeat or whether their realm is mainly to be perceived as a place of introverted refuge.          

Programm (als PDF)

Concept and Organisation:

Amina Avdovic, Monique Bellan, Osman Hajjar, Hannelies Koloska, Angelika Neuwirth.
(TP C8: Ästhetische Dimensionen der arabischen Sprache: Text, Klang und künstlerisches Artefakt)