English

Interview

Venice Conversations: War Reporter Ali Arkady Documents the Art Scene in Baghdad

Ali Arkady (b. 1982, Khanaqin) is a photographer and filmmaker from Khanaqin, Iraq. Since 2014, after the armed group ISIS invaded and took control of vast areas of northern Iraq Arkady has been reporting regularly from the frontline, embedded with the Kurdish forces and the Iraqi Security Forces. He has covered the recent operations to drive ISIS out of the…

Coffeehouses and independent cultural centres distribute the publication Art and Its Objects in Baghdad

The owners of several of Baghdad’s coffeehouses and independent cultural centres agreed to distribute the Ruya Foundation’s new publication Art and Its Objects: Five Essays on Contemporary Art Selected by Jonathan Watkins. The book includes a selection of essays on contemporary art which have been translated to Arabic and is part of Ruya’s new educational publishing initiative. It…

News

Ruya Notebooks #1: Distribution in the Middle East

The Ruya Foundation’s new publication Art and Its Objects: Five Essays on Contemporary Art Selected by Jonathan Watkins is being distributed for free in art spaces and cultural centres across cities in the Middle East. The book includes a selection of essays on contemporary art which have been translated to Arabic and is part of Ruya’s new educational publishing…

Cartoon

‘Making Films in Iraq’: February Cartoon

February is the month of film festivals, from the Berlinale to Rotterdam, and the Academy Awards. Khudair Alhimyari has drawn a series of cartoons on filmmaking in Iraq. “I am looking at the conditions of working life in Iraq through its filmmakers,” says Alhimyari, “the complacency of the filmmakers in this cartoon is also a critical comment…