December 6, 2013 Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers of 2013

Ruya Chairwoman Tamara Chalabi and Ikon Director Jonathan Watkins have been named two of Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers of 2013. The issue is now available at newsstands and an interactive, digital edition of this year’s Global Thinkers list will be available online soon.


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Event 

RUYA holds symposium in Baghdad on contemporary art.

RUYA hosted a day long symposium on contemporary art in Baghdad last week, open to artists and intellectuals from across the country. Curator Philippe Van Cauteren, who RUYA brought to Baghdad to meet artists and visit the city’s cultural institutions, gave a presentation on the current international state of contemporary art. ‘We took advantage of…
 

Baghdad Night: Ruya Foundation at the Dubai International Film Festival

Baghdad Night is an animated film based on an old Iraqi folk tale. As you can see from the trailer, it captures the urban feel of the city, and the magical world of folklore. It will be screened for the first time at the Dubai International Film Festival (6-14 Dec). The film was made by…
 

Jafar Mohamed in Venice: Old Masters and 55th Venice Biennale

We asked artist Jafar Mohamed to keep a diary of his residency at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice. Below are his impressions on the city’s museums, paintings and the 55th Venice Biennale, which had been on since the summer: Since my arrival, I’ve loved walking through the city, and have been drawn to…
 

Welcome To Iraq Catalogue

The Welcome to Iraq catalogue with texts by curator Jonathan Watkins and RUYA chairman Tamara Chalabi is available to purchase online through the Ikon Gallery. It is illustrated with images of selected work and recent photographs of everyday life in Baghdad, Babylon, Basra, Erbil and Sulaimaniya.
Interview 

From Berlin to Baghdad: Furat al Jamil

Furat al Jamil (b. 1965, Mainz, Germany; lives and works in Baghdad, Iraq) is a filmmaker, selected to show one of her rare sculptures at the Pavilion of Iraq. A suspended honeycomb frame drips its contents into a broken antique pot, in order to convey sweet melancholy, a sadness that she feels about her homeland…
Interview 

A time for change: Bassim al Shaker

One of the youngest artists in the Pavilion of Iraq at the 55th Venice Biennale, Bassim Al-Shaker (b. 1986, Baghdad, Iraq) is stylistically one of its most traditional, making oil paintings that would very much impress his teachers at the local academy. Eschewing any sign of avant-gardism he paints scenes of the southern marshlands, suggesting a lifestyle…
Interview 

The meaning of cardboard: WAMI (Yasseen Wami and Hashem Taeeh)

WAMI is an artistic partnership quite rare in Iraq. Yasseen Wami (b. 1973, Basra, Iraq) and Hashim Taeeh (b. 1948, Basra, Iraq) work together to make installations of furniture from new and used cardboard. The modest material and basic, minimalist style they prefer are entirely at odds with a popular taste in Iraq for gilded home furnishings.…
Interview 

Discovering Tintin in 70s Baghdad: Abdul Raheem Yassir

Abdul Raheem Yassir (b. 1951, Qadisiyah, Iraq), who took part in the Pavilion of Iraq commissioned by the Ruya Foundation for the 55th Venice Biennale, is widely regarded as one of the best political cartoonists now working in Iraq, responding to the absurdity of his circumstances with ironic humour and poignancy. His style is smart in…
Interview 

Dodging Car Bombs: Kadhim Nwir

The abstract canvases of Kadhim Nwir (b. 1967, Qadisiyah, Iraq), which were first exhibited at the Pavilion of Iraq at the 55th Venice Biennale, reflect urban life through a combination of distressed colour and graffiti-like drawing. Stencilled letters and numbers sometimes convey clear messages – “IRAQ”, “2003” – or they embody a meaning known only…
 

Film, love and dangerous liaisons: Hareth Al Homaam

Young filmmaker Hareth Al Homam (b.1987) took part in the Pavilion of Iraq at the 55th Venice Biennale. His short film, Buzz, exemplifies the stilted, mediated nature of communications between the sexes in modern Iraq in spite of the advent of social media. We follow the short story of a young man and a young woman…