A Prologue to the Past and Present State of Things launches Staging Histories, Delfina Foundation's research and commissioning platform for performance art. Through archival research and new commissions, Staging Histories traces seminal moments in performance, mapping shared histories and contemporary global concerns. This first stage of the project explores performance art from, and in relation to, the Arab region.

Curated by Aaron Cezar, Director, Delfina Foundation with contributions from Ala' Younis and Barrak Alzaid (curatorial fellows, Staging Histories) and Jane Scarth, Residency and Projects Manager, Delfina Foundation.

Part of Shubbak (A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture, 11-26 July 2015).

Staging Histories is largely funded by Delfina Foundation's family of individual patrons and through the Art Basel Crowdfunding Initiative on Kickstarter.

Major supporters of this crowdfunding campaign included: Perihan Bassatne, Maya Rasamny, Fatima Maleki, Marwan T. Assaf, Raghida Ghandour, Jenny Hall, and Midge Palley.

Delfina Foundation would also like to acknowledge other generous supporters: The Third Line Gallery, Dana Farouki, Maria Sukkar, Maryam Eisler, Mourad Mazouz, Joana Schliemann, Rose Issa, Sheena Wagstaff, Isabelle van den Eynde Gallery, Mona Khashoggi, Hanan Sayed Worrell, Zeina Durra & Saadi Soudavar, Faris Smadi, Paola Weiss, Nawel Khelil, Gabriela Galceran, Maya Nassereddine, James Lindon, Layla Binbrek, Ruth|Catone, Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Yola Noujaim, Yassi Sohrabi, Kate Jones, Nadine Toukan, Khalid Mezaina, Samallie Kiyingi, Albertine Kopp, Salma Tuqan, Cathy Costain, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Zain Masud, Antonia Carver, Lisa Fischman, Kavita Chellaram, Burcu Yuksel, Abdullah AlTurki, Mary Sabbatino, Omar Berrada, Madeline McLean, Jared & George, L M De Felice, Aisha Mazin Stoby, Hind Mezaina, Alessio Antoniolli, Oussama Rifahi, Camilla Barella, May Calil, Luiza Texeira de Freitas, Karim Mostafa, Justine Ludwig, Alia Fattouh, Ellen Wettmark & Hans Rosenstom, Ali Cherri, Alia Al-Senussi, Vali Mahlouji, and Mareike Dittmer.

Additional support was provided by Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Video Data Bank and British Council.

Special thanks to all of the artists and their galleries, Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Stephanie Bailey, Yasmina Reggad, Hayward Gallery, Stephanie Rosenthal, Lois Keidan/Live Art Development Agency, Eckhard Thiemann, and Cathy Costain.