ArteEast

Founded in 2003, ArteEast serves as a critical platform for artists confronting the sociopolitical and geopolitical complexities of the Middle East and North Africa, including its communities and global diaspora. The organization challenges Western-centric art narratives through initiatives like its Artist Residency program, which has supported over 100 emerging and established artists (e.g., Larissa Sansour, Bouchra Khalili, etc) since 2007. Their “Cinema East” film series amplifies experimental and documentary works, addressing displacement and identity, while publications like the “Haraka Journal” foster scholarly dialogue on Arab visual cultures.

Notable recent projects include Disrupting Design (2022), a decolonial critique of Eurocentric design histories, and collaborations with institutions like MoMA and Sharjah Art Foundation. ArteEast prioritizes intersectional approaches, centering queer, feminist, and refugee perspectives through partnerships with collectives such as DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency).

City

New York

Country

United States

Region

N. America

Year of Creation

2003

Featured Project

Falling Is Not Collapsing, Falling Is Extending

A Spring 2017 multimedia publication exploring resilience and transformation in the MENA region through essays, poetry, and visual art. Curated by researcher Róisín Tapponi, it reframes societal “collapse” as generative rupture, featuring contributions from artists like Hiwa K (Iraqi-Kurdish) and writer Mona Kareem on themes of displacement, ecological precarity, and diasporic memory.

Falling Is Not Collapsing, Falling Is Extending

Resources

Alzaid, Barrak. “The Future of the Middle East’s Art World: An Interview with ArteEast Artistic Director Barrak Alzaid.” Khaleejesque, 20 Sept. 2011, khaleejesque.me/2011/09/20/the-future-of-the-middle-easts-art-world-an-interview-with-arteeast-artistic-director-barrak-alzaid/.

“ArteEast Interview: Suheyla Takesh.” Grey Art Museum, Apr. 2020, greyartmuseum.nyu.edu/2020/04/arteeast-interview-suheyla-takesh/.

“ArteEast Quarterly: What Is an Institution?” CCA Derry~Londonderry, Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry~Londonderry, n.d., www.ccadld.org/news/arteeast-quarterly-what-is-an-institution/.

Baroody, Michelle, and Alison Kozberg. “The Politics of Collective Programming and the Virtual Arab Film Festival.” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, vol. 62, no. 2, 2021, pp. 274–97. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.13110/framework.62.2.0274.

More Information

arteeast.org

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