Flow: Curating Contemporary Art in Saudi Arabia

Date
Fri June 9th 2017, 11:00am - 1:00pm
Event Sponsor
Middle East Institute
Location
Room 370, The McMurtry Building
355 Roth Way, Stanford University
Flow: Curating Contemporary Art in Saudi Arabia

What does the word ‘flow’ mean to you? This is the question that curator Noor Aldabbagh posed to contemporary artists across Saudi Arabia last year. Their visual answers touched on everything from the flow of refugees across international borders to the flow of concrete in the ever-expanding sprawl of the modern city. The result was a groundbreaking multimedia art exhibit in Jeddah that brought together interpretive pieces from over thirty emerging Saudi artists. Now Stanford can get a behind the scenes view of the unprecedented new energy in the contemporary Saudi art scene. Noor Aldabbagh will share and discuss a short film about art and public space in her native Saudi Arabia which also tells the stories of three featured artists. This event will be moderated by Alexander Nemerov, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art History at Stanford University.

ABOUT NOOR ALDABBAGH
Noor Aldabbagh is an art collector, museum curator, and documentary filmmaker dedicated to building cross-cultural understanding through the arts and to integrating the arts into all aspects of society. She is the founder of Banafsajeel, a platform that promotes collaborative art projects that highlight artistic talent in the Gulf region. Previously she managed the Intercultural Projects Department at Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, where she supported cross-cultural programming around the globe, including the opening of the Islamic Art Hall at the Louvre. Her documentary film, Seeing Through the Sands, tells the story of a group of Harvard students who travel to Saudi Arabia to experience the culture first hand and reconsider their preconceived notions of the country and the region. The film has been featured in festivals across the globe. Along with her work in the arts, Aldabbagh has founded a Riyadh chapter of the volunteer organization Acumen, which seeks to rid the world of poverty by inspiring creative solutions. She holds a B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard and an M.A. in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Arts in London.

Register to attend at flow-su.eventbrite.com