Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East
- Submitting institution
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Birmingham City University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32Z_OP_B0033
- Type
- B - Edited book
- DOI
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- Publisher
- Sternberg
- ISBN
- 978-3-95679-246-5
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2016
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The researcher commissioned and edited twenty-eight international contributions to produce a ‘condition report’ on contemporary cultural institutions and practices in the Middle East—the first of its kind. Focusing on the need for research in the field of art practices and knowledge-production, the researcher contributed an extended introductory essay which framed the research, and commissioned an additional five online contributions that are complimentary to the volume. The researcher ensured contributors, some working from within the institutional networks in question, engaged with under-represented institutions in the region and presented new research that engaged with present-day institutional practices. Other contributors were drawn from a conference organised with Tate Modern entitled ‘Future Imperfect: Cultural Propositions and Global Perspectives’ (November, 2013).
To date, no one volume has brought together such diverse voices—established and emerging—to develop an empirical framework for critically engaging with cultural institutions in the region. The volume’s provision of a series of critical frameworks has since facilitated a further level of critical debate—at the Mosaic Rooms (London), Birzeit University (Palestine), Delfina Foundation (London), SOAS (London), and the British Museum (London)—on the role of cultural production during a time of political emergency and social conflict. It also provides first-hand insights into how cultural institutions actually (as opposed to ideally) operate across the region. The theoretical frameworks—drawing on decolonial practices and humanities-based research methods—produced new knowledge frameworks for researchers to understand the political demands and historical nuances that have impacted on cultural production in the region. The volume has also created a body of research for practitioners interested in developing alternative institutional forms. In determining how sustainable forms of cultural infrastructure can potentially operate within the region, the volume has extended into the future of institution building and, crucially, the role of digital technologies in rethinking cultural networks.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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