What do we need to know about the MENA region today?

For so many decades the region of MENA has been synonymous with religious extremism, oppression of women, dictatorial regimes and, at varying levels, high rates of illiteracy and backwardness.

In the last decade of the twentieth century the region has seen various political tumults including Islamic terrorism and its war against civilians in Algeria, civil war in Sudan, the continued Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the resulting intifadas, the Gulf wars followed by the occupation of Iraq …

People only ever have the degree of freedom that their audacity wins from fear.

Les peuples n'ont jamais que le degré de liberté que leur audace conquiert sur la peur.

Stendhal

The question 'What do we need to know about the MENA region today?' triggered a series of questions from my part. My contribution will be these questions; the aim is to start a game of Q&Q (instead of a Q&A) with no rules and no time limits.

Who is this 'we' mentioned in the question? Why does this 'we' feel compelled to know anything? And what kind of knowledge does it feel compelled to accumulate? What is the MENA region? When did this acronym come about? Why the Middle East and North Africa? How come they are singled out and brought together? How much do the countries of this region have in common? Would it be more interesting to ask about their differences ...

One of the important developments required in the region is the expansion of a critical discourse on local artistic practices. It is crucial to gain an in-depth understanding of the various generations of art practitioners, through detailed studies of their work in relation to the relevant contexts and debates. Research grants and publication opportunities would benefit this field, in which work is currently being done but which requires greater support structures ...

The project stems from an observation and an attendant question: there is clearly a thriving, politically motivated, post-conceptual art in the MENA area (Walid Raad, Walid Sadek, Decolonizing Palestine, Khalil Rabah, Djamel Kokene, Yto Barrada, Lasserre and Yacoub and so on) which, given its relationship to the territory of art and that of other forms of knowledge production, operates through what might best be described as 'extraterritorial reciprocity'. This begs the following, unanswered and even unposed question: Was there a conceptual art in the MENA? ...

There are two things we need to know. Firstly, we need to know what we know, that is, how much or how little? Secondly, we need to know who 'we' are in this context. Obviously, there is a different 'we' at stake, whether inside or outside the region, as well as many differences within the region. So, from the outside we need to know which forms of 'we' are working in the region, and how they see themselves, their histories and possible futures: what are their horizons of expectation? ...

Cities have long been sites for conflict, from war and the oppressions of dictators to racisms and religious hatreds. And yet, where national states have historically responded by militarizing conflict, cities have tended to triage conflict through commerce and civic activity. Often the overcoming of urban conflicts became the source for an expanded civic-ness: this happened in Cairo in February 2011. But in Benghazi it took a very different form: full possession of the territory of the city. And in Gaza it is yet another trajectory: one which shows us the limits of superior military force – no matter how powerful an army Israel has, it cannot unleash its full force onto Gaza ...

Sitting in the sweltering sun of Sharjah on a large rolled carpet on the open esplanade facing the museum, I express to an acquaintance, my uneasiness and inability to respond to the question. We need MENA (I had continually mistaken it for MENASA, unconsciously adding yet another region to the equation, another source of anxious unknowing). Having travelled in and around the aforementioned region more than I have, his response is intuitively political, to the point: 'Why don't they ask their troops?' Nothing prepared me for the array of answers I got from friends and acquaintances as I uttered the apprehensive question, perhaps as an attempt to relieve myself of this responsibility. The responsibility of accurate answerability ...

In an email dialogue between Beirut-based architect Tony Chakar and critic Stephen Wright (published in the catalogue for Out of Beirut at Modern Art Oxford in 2006), Chakar takes Wright to task for his habitual use of the label 'Middle East':

'The more I thought about it the more it didn't make any sense. What does it mean that I'm from the "Middle East"? ... In fact, the region itself doesn't exist. We might talk about it as much as you want but it's still not there... Do you think I might be able to understand what it means to live under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship or to be "liberated" by the Americans? Or would I be able to understand what it means to be living under the constant threat of being "transferred" from Ramallah to Jordan? ...

This question is like a trap: 'what do we need to know about the MENA region today?' It feels like a trap, or a puzzle, rather than like a question because it was asked with no explanations. The only indication I had was that the answer should not exceed 200 words and that this question ('trap') occurred in the context of a project aiming at developing thoughts, writings and publications on the visual culture of an area known as MENA – which is an acronym in Latin letters. Although I am supposed to be one of its inhabitants, this region does not exist for me. It only exists for those who use this term for it. I cannot translate this acronym from its Latin form into any language from this region. As soon as I write it down in Arabic ...

One needs to be careful with the concept of regions as geographical entities. Such an understanding is only valuable if it takes into account the way these regions relate to their neighbours, as frontiers are still too often frontiers of misunderstanding.

The Middle East, like North Africa or the so-called 'Arab World', is a crucible for Mediterranean, Eastern and African influences. It's a place of crossroads where Arab, Berber and Islamic heritages mingle and interact through various migratory ...

When initially presented with the task of summing up the nearly two-dozen nations that are lumped together under this peculiar acronym, my immediate impulse was to emphasize that it is impossible to describe such a vast region in less than 200 words. Even the few commonalities that do exist among these modern states are not so easily compartmentalized. The era of colonialism, the Arabic language, the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam – each narrative is significant and synonymous with the region, but what then of the legacy of the Umayyad Empire, Farsi, and lesser-known but equally important religious communities such as the Druze? Essentially, the list of possible details is endless. With the existence of continuous civilization for millennia, what basic information ...

The Middle East today is witnessing a clash of visual narratives. Images of aging dictators clinging on to their youth, clash with those of fresh-faced protestors. Scenes of medieval methods of curbing freedom of expression – as seen in the thugs on camel and horseback in Tahrir Square in Cairo – clash with those of peaceful demonstrators fighting for their rights with their bare hands. The delusions of grandeur of regimes that refuse to face reality, and which are 'immortalized' in banners, billboards and statues all over the region, clash with the steadfastness of those risking their lives to start a new page in history, as they tear down, burn and destroy those symbols ...

Two-Hundred and Thirty Three

What can I say
In order to be vigilant?
How do I organize pessimism
Into surviving fireflies?
What and where are these images,
Like germs germinating,
Gestating in the belly of some vowel
That lingers after all horizons are
Gone ... 

I believe that recent events and revolutions in the Middle East prove that getting acquainted with the region is more complicated than has been conveyed on the global scene until now. Behind a curtain of traditions, Middle Eastern people are dealing with the passion of globalization.

My comments may only be relevant for my own society where it is impossible to segregate modernity and tradition ...

'If we try to solve society's problems without overcoming the confusion and aggression in our own state of mind, then our efforts will only contribute to the basic problems, instead of solving them.'

Chögyam Trungpa, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior (1984)

Richard Sennett calls 'we' a weasel word. Which 'we' is hailed in this project? Let's say that this 'we' is in the West, and that it doesn't include politicians and policy-makers but ordinary people.

My answer to this question is certainly different than it would have been six months ago. Then, I might have said that 'we' do not understand the youthful populations of the MENA region well, that we don't understand what their expectations, sources of inspiration and creativity are, since their voices are rarely heard both within their own countries and on Western media ...

When did the major museums of the West start taking contemporary Middle Eastern art into consideration? After 2006, with the first successful sale of Middle Eastern contemporary art by Christie's in Dubai, and the announcement shortly afterwards that Abu Dhabi was going to invest billions in museum creation. Of course, the ground for this interest had been prepared by 9/11, which made the US in particular look more closely at this part of the world. But it has been the market that has put the petrol in this tank. Since 2006, the platforms, round tables, workshops, artists' residencies, prizes and Biennale pavilions have proliferated. So why does this art scene still feel so fragile, so obsessed with questions of identity ...

History repeats itself – this line used across the disciplines is a proven liturgy to contemporary compendiums. When you detail the visual narratives, the region becomes the medium designed to mark your place in history. Whether in the Stone Age or the Digital Age, information is your power, and revolution your tool ...

The political and cultural density of the Middle East is as diverse, rich and complex as that of Central Europe with which it shares a history of struggle about disputed borders, clashing ideologies and religious turmoil. The fact that the term by which the region is commonly identified is a British invention is just but one sign of how inseparably intertwined the histories of the Middle East and of the Western world are. More than ever, the region is becoming one of the turn tables within an increasingly global reality – with the free exchange of ideas often at risk of being caught up in conflicting political and economic interests ...