Talks and lectures
Conferences
2019
On the Border. Buraq as a Space for Questioning and Imagination in Contemporary Art
15th Ernst-Herzfeld Colloquium, University of Budapest (July 5 – 6)
Performing Gender in the Diaspora
Transcultural Interplay through Art and Social Life: Iranian Diaspora in Europe and beyond, University of Paderborn (June 25 – 27)
Performances of Gender in the Works of Contemporary Iranian Artists of the Diaspora
Symposia Iranica, University of St. Andrews (April 13 – 14)
2018
Give Sorrow Images: Memory and Trauma in the Works of Recently Displaced Artists from Syria
Art, Artists, Materials and Ideas Crossing Borders, University of Cambridge (November 15 – 16)
Silent Voices? Contemporary Syrian Artists and the International Art Scene
Changing Global Hierarchies of Value, University of Copenhagen and National Museum of Denmark (August 20)
The Making of a Diaspora: Recently Displaced Syrian Artists
Second International Central and West Asia and Diasporas Research Network Conference, Humboldt University Berlin (July 23 – 25)
Performing history: Chaza Charafeddine’s “Divine Comedy” as critique of contemporary gender politics in the Middle East
14th Ernst-Herzfeld Colloquium, University of Strasbourg, France (July 5 – 7)
Critique by Association. Chaza Charafeddine’s “Divine Comedy” and contemporary representations of gender in the Middle East
Art, Materiality and Representation, British Museum and SOAS, London (June 1 – 3)
Process, Performance and Temporality in Chaza Charafeddine’s “Divine Comedy”: A critique of contemporary gender politics in the Middle East
Process in Modern and Contemporary Islamic Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (April 14)
2017
Fragmented Voices. Politics, Critique and Constraints in Syrian Contemporary Art
Venice Biennale and the Arab World, Ca’ Foscari, Venice (October 19 – 20)
Re-making a world: Recently displaced Syrian artists and new artistic diaspora networks
Sites of Interest: Exploring the Urban in Art Worlds, Technische Universität Berlin (May 12 – 13)
Commitment to Change: Early Modern Painters in Syria
34. Deutscher Kunsthistorikertag: Kunst Lokal – Kunst Global, Technische Universität Dresden (March 8 – 12)
2016
Beyond figuration: Exploring the space between the abstract and the figurative in Marwan’s painting
Abstraction Unframed, New York University Abu Dhabi (May 22 – 24)
2015
Chronicling the Syrian uprising: Collaborative Online Projects and Their Roots in the Syrian ‘Committed Art’
Where/How does the North meet the East?, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (October 7 – 9)
2014
The artist in Syrian society: official vs. unofficial art and the problem of engaged artistic practice
WOCMES (World Congress of Middle Eastern Studies), Technical University of Ankara
Modern and Contemporary Art History in the Arab World: Critical Art Practice in Syria
10th Ernst Herzfeld Colloquium, University of Hamburg
Art and Heritage in Syria. The internet as a platform for cooperation
ZK/U Berlin: Innovate Heritage: Conversations between Arts and Heritage (June 6 – 7)
Public talks
2018
Critical, committed, engaged. Modern and contemporary artistic practice in Syria
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern: The Arab Apocalypse. Art, Abstraction and Activism in the Middle East (September 28)
Performing Critique in Chaza Charafeddine’s “Divine Comedy”
Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, (September 27)
Moderne künstlerische Praxis in der arabischen Welt
Deutsch-arabische Freundschaftsgesellschaft, Berlin (May 8)
2017
Cautious Critique: Contemporary Artistic Practice in Syria 2000 – 2011
Symposium: Kunst, Flucht und Migration, Kurt-Kurt Berlin (October 14)
Shorts from Syria (talk and film screening)
Shubbak Festival. A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture, London (July 9)
Syrische Künstlerinnen im 21. Jahrhundert: Engagement, Marginalität und Migration
Marta Herford, Herford (Germany): Looking Both Ways. Bildpolitiken zeitgenössischer Künstlerinnen aus dem Nahen Osten und in der Diaspora (July 8)
2014
Staying true to oneself: Art Scene(s) in the Middle East
Panel discussion “Terranauti #Prolog”, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy (November 1)
2013
Virtual Agoras. Artistic Video Activism in Syria (lecture and multi-media presentation)
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland (November 6)
Art and social engagement in Syria
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (October 2)
2012
Mapping Creative Internet Activism in the Arab World (lecture and multimedia presentation)
Impakt Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands (October 27)
Virtual Agoras (lecture and multimedia presentation)
7th Berlin Biennale, KW, Berlin (June 3)
Creative Protest in Syria: Mapping the Virtual Revolution (lecture and multimedia presentation)
European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany (April 20)
2011
So Close in the Distance. Young Arab Video Art (lecture and multimedia presentation)
European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany (April 30)
2008
Positions. Experimental Short Films and Videos from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria (lecture and multimedia presentation)
Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg (October 21)
