With a strong focus on Visual and Media Anthropology, the symposium examines the situation and the work of artists from the Arab world and Iran, dealing with political and social issues as well as historical upheavals. On the one hand, it will focus on actors who, in their "home countries", deal with conflict zones with artistic as well as political participation and create controversial areas of action. On the other hand, it investigates, against the background of migration and exile experiences, the question of how a newly gained independence and artistic freedom affects the respective work. In addition, artistic traditions and nationalisms, as well as notions of "western" or "eastern" will be discussed.
Dr. Cathrine Bublatzky will also give a talk on "'Looking both ways': Kunst der politischen Teilhabe am Beispiel von Künstlerinnen aus dem Iran" at the symposium.
The symposium takes place in the course of the exhibition "Zwischen Zonen" ('Suspended Territories') and was conceptualized and organized by Dr. Cathrine Bublatzky, Assistant Professor to the Chair of Visual and Media Anthropology at the Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies, together with her colleagues Prof. Burcu Dogramaci (LMU, Munich) and Prof. Kerstin Pinther (LMU, Munich). Since April 2016 Cathrine Bublatzky holds the position as co-speaker of the interdisciplinary working group "Kunstproduktion und Kunsttheorie im Zeichen globaler Migration" ('Art Production and Art Theory in the Age of Global Migration').
For more information and a detailed program, please visit the website of "Looking Both Ways".