MEDRAR FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS

MEDRAR

A touring program of contemporary art videos from the Arabic Region

Identity, individuality, politics and regional issues have all come to the foreground of the art scene in the Arab region. This has lent the area its peculiarity that is related to the stereotypical way in which it is perceived around the world today.

With this idea in mind, "Within the Region" manifests how contemporary artists from Arab countries examine these matters with wariness and sensibility.

"Within the Region" is a selection of high-concept/ low-budget videos produced by emerging video artists from Arab countries between 2005 and 2008.

As a touring program this selection will be shown in various art spaces around the world starting 2009, and will be brought to a close by the end of 2010 in Egypt, where a publication documenting all the activities that will have surrounded the event at each tour stop will be created.

One of main aspects of "Within the Region" is that it offers up-and-coming Arab artists a chance to display their work in the international as well as the local arena.

The program focuses on various topics of the region’s ideological, political and cultural being, striving to represent or depict different fragments of the reality of their being, in contrast to the stereotypical ways in which they are perceived.

Since contemporary art practices have an impact over shaping opinions in a society, “Within the Region” will be approaching the concept of generalized perceptions or stereotypes of the region with a contemporary way of thinking, along with provoking various questions about the diversity involved in practicing video arts in the Arabic region.