Art and the Arab Spring: Aesthetics of Revolution and Resistance in Tunisia and Beyond
In: The Global Middle East Ser. v.16
In: The global Middle East 16
The revolutions that began to sweep across countries in North Africa and the Middle East in December 2010 - like other revolutions in diverse modern historical contexts - have often been articulated, internally and externally, in black and white terms of success or failure, liberation or constraint, for or against, friend or enemy. These internal and external clichés are perpetuated by what Jellel Gasteli has called 'icons of revolutionary exoticism'. Paying particular attention to works from the Tunisian Revolution of 2011, this book examines a diverse body of art including photography, sculpture, graffiti, performance, video and installation by over twenty-five artists. Examining how art can evoke the idea of revolution, Art and the Arab Spring reveals a new way of understanding these revolutions, their profound cultural impact, and of the meaning of the term 'revolution' itself.
In: The Global Middle East Ser. v.16
In: The global Middle East
"The revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests that began to sweep across numerous countries in North Africa and the Middle East in December 2010 shocked the world. The significance of the uneven phenomenon which has often been named the 'Arab Spring' is still not fully understood. What is certain is that the events triggered partly by the self-immolation of the Tunisian fruit-stall owner, Mohammed Bouazizi, have changed this diverse region irrevocably, leading to the explosion of enduring political frameworks or - in Syria - to civil war and mass exodus. These Revolutions - like other Revolutions in diverse modern historical contexts - have often tended to be articulated, internally and externally, in black and white terms of success or failure, liberation or constraint, for or against, friend or enemy. The complex range of perspectives in Tunisia has, for example, at times, been reduced to binary perceptions of secularism and religion or, more extremely, a 'Western' notion of democracy and a radical version of Islamism. The metaphor of an 'Arab Spring' was swiftly replaced, in both journalism and scholarship, by that - equally reductive - of an 'Islamist Winter'. The Revolutions came often to be presented as a closed chapter. Yet, art engaging with this phenomenon frequently contributes an alternative perspective. A striking range of art evokes, and encourages, a more nuanced understanding of these Revolutions, and of the idea of 'revolution', more widely. In this book I ask how such work - in photography, sculpture, graffiti, performance, video and installation - forges a way between internal and external clichés. How does this art evoke the idea of revolution? How does it invent new aesthetics? How do these works call for alternative critical approaches?"--
Englisch
Cambridge University Press
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