Projects tagged "Middle East"

Standing Man at Gezi Park
Practitioner:
Erdem Gunduz
Date:
Jun 17 2013
The 2013 protests in Turkey started on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park protesting the plan.
Arabian Nights
Practitioner:
Scheherazad
Date:
The development of the Nights from the oriental oral and literary traditions of the Middle Ages into a classical work for Western readers is a fascinating one. The notebook of a Jewish book dealer from Cairo around the year 1150 contains the first documentary evidence for the Arabic title. The oldest preserved manuscripts, comprising a core corpus of about 270 nights, appear to date from the 15th century.
Concrete Creek
Practitioner:
Shai Zakai
Date:
Mar 24 2001
Utilizing excess construction cement that was being dumped into a creek near Beit Shemesh, Israel, Shai Zakai harnessed the unclaimed cement to create an art installation that brought awareness to the ongoing pollution. The project was entitled, 'Concrete Creek' aimed to bring the community closer to their environment. Zakai installed cement flags and set them among the river.
Avatar in Bil'in
Practitioner:
Palestinian and Israeli activists
Date:
Feb 10 2010
Bil'in is a Palestinian village located 12 kilometres west of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. In 2005, the Israeli government began constructing the security barrier in the Bil’in area, and since then approximately 55 percent of Bil’in’s former land has been used for the construction of the Modi’in Illit settlement.
Israeli Protest Song Banned from Army Radio
Practitioner:
Izhar Ashdot, Alona Kimche
Date:
Oct 15 2012
There was once a time when Israeli songs like A Matter of Habit were routinely written, aired and became hits. These were songs of political commentary or protest, songs of hope and idealism. They represented the aspirations of Israel's secular liberal (generally Ashkenazi) elite. But that was long ago.
Iranian Documentary ‘The Gardener', on Religion and Baha’i Garden
Practitioner:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Date:
Feb 1 2012
The Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf opens “The Gardener” with the declaration: “I am an agnostic filmmaker.” From anyone else, this might seem like a simple statement, but not from the complex Mr. Makhmalbaf. In 1974, when he was 17, religious and involved in a guerrilla group, he stabbed a policeman, for which he received a bullet to the stomach and a prison sentence.
ChallengeAccepted: empowering women
Practitioner:
Women in Turkey, global online users
Date:
Jan 1 2016
#ChallengeAccepted, also known as the Challenge Accepted campaign, is an Instagram tagged challenge as well as an awareness campaign on empowering women involving sharing posts of black-and-white selfies.
Powerful photos of the lives of young Syrian refugees through their eyes
Practitioner:
Spearheaded by 25-year-old Arsenal footballer Héctor Bellerín and photographer Pixie Levinson
Date:
Mar 10 2021
This month marks ten years since the start of the Syrian Civil War, an ongoing conflict that has cruelly cut the lives of hundreds of thousands short, and irrevocably changed the course of millions more. An estimated 5.6 million have fled the country over the past decade, mostly to the neighbouring countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, with many settling in camps they’ve since to come to call their permanent homes.
Parliament in Exile
Practitioner:
Cressida Kocienski, Delfina Foundation Palestine & Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency
Date:
Jan 28 2012
Decolonizing Architecture/Art Residency (DAAR) is an art and architecture collective set up by Alessandro Petti, Sandi Hilal and Eyal Weizman, based in Palestine. Their work is a critical examination of the role played by architecture in the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
post (r)evolutionary exercises
Practitioner:
Kultivator
Date:
Feb 16 2014
The post (r)evolutionary exercises are the outcome of a meeting/friendship/project that started in summer 2010, when we took part in "Goings on" seminar in Beirut, Lebanon. In this seminar, curated by Cecilia Andersson, Scandinavian and Middle east art groups were invited to meet and learn about each others practices. That's what we did, we got along really well, and we started at once to think of ways to do something together again.
Halima Aden: Milan fashion week's star of the season
Practitioner:
Halima Aden
Date:
Feb 22 2017
A woman dressed in western clothes and a hijab is a common sight across Europe’s capital cities – a fact now reflected on the catwalk at Milan fashion week. Halima Aden, a Somali-American model, is fast becoming fashion’s face of 2017, currently stealing the show at fashion week from the catwalk superstar Gigi Hadid.
Turkey's Artists Protest Islamist Censorship After 'Secret Obscenities'
Practitioner:
Turkish Artists
Date:
May 2 2012
Yemen Women Use Digital Tech to Improve Society with Safe Streets
Practitioner:
Defying Silence
Date:
May 14 2012
From Women's News NetworkYEMEN: Even though the connection to the internet has been intermittent at best and often too slow, women advocates in Yemen are now working to push digital tech as a means to improve society and gain human rights. As women continue to battle extreme sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, women
"From Wall Street to Cairo", featuring Fire in Cairo
Practitioner:
Matthew Conners, Photo Journalist by John Otis, Reporter
Date:
Apr 6 2016
Matthew Connors spent much of 2012 in Lower Manhattan making portraits of the protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement. But a chance encounter during the course of that project made him do a 180-degree turn after meeting some Egyptian activists who had participated in a different uprising: the Jan. 25 revolution that led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. They convinced Mr.
Avy Search and Rescue Drone
Practitioner:
Paul Vastert, David Wielemaker, Christian McCabe and Patrique Zaman
Date:
Feb 17 2018
A rescue drone for refugees in danger whilst traveling across the Mediterranean Sea. Last year alone, 3,500 refugees perished attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. The Avy Search and Rescue Drone is specifically designed to help refugee boats. The drone is capable of flying long distances, detecting vessels, and can drop life jackets, life buoys, food supplies, medication and communication devices. Drones for Good Competition
Perception and the Garbage People
Practitioner:
eL Seed
Date:
Mar 30 2016
The streets of the Cairo suburb Manshiyat Naser, nicknamed "Garbage City," are lined with trash, and the people who live there — Coptic Christians who make their living sorting through it and recycling anything they can — are called zabaleen, or "garbage people."
Syria's Creative Resistance
Practitioner:
Reported by Layla Al-Zubaidi
Date:
Jan 1 2012
Bashar al-Assad snores, his head twitching on a large white pillow. Suddenly, he wakes up. “The people want to overthrow me!” he screams, the pompom on his nightcap bouncing. 
U.S./Iraq War Memorial
Practitioner:
Mark Skwarek and others
Date:
Jan 1 2004
The U.S./Iraq War Memorial is an augmented reality public art project and memorial, dedicated to the thousands of individuals who have died on both sides of the conflict.
The Bank
Practitioner:
SUPERFLEX
Date:
Oct 2 2013
Many of the banks originally situated on Bank Street in Sharjah have left for more lucrative locations, so we have imagined a new, non-monetary banking model for the street. What if we were to regard the sum total of memories and stories of the people in this area as the real capital of the street? And what if this new currency could be invested in the new Bank Street and converted into physical objects?
Green Corners
Practitioner:
Negar Farajiani
Date:
Jan 1 2011
The project focuses on creating green spaces as effective elements which ameliorate air quality absorbing chemicals from the atmosphere.
Dubai Man Aims to Enable Filmmaking Skills Among West Bank Youngsters
Practitioner:
Handheld Stories
Date:
Jul 4 2011
Youngsters on the West Bank will have the chance to benefit creatively from a new project this summer. From the beginning of July, Handheld Stories plans to teach filmmaking skills to groups between eight and 16 years old from youth centres and refugee camps in East Jerusalem, Nablus and Hebron, while also giving them video equipment, computers and software.
Dancing Is The New Protest In Iran
Practitioner:
Iranian Activists
Date:
Mar 14 2023
The Islamic Republic has always frowned upon dance but recently even a simple choreographed or ‘synchronized movement’ – as the regime calls it – has become an act of protest.
Mashrou’ Leila
Practitioner:
Mashrou’ Leila
Date:
Sep 1 2018
CAIRO — Seven Egyptians were arrested on charges of promoting homosexuality after concertgoers waved rainbow-colored flags at a rock concert in Cairo last week, Egyptian officials said. The arrests were the latest assault on social freedoms in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose government has imposed harsh restrictions on free speech and led an aggressive campaign against gays.
Mi Minor - a deMOCKracy play
Practitioner:
Meltem Arikan, Pinar Ogun, Memet Ali Alabora
Date:
Jan 1 2013
Mi Minor is a play that is set in the freedom in a box democracy Pinima. The moment you enter ‘the playground’ you enter the country Pinima.
Rubble Bucket Challenge aims to raise awareness about Gaza
Practitioner:
Palastinians and allies
Date:
Aug 26 2014
As the rest of the world continues to dump buckets of cold water over their heads in support of ALS research, some Palestinians have created their own version of the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

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