This month: The Tale of the Tongue-Men By Khier Chouar

In the wake of 9/11 and the US occupation of Iraq, there is a growing awareness of the need for critical engagement within the art world and academia. This resurgent interest in an art of political engagement that seeks to extend the boundaries of an increasingly privatized art world raises questions about the role that politics should play in art, and the difficulties of navigating between an elitist art world and the supposed populism of activist intentions. This issue of ArteEast explores the limits and possibilities of publicly engaged art and participatory practice in the Middle East from a variety of perspectives and brings together the work of practiced-based artists working in film, photography and video installation with those working in the fields of architecture, media activism, and as museum curators. With contributions by Azra Aksamija, Mirjam Shatanawi, Oraib Toukan, Sadia Shirazi, Eric Gottesman, Yasmine Sabbagh, and Eyal Eithcowich.

ArteEast is pleased to conclude its historical modernisms series by featuring the work of Egyptian painter Hamed Nada (1924-1990), a revered figure in Egyptian art history who has still not received his due international recognition. Nada invented a style of figural manipulation and introduced a symbolic vocabulary that continues to influence many artists in Egypt.  He also taught generations of students in art colleges in Cairo and Alexandria.  Drawing on sources as diverse as European expressionism, Egyptian folk art, and ancient Egyptian art, Nada's work is most well-known for its surrealist commentary on the life of the urban poor and working classes.  His tragicomic celebration and disdain of these people embodies the ambivalent nature of the support for social justice among many mid-century Egyptian modernists.  This exhibition is accompanied by original and translated texts on his work by some of the most historically well-known art writers in Egypt.

ArteEast would like to thank Dr. Amany Fahmy (Cairo College of Fine Arts) and Alexandra Seggerman (Yale University) for their extraordinary assistance with this exhibition.  Special thanks are also extended to Mohammed Talaat.