Book Launch: Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion

• Friday 28 April
• 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
• Project Space, Hayy Jameel 

Author Sara Raza in conversation with curator Rotana Shaker discussing Raza’s recently published book “Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion” Black Dog Press, London (2022). This experimental book is inspired by British punk methodology, and is entirely culled from Raza’s global curatorial practice. . Taking up fractured and poetic forms, the book includes art and artworks by 31 contemporary art practitioners from Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the spaces and places associated with the former Soviet Union. It expands to reflect upon the USSR’s complex relationship with the Arab world, Iran, and Turkey. Focusing on revolutionary artistic practices and artist-led movements, this timely book provides a fresh take on global current events through the cutting, mixing, and weaving of art and ideas.

Curators want to be Artists and Artists want to be Curators

• Saturday 27 April 
• 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM
• Hayy Studios, Hayy Jameel 

Global Art Curator and Writer Sara Raza will present curating within both local and global contexts, mapping institutional and outsider DIY experimental projects within her almost two-decade curatorial practice. Examining curating as a form of reciprocal cultural labor, she highlights the importance of having had an artist-led curatorial practice. Navigating across various political sites, she charts how artists and curators adopt the position of “double agents” as they move between belonging to and working within the framework of both the Global South and Global North. 

Public Spaces & Public Times: Curator Sara Raza in Conversation with Bricklab

• Sunday 27 April 
• 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM
• Project Space, Hayy Jameel 

Subversive artistic and architectural methodologies that explore the role of ‘contraband’ in remapping and reimagining public spaces, amidst fast-changing and divided public times, are the subjects of a lively conversation between global curator Sara Raza and architectural studio Bricklab (Abdulrahman Gazzaz and Turki Gazzaz).

About Sara Raza

Sara Raza is an award-winning curator and writer specializing in global art and visual cultures from a postcolonial and post-Soviet perspective and is the author of “Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion” (Black Dog Press, London 2022). Raza has curated exhibitions and projects for international museums, biennials, and festivals including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Milan), Rubin Museum of Art (New York), Mathaf: Modern Arab Art Museum (Doha, Qatar), the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Saskatchewan, Canada), Maraya Art Center, (Sharjah), the Tashkent Biennale (Uzbekistan), the 55th Venice Biennale, and the 3rd Baku Public Art Festival (Azerbaijan), among others. Formerly, she was the Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator for the Middle East and North Africa at the Guggenheim Museum, New York and Curator of Public Programs at Tate Modern, London. Raza is the West and Central Asia Desk Editor for ArtAsiaPacific magazine and has written for numerous artist monographs, books, and catalogues. She is the recipient of the 11th ArtTable New Leadership Award for Women in the Arts and was honored by Deutsche Bank and Apollo as one of 40 under 40 global art specialists (thinkers’ category). She is a Walter Hopps Curatorial Excellence Award Finalist and the Arts Council of England Emerging Curator’s Awardee (2004-05). Sara holds a BA (hons) in English Literature and History of Art and an MA in 20th-Century Art History and Theory, both from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and pursued studies towards her PhD at the Royal College of Art, London. She lives and works in New York City, where she teaches at the School of Visual Arts Masters Curatorial Practice and is a Red Burns Fellow at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and teaches on the Progam’s Masters’ course at the Institute of Fine Arts and Media, Cultures and Communications departments at NYU.

About Bricklab

Bricklab is a studio for architecture, design and experimental research based in Jeddah. It navigates the interplay between material research, practical design, and the built environment. The portfolio—from cultural architecture to urban design and consulting, public space interventions, to scenography and installations—reflects a thoughtful response to the changing contexts of each project.

The studio was formed in 2015 by Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz. Over the years, their team has expanded to include architects and designers from different backgrounds and interests. Abdulrahman holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Planning from the University of the West of England (UK), while Turki earned his master’s degree in the History and Theory of Architecture from McGill University (Canada).

Image captions

Sara Raza portrait courtesy of Asya Gorovits

Book cover image: ‘Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion’ authored by Sara Raza, published by Black Dog Press, London, 2022. Image caption: Taus Makhacheva ‘Super Taus & a Camel Yasha’ (2017). Photography: Imam Guseinov. Commissioned by Leo Xu Projects