Ongoing \u2014 May 22, in-person & online, various locations, US\u2014 more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Celebrate the release of Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction<\/em><\/a>, edited by TMR\u2019s editor-in-chief Jordan Elgrably and published by Citylights Books. Contributing writers Sarah AlKahly-Mills, Reza Sixo Safai, Ahmed Naji, Sahar Mustafah, Natasha Tynes and Omar El Akkad will be joining Jordan on his tour.<\/p>\n Stories from the Center of the World<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>gathers new writing from the greater Middle East, <\/strong>or SWANA. The 25 authors come from a wide range of cultures and countries, including Palestine, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, and Morocco.<\/p>\n Ongoing \u2014 May 19, in-person & online, various locations, US \u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The Arab Film Festival presents a selection of Arab and Arab American films catering to fans of Arabic-language cinema and art-house enthusiasts looking for fresh perspectives and innovative storytelling since its inception in 2005. The festival showcases a variety of films by artists from the Arab world and Arab American community, offering genres such as drama, comedy and documentary, in short and feature-length formats, making the festival a unique opportunity to experience these cultural narratives. All festival films are subtitled in English.<\/p>\n On May 18th<\/sup>, there will be a screening of the short docu-film \u201cFalasteen\u201d (Palestine) followed by a conversation with directors Dina Amin (The Palestine Before)<\/em>\u00a0& Zayd Lahham (Jabal). Inspired by the idea of the \u201crememory\u201d as found in Toni Morrison\u2019s Beloved, the ReMemory Landscape workshop<\/a> on May 19th<\/sup> shares how to capture the abstract notion of memory through material exploration. Using reclaimed fabric, collage methods, and appliqu\u00e9 techniques, the workshop relies on a making-while-meditating mindset. Participants will explore how to depict their personal memories of specific landscapes through the use of fabric collage and abstract imagery.<\/p>\n Ongoing\u2014July 4, Dubai, UAE\u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Kutubna Cultural Center<\/a>, Dubai\u2019s newest independent bookstore and cultural center announced the opening of Dr. Rana AlMutawa\u2019s urban ethnography photo exhibition \u201cEveryday Life in the Spectacular City.\u201d<\/p>\n The exhibition, which is free to attend, is Dr. AlMutawa\u2019s first solo exhibition in Dubai. The photographs in the exhibit form a part of the research that AlMutawa conducted for her book,\u00a0Everyday Life in the Spectacular City: Making home in Dubai<\/a><\/em>, published by the University of California Press, the book is a pioneering urban ethnography that explores how middle-class citizens and long-time residents of Dubai interact with the city’s spaces to create meaningful social lives.<\/p>\n The exhibition showcases over 33 documentary photographs taken during AlMutawa\u2019s fieldwork from 2017-2021 to highlight the forms of belonging that take place in shopping malls and other so-called superficial spaces and to demonstrate that inhabitants do make meanings within the spectacle.<\/p>\n Commenting on the exhibition, AlMutawa said: \u201cI want to show that\u00a0\u201csuperficial\u201d\u00a0places are important cultural sites: ones where people go to see and to be seen by members of their community; where people have memories from their childhoods; and where social\u00a0and gender norms are observed and negotiated. I hope that the book and exhibition can generate more debate about how to go about understanding these places without repeating the stereotype about inauthentic Gulf cities.\u201d<\/p>\n May 16 \u2014 August 25, 421<\/a>, Abu Dhabi, UAE \u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n In her first solo exhibition,\u00a0The Clock Doesn\u2019t Care<\/em>, Mona Ayyash presents a collaborative video piece with a group of actors, dancers, and performance artists, focusing on small body movements. The work is a study of repetitive non-functional movements, without purpose or\u00a0productivity. It questions the tension between\u00a0passing time\u00a0and\u00a0wasting time. Selected through an open call, the artist\u2019s collaborators committed to a long-term creative process where they contributed to the work by filming themselves responding to movement prompts, encouraging them to consider what \u2018doing nothing\u2019 looks like.<\/p>\n Mona Ayyash (b. 1987, Kuwait City) is a Palestinian visual artist based in Dubai, whose practice focuses on repetition, memorization, slowness, and boredom. She holds an MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Her work was exhibited in NIKA Project Space in 2023, Jameel Art Centre in 2021, and Maraya Art Centre as part of the UAE Unlimited program in 2019. She took part in the Homebound Residency with 421 in 2020 and was an artist-in-residence at the Alserkal Residency for their Fall 2017 cycle.<\/p>\n May 17 \u201418, Berlin, Germany \u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n As part of its grand opening, Khan Aljanub is hosting two events that you won\u2019t want to miss. The first event, on May 17, will feature a collection of readings in Arabic and English as well as music by Ghaith Alshaar for Palestine. The readers include Heidi Julavits, Ryan Rauby, Emet Ezell, Katharine Halls, Dellair Youssef, Basma Mostafa, Yasmeen Daher, and Hiba Obaid. The audience is encouraged to join in.<\/p>\n The second event, on May 18, will feature a talk with Yassin Alhaj Saleh<\/a>, moderated by the writer, academic researcher, and editor at the Aljoumhouria<\/a>, Qasim Al Basri. The panel will discuss the events leading up to October 7, the situation in Palestine and Gaza in the context of the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7, the current political climate in the West, especially in Germany, in light of the events in Gaza, and the implications for Arab refugees and immigrant communities, particularly in relation to the protest movements. The panel will also address the current political situation in Syria, the impact of events in Palestine on Syria, and the political interconnectedness of the Palestinian and Syrian issues.<\/p>\n May 19, Albertine Sarrazin space \u2013 Promenade du Peyrou, Montpellier, France \u2014\u00a0more info\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Alain Damasio<\/a> is hosting the Palestinian novelist and poet Karim Kattan<\/a> for the last meeting of his “carte blanche” at La Com\u00e9die de Livre<\/a>. Karim Kattan is the author of the debut novel in French, “Le palais des deux collines<\/a>” (The Palace of the Two Hills), published by Elyzad. The novel portrays Palestine as a place of the imagination, intimate and rebellious. The meeting is being held in partnership with The Markaz Review and will be moderated by Sarah Polacci.<\/p>\n Check out Karim Kattan’s pieces for TMR here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n May 22, Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis, US \u2014 more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Often considered Egypt\u2019s pioneer documentary filmmaker and \u201cfilmmaker of the poor,\u201d El-Abnoudy\u2019s oeuvre maps the intersections of class, labor, and gender in Egypt, largely through the perspectives of women. With training in law, journalism, and filmmaking, El-Abnoudy was active as a documentary filmmaker from the 1970s through the early 2000s. El-Abnoudy\u2019s films offer an intimate glimpse into the lives of working-class Egyptians through politically engaged and socially preoccupied documentary form. Giving a voice to women outside of Egypt\u2019s metropolitan centers, El-Abnoudy enables her film subjects to return the camera\u2019s gaze and narrate their stories in their own words.<\/p>\n The four films on show on the day are: Horse and Mud (1971, 12m), Sad Song of Touha (1972, 12m), The Sandwich (1975, 12m), Rawya (1995, 16m), and Permissible Dreams (1983, 31m).<\/p>\n The program is co-presented with\u00a0Cimatheque<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ArteEast<\/a>.<\/p>\n May 24, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands \u2014 more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Experience the rich diversity of music, food and performances from the SWANA region (South West Asia North Africa) at the inaugural event Nawafiz. Whether you’re a fan or just looking for something new, our festival promises an unforgettable journey through the heart and soul of Arabic music by Marwan Moussa (Egyptian rapper), Shkoon<\/a> (Arabic Electro), El Sawareekh – Mahraganat<\/a> (Arabic pop), A\u00efta Mon Amour<\/a> (Feminist electronic music from the Maghreb), and Disco Arabesquo & Dabke Night.<\/p>\n May 25 \u2014 Sept 8, Nottingham Contemporary, UK\u2014 more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Nottingham Contemporary<\/a> presents the second-ever institutional exhibition of Algerian- German artist Hamid Ze\u0301nati (b.1944, Algeria; d.2022, Germany). Celebrating Ze\u0301nati’s nearly sixty-year career, this major survey casts him as an inventive, free thinker and artist of his time. A self-taught artist whose job as a translator brought him to Germany in the mid-1960s, Ze\u0301nati worked compulsively across surfaces and disciplines from textiles, fashion and ceramics to wearable sculpture and photography, using his ‘all-over’ signature style. His inexhaustible wealth of forms, patterns and combinations of color, material and technique created an abstract visual language entirely his own. His textile paintings freely blend North African modernism, Japanese textile design, Sahrawi patterns, the set designs of Sonia Delaunay, and organic forms found in nature.<\/p>\n Ongoing\u2014May 25, Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, UK\u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Showcasing a new body of paintings and a site-specific wall painting, this will be Hassan’s first exhibition at the gallery, and follows from his participation in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial.<\/p>\n Entitled\u00a0I can see you smiling Fatma<\/em>, the exhibition, dedicated to his mother, showcases recent work that fuses his distinctive calligraphic motifs with the rich visual iconography drawn from his Nubian heritage. The exhibition will be followed by a further solo exhibition at No.9 Cork Street, London, entitled\u00a0Fathi Hassan: Shifting Sands<\/em>. Presented by The Sunderland Collection, this will be on view between May 31 – June 15, 2024. The two exhibitions jointly highlight the artist\u2019s engagement with the experience of migration, dislocation, diasporic identity, and shifting notions of heritage.<\/p>\n May 21, Frontline Club, London \u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The multi-awarding trio Isobel Yeung, Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat uncover multiple potential breaches of international law, including potential war crimes by the Israeli Military inside the occupied West Bank. They navigate gun battles, combat raids, and secretive meetings as they conduct their investigation. What they find raises serious questions about the conduct of the Israeli Military and uncovers a dangerous situation that is on the brink of exploding.<\/p>\n May 21, AUC Press, Online \u2014more info<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Join the AUC Press for the virtual book discussion of The Ghosts of Iraq’s Marshes: A History of Conflict, Tragedy, and Restoration (AUC Press, 2024),<\/em> which tells the gripping history of the devastation and resurrection of the Marshes of Iraq, an environmental treasure of the Middle East, now a protected site. The book discussion will be with book co-authors, Steve Lonergan and Jassim Al-Assadi.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Arab](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/world-picks-arab-film.jpg\")
The AANM Arab Film Festival 2024
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\nKutubna Cultural Center\u2019s Documentary Photo Exhibition<\/h4>\n
![\"Rana](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WPs-AlMuttawa-Book.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Two-images-by-Mona-Ayyash.jpg\")
<\/a>Mona Ayyash: The Clock Doesn\u2019t Care
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\n![\"Khan](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/khan-aljanub.jpg\")
<\/a>Khan Aljanub celebrates the opening of its new bookshop with a weekend of literary events<\/h4>\n
\n![\"Com\u00e9die](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/19.5-Evenement-a-Montpellier-avec-Karim-Kattan-Twitter-Post.jpg\")
<\/a>Com\u00e9die de Livre: Carte Blanche. Dialogue between Alain Damasio & Karim Kattan<\/h4>\n
\n![\"ateyyat](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/ateyyat-El-Abnnoudy.jpeg\")
<\/a>Atteyat El-Abnoudy Retrospective: Mizna Film Series 2024, Feminist Visions\u2013SWANA Cinema By And About Women
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\n![\"Nawafiz](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nawafiz-arab-music-festival.jpg\")
<\/a>Nawafiz: Arabic Music Festival<\/h4>\n
\n![\"Art](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/hamed-Zenati.jpg\")
<\/a>Hamid Z\u00e9nati: Two Steps at a Time<\/h4>\n
\n![\"Fathi](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/fathi-hassan.jpeg\")
<\/a>Fathi Hassan Solo Exhibition: I Can See You Smiling Fatma<\/em><\/h4>\n
\n![\"West](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/west-bank-the-other-war.jpg\")
<\/a>Screening + Q&A: West Bank, the Other War
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\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AUC-talk-e1715890197789.jpg\")
<\/a>The Ghosts of Iraq’s Marshes<\/em>: A Virtual Book Talk<\/h4>\n
\nAnd …<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Atassi-e-library.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWorld Picks Spotlight: The Atassi Foundation for Arts and Culture E-Library<\/h4>\n