Uncommon grounds: new media and critical practices in North Africa and the Middle East
London; New York:
Tauris
(2014), 359 pp., many illustr., index
ISBN 978-1-78453-035-8
"Examining the opportunities presented by the real-time generation of new, relatively unregulated content online, Uncommon Grounds evaluates the prominent role that new media has come to play in artistic practices – and social movements – in the Arab world today. Analysing alternative forms of creating, broadcasting, publishing, distributing and consuming digital images, this book also enquires into a broader global concern: does new media offer a ‘democratisation’ of – and a productive engagement with – visual culture, or merely capitalise upon the effect of immediacy at the expense of depth?Featuring full-colour artists’ inserts, this is the first book to extensively explore the degree to which the grassroots popularity of Twitter and Facebook has been co-opted into mainstream media, institutional and curatorial characterisations of ‘revolution’ – and whether artists should be wary of perpetuating the rhetoric and spectacle surrounding political events." (Publisher)
Contents
Introduction / Anthony Downey, 13
2011 is not 1968: An Open Letter to an Onlooker / Philip Rizk, 30
The Paradox of Media Activism: The Net is not a Tool, It's an Environment / Franco 'Bifo' Berardi, 39
Revolution Triptych / Mosireen, 47
For the Common Good? Artistic Practices and Civil Society in Tunisia / Anthony Downey, 53
Citizens Reporting and the Fabrication of Collective Memory / Jens Maier-Rothe, Dina Kafafi and Azin Feizabadi, 70
Performing the Undead: Life and Death in Social Media and Contemporary Art / Nat Muller, 86
Wafaa Bilal : 3rdi (2010), 97
Sarah Abu Abdallah : Saudi Automobile (2011), 103
Fayçal Baghriche: Family Friendly (2012), 107
Ganzeer: Manazer (2011–2012), 117
Roy Samaha: Untitled for Several Reasons (2002–03), 123
Art's Networks: A New Communal Model / Derya Yücel, 129
When the Going Gets Tough … / Hamzamolnár, 136
Potential Media: The Appropriation of Images, Commercial Media and Activist Practices in Egypt Today / Maxa Zoller, 148
A Critical Reflection on Aesthetics and Politics in the Digital Age / Dina Matar, 163
Digital, Aesthetic, Ephemeral: A Brief Look at Image and Narrative / Sheyma Buali, 169
New Media and the Spectacle of the War on Terror / Maymanah Farhat, 184
The Magnetic Remanences: Voice and Sound in Digital Art and Media / Nermin Saybasili, 201
Re-examining the Social Impulse: Politics, Media and Art after the Arab Uprisings / Omar Kholeif, 214
Tarzan and Arab: Gazawood (2010), 225
Sophia Al-Maria : Chewing the Data Fat (2007), 235
Hans Haacke for Gulf Labor: Saadiyat Island (2011), 241
Rabih Mroué: The Pixelated Revolution (2012), 247
Arab Glitch / Laura U. Marks, 257
The Many Afterlives of Lulu / Amal Khalaf, 272
Cardboard Khomeini: An Interrogation / Annabelle Sreberny, 291
The Art of the Written Word and New Media Dissemination: Across the Borders between Syria and Lebanon / Tarek Khoury, 302
On Revolution and Rubbish: What has Changed in Tunisia since Spring 2011 / Timo Kaabi-Linke, 318
Saadiyat and the Gulf Labor Boycott / Gulf Labor, 332
2011 is not 1968: An Open Letter to an Onlooker / Philip Rizk, 30
The Paradox of Media Activism: The Net is not a Tool, It's an Environment / Franco 'Bifo' Berardi, 39
Revolution Triptych / Mosireen, 47
For the Common Good? Artistic Practices and Civil Society in Tunisia / Anthony Downey, 53
Citizens Reporting and the Fabrication of Collective Memory / Jens Maier-Rothe, Dina Kafafi and Azin Feizabadi, 70
Performing the Undead: Life and Death in Social Media and Contemporary Art / Nat Muller, 86
Wafaa Bilal : 3rdi (2010), 97
Sarah Abu Abdallah : Saudi Automobile (2011), 103
Fayçal Baghriche: Family Friendly (2012), 107
Ganzeer: Manazer (2011–2012), 117
Roy Samaha: Untitled for Several Reasons (2002–03), 123
Art's Networks: A New Communal Model / Derya Yücel, 129
When the Going Gets Tough … / Hamzamolnár, 136
Potential Media: The Appropriation of Images, Commercial Media and Activist Practices in Egypt Today / Maxa Zoller, 148
A Critical Reflection on Aesthetics and Politics in the Digital Age / Dina Matar, 163
Digital, Aesthetic, Ephemeral: A Brief Look at Image and Narrative / Sheyma Buali, 169
New Media and the Spectacle of the War on Terror / Maymanah Farhat, 184
The Magnetic Remanences: Voice and Sound in Digital Art and Media / Nermin Saybasili, 201
Re-examining the Social Impulse: Politics, Media and Art after the Arab Uprisings / Omar Kholeif, 214
Tarzan and Arab: Gazawood (2010), 225
Sophia Al-Maria : Chewing the Data Fat (2007), 235
Hans Haacke for Gulf Labor: Saadiyat Island (2011), 241
Rabih Mroué: The Pixelated Revolution (2012), 247
Arab Glitch / Laura U. Marks, 257
The Many Afterlives of Lulu / Amal Khalaf, 272
Cardboard Khomeini: An Interrogation / Annabelle Sreberny, 291
The Art of the Written Word and New Media Dissemination: Across the Borders between Syria and Lebanon / Tarek Khoury, 302
On Revolution and Rubbish: What has Changed in Tunisia since Spring 2011 / Timo Kaabi-Linke, 318
Saadiyat and the Gulf Labor Boycott / Gulf Labor, 332
