Lecturer
(Visiting Faculty Spring 2008)
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Biography Nada Shabout was trained in architecture at the New York Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Arlington and the Architectural Association School of Architecture , London, England. She has also earned BFA fine arts, MA and PhD in the Humanities with a concentration in art history and criticism from the University of Texas at Arlington, 1999. She wrote her dissertation on “Modern Arab Art and the Metamorphosis of the Arabic Letter.” A book based on her dissertation “Modern Arab Art: Formation of Arab Aesthetics,” was published by the University of Florida Press, 2007. She has been an Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of North Texas since 2002, teaching Arab visual culture and Islamic art. She has been working on the documentation of modern Iraqi heritage, particularly the collection previously held at the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art since her visit to Baghdad in June 2003. She has been organizing panels and presenting around the world on the state of Iraq’s modern heritage following 2003, the relationship of identity and visual representations in modern and contemporary Iraqi art, and exhibitions of Middle Eastern arts in the West since 911. Among her honors is The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq ( TAARII) fellowship 2006, 2007; and Fulbright Senior Scholar Program, 2007 Lecture/Research fellowship to Jordan Project, ” Arab Art Now: A Study of the Contemporary Art Vision in Jordan.” She is a founding member and first president (2007-2009) of the Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab world, Iran, and Turkey (AMCA). She is the curator of the traveling exhibition “Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art,” 2005-07; and “Moments from 20th Century Iraqi Art,” at t he Montalvo Art Center , California, 2007- 2008 . She has edited the exhibition catalogue “Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art (UNT Art Gallery, 2007). She is the author several articles that examine legal and ethical responsibilities of the US in Iraq after 2003, including, “The Iraqi Museum of Modern Art: Ethical Implications,” Collections ( Vol. 2, no. 4, May, AltaMira Press , 2006 ); “Historiographic Invisibilities: The Case of Contemporary Iraqi Art,” the International Journal of the Humanities (volume 3, Number 9, 2006); “The “Free” Art of Occupation: Images for a “New” Iraq,” Arab Studies Quarterly (Volume 28, Number 3 and 4 Summer and Fall 2006); and “Preservation of Iraqi Modern Heritage in the Aftermath of the US Invasion of 2003,” in Gail Levin and Elaine A. King, eds, An anthology on Ethics in the Art World (Allworth Press, 2006). |
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4.621 Orientalism and Representation In the post-9/11 and US-led invasion of Iraq era, representations centered on the Arab/Islamic world are in the forefront again. These representations vary from the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that initiated a series of destructive confrontations between “West” and “East,” to exhibitions of the arts of the region. Edward W. Said (1935-2003) Orientalism in 1978 generated the development of postcolonial studies which examines the voice and agency of the “other” which were silenced or absent in the colonial discourse. Nevertheless, a new wave of exhibiting the “Orient” in today’s “global” age attest to the contrary. A popular theme in promoting Arab/Islamic exhibitions in the West has been the concept of “building bridges.” On their outset, these exhibitions claim to reflect a change in Western attitudes towards art outside its boundaries, and declare that visual arts have become a global phenomenon. They are meant to assert that the notion of fine arts as “a peculiarly Western activity” is no longer the only acceptable standard; where in today’s postmodern (or is it global?) art world artistic centers are not limited to certain Western capitals. Nevertheless, it has been widely argued that under the effect of globalization, defined by most non-Western nations as post-imperialism where the postmodern methodological reevaluation of modernism did not necessarily abandon its principles, the identity of contemporary art is unrecognizable. This seminar addresses a number of key encounters (events, texts, architectural projects, and images) during the modern age and explores contemporary “new Orientalist” political ideologies and how they inform the construction and reproduction of the current knowledge about the Middle East, Arab and Islam. The discussion will particularly focus on exhibitions organized by Western and/or local curators in the West and the Middle East presenting contemporary cultural production from the Middle East in terms of choices, criteria, ethics and themes of display. “Neo Orientalism” will be investigated in relationship to both traditional orientalist and nationalist narratives. Central in this discussion is questioning postmodernism’s relative acceptance of the “other,” in view of the general inclination of the West to be more sympathetic and acceptable of postcolonial production which falls within postmodern formulations of hybridity, syncretization, and pastiche. The course includes weekly reading and writing assignments and requires active participation in discussions. A research paper is to be first presented in class during and then submitted at the end of the term. Topics should be decided in consultation with the instructor by the end of the third week of the semester. A short abstract and preliminary bibliography should be submitted by the fourth week. |
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4.627 Special Problems in Islamic and Nonwestern Architecture—Contemporary Art in the Middle East Finally recognized within the global visual context, contemporary art from the Middle East remain as vague and problematic as the name of its region. This course introduces students to the contemporary arts and cultures of the region, which throughout history has been part of the so called Islamic world. With a review of the formation of Islamic aesthetics and Islamic attitudes towards the arts, the course will begin its investigations from the disjuncture of colonialism and its affects on artists’ understanding and transformation of modern art as distinctly expressive of new socio-politico realities. While the focus of the course will be on the Arab world, modern and contemporary art in various regional countries will be broadly investigated in terms of production, reception, exhibition and value, in both local and global markets, through exploring and reevaluating discourses of culture, identity, and globalization. The course will introduce students to various methodologies of decoding works, and will examine several moments from the contemporary development around the region and within the new global interest. The course is open to graduates and undergraduates. It is structured as a pro-seminar. One session each week will be devoted to a lecture on a specific topic. The second session will be a class discussion on the same topic with designated students’ presentations on various aspects of the topic. The class requirements are three short papers (7 pp) and two class presentations for undergraduates; the short papers may be substituted by a research paper for graduate students on a topic to be discussed with the instructor and to be presented in the class. |