A weekly curation of a quote, a book, an event, and an artist—brought together to reflect intersecting ideas, practices, and cultural perspectives.
Quote of the Week
“The world is made up of overlapping territories and intertwined histories.”
Author: Edward Said
Book of the week
Modern Arab Art: Formation of Arab Aesthetics
Author: Nada M. Shabout
The term “Arab art” requires clarification. It is often grouped under broader categories such as “Islamic art” or “Middle Eastern art,” both of which carry assumptions that do not fully reflect the specificity of the region’s artistic production.
It traces the development of modern art across different centres in the Arab world, including Cairo, Beirut, and Baghdad, each shaped by distinct historical and political conditions.
Rather than presenting a single narrative, it moves across contexts, showing how these scenes evolved in parallel and in relation to one another.
It moves through artistic movements, country-specific trajectories, and institutional contexts, while also examining how Arab artists engaged with and responded to Western modernism, and how the history of the region’s art has been written and understood.
Here, “Arab art” is approached not as a religious category or an externally defined geography, but as a cultural framework shaped from within the region itself.
What becomes clear is that modern Arab art is not fixed. It is formed through movement, exchange, and negotiation between local conditions and wider global influences.
Event of the week
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh
Date: 30 January – 2 May 2026
The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale reflects a shift taking place in the region, where cities like Riyadh are becoming sites of artistic production, not only reception.
Now in its third edition, it brings together artists from different contexts, placing regional practices alongside wider global perspectives.
Titled In Interludes and Transitions, this edition reflects on movement, migration, and transformation, approached as both a physical and conceptual condition.
Set within the JAX District in Diriyah, the Biennale unfolds across a space shaped by its industrial past and ongoing cultural development.
Rather than presenting a fixed narrative, it moves across practices and positions, allowing for a reading that remains open and in formation.
What makes it worth visiting is not only the work itself, but the moment it reflects. The Biennale is still defining its voice, and in doing so, offers a sense of how the region is situating itself within a wider contemporary context.
Artist of the week
Home Is a Foreign Place is a work by Zarina Hashmi.
Artist: Zarina Hashmi.
Zarina, Home Is a Foreign Place, 1999
Born in Aligarh in 1937, she grew up in a Muslim family before leaving for Karachi following the Partition of India in 1947. She later returned to Aligarh, where she studied mathematics, before marrying a diplomat. Through this, she lived and worked across several cities, including Bangkok, Paris, and Tokyo, where she developed her printmaking practice. In 1977, she settled in New York City, where she remained until her passing in 2020.
It traces the development of modern art across different centres in the Arab world, including Cairo, Beirut, and Baghdad, each shaped by distinct historical and political conditions.
Rather than presenting a single narrative, it moves across contexts, showing how these scenes evolved in parallel and in relation to one another.
It moves through artistic movements, country-specific trajectories, and institutional contexts, while also examining how Arab artists engaged with and responded to Western modernism, and how the history of the region’s art has been written and understood.
Here, “Arab art” is approached not as a religious category or an externally defined geography, but as a cultural framework shaped from within the region itself.
What becomes clear is that modern Arab art is not fixed. It is formed through movement, exchange, and negotiation between local conditions and wider global influences.