|  |  |  ROUNDTABLES                                                                                                            

|  |  |      ROUNDTABLES are a new format of RADICANT NETWORKS established in 2013. Roundtables bring together small groups of artists, cultural workers, theoreticians and other people by invitation, to foster an intense discussion and emergency debate on specific topics relevant to art practice and its political and social context. The Roundtable hereby operates as a think tank and in best case its results lead to cooperation and collective action towards the addressed issue.

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||| ROUNDTABLE in 2013

 

||| ROUND TABLE & WORKSHOP  | ON THE CHALLENGES OF CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

artists in Arab countries and Germany (in English language)  |  6th NOVEMBER 2013 

| | | GUESTS

Deena Abdelwahed: Tunis/Tunesia  | Dina Kafafy: Townhouse Gallery, Cairo/Egypt | Marwa Helmy: Al Mawred Al Thaqafy, Cairo/Egypt | Mirna Bamieh: Al Hoash Gallery, Jerusalem/Palestine | Mohamed Hussein: Freelance artist, designer and curator, Baghdad/Iraq 

 

The round table is proposing a debate around the actual situation of the cultural independent institutions in the Arab countries and in Germany: the role, the challenges, the future, especially in light of the political and economic changes and the impact on the work of cultural institutions, their role, their sources of funding, their management and funding models and its relationship with the society. We discuss  the challenges of the cultural institutions and artists in the Arab countries and Germany. The aim of the round table is to exchange and share the ideas and practical experiences among the Arab and German participants, in an attempt to compare the situation or to find common ideas and cases, and this will be through comparing different and varied models of management and financing mechanisms, also the relationship with the community and with the state.

The round table asks the following questions: 

What are the challenges of the cultural work in the current stage ? And how they can be met? How the mechanisms of funding of arts and culture can be developed? Is there a change in the role of artists and cultural institutions in the light of the political changes? What is the ideal model of the relationship between the independent cultural institutions and the community (society) ?   What is the ideal model of the relationship between the independent cultural institutions and the state?   

 

Marwa Helmy, born in 1979, completed a Bachelor?s degree in French literature at Ain Shams University in Cairo, received a diploma in journalism at the Centre de Perfectionnement des Journalistes (Paris) in 2007 and then received her Master?s degree in cultural and media management at Senghor University in Alexandria in 2009. She presently lives and works in Cairo. She is the deputy manager of the not-for-profit organization Al Mawred Al Thaqafy, which supports the work and networking of artists in the Arabic world. She is also the manager of the cultural policy program in the organization. She also gained professional experience for example as a program coordinator in the Jesuites Association in Cairo and as an editor and translator for French and Arabic for the Egyptian Ministry of Media and Communication. She is working currently on her PHD in cultural policies in the Arab region.  

Deena Abdelwahed, was born in 1989 and lives in Tunis. She studied interior design at the Superior Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis. She designed furniture for the firm Woodstore and worked as an administrator for the Semia Achour gallery in La Soukra. She was a coordinator and cultural advisor for the second Festival des Esprits Libres Tunisiens for photography, music, cinema, dance and sculptural art in Gabès 2012. Deena Abdewahed worked as an artist herself, singing with the jazz funk band So Soulful. She is interested in the influence of art and culture on social processes.Our guests are currently participating in the cultural management training organized by Goethe institute in Berlin and Hamburg  

Dina Kafafy was born in 1985 and lives in Cairo where she received her Bachelor?s degree in integrated and communication management and art. She completed her Master?s degree in Fine Arts at Wimbledon College of Art in London. She taught at the Department of Performing and Visual Art at the American University in Cairo and is presently working as programme coordinator and responsible for the residency programmes of the Townhouse Gallery.  

Mohamed Hussein, born in 1975, lives in Bagdad where he studied Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts. He received his Master?s degree in curating in 2009 from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Mohamed Hussein describes himself as a freelance artist, designer, curator and researcher. He has exhibited his work at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Baladna Gallery in Amman (Jordan) and during the Ten Iraqi Artists exhibition in Frankfurt. He is interested in the boundaries between architecture, design and visual arts.  

Mirna Bamieh was born in 1983, studied Applied Arts in Egypt and received a Bachelor?s degree in psychology and sociology in Ramallah. This year, she completed her Master?s degree in Fine Arts at the Bezalel Academy for Arts and Design in Tel Aviv. She works as programme coordinator and curator for the Al Hoash Gallery in Jerusalem, which promotes and exhibits visual art by Palestinian artists. When Jerusalem was named the Arabic Capital of Culture in 2009, Mirna Bamieh was responsible for coordination of events.  

 

The round-table was organized by Tatjana Fell

in cooperation with Selda Asal and with the friendly support of Apartment Project

||| www.apartmentproject.org

 

| | | LOCATION: Apartment Project Hertzbergstrasse 13 Berlin | 12055 Berlin