Event 

Panel Discussion: Art, conflict and Iraq at the 56th Venice Biennale

“When a conflict is prolonged, local people become isolated from the outside world, and their true lives and images become obscure in the eyes of the outsiders. Conflict itself rather than their suffering is presented to the world. (…) One of the objectives of cultural exchange is to protect such people against psychological and cultural…
Interview 

Wafaa Bilal on drones, the Hudson River and why art should agitate.

Wafaa Bilal is a New York-based Iraqi artist, working with mixed media from installations to photography and digital arts. His project Virtual Jihadi (2008) recreated first person shooters that the US army used to train their staff. He talks to Ruya about his days as a student in Baghdad, life as an artist in New York, and…
Interview 

“Making do and getting by”: Basra-based painter Hashim Taeeh

Hashim Taeeh (b.1948, Basra) is a painter based in Basra. His cardboard sculptures, in collaboration with the artist Yasseen Wami, were part of Welcome to Iraq, the Iraq Pavilion exhibition at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.  The modest material and basic, minimalist style they prefer are entirely at odds with a popular taste in…