Popular art, contemporary art and political practices in the Middle-East, between orientalism and Egyptian revolution, 2000-2014 ; Art populaire, art contemporain et pratiques politiques au Moyen-Orient, entre orientalisme et révolution égyptienne, 2000-2014
Since the 1990s, 'popular art' is the name given by contemporary Egyptian and Middle Eastern artists when they refer to 'anti-elitist' artistic practices inspired by popular esthetics and which are taking root in pop art and in daily life in representations. Kitsch is the most emblematic form of it. Entering the realm of art in the early 20th century, it was adopted by many Middle Eastern artists despite being the focus of esthetic and ethical criticism. The aim of the artists was to produce a visual escalation that carried ambivalence and a wavering sense of meaning. The representation of cultural identity was thus given to ostentation, introducing distance and nuance through which the artists could assert their belonging, provide an answer to the orders of the local and international markets, and inject an element of irony. Similarly, many of the subjects diverted a popular esthetic, creating a dramatizing tension through contrast between the apparent frivolity and gravity contained within. It was also a matter of subverting the hierarchy of artistic values — not to assert the relativism thereof, but to rather further disrupt the social order. With the upheaval of the Arab Spring in 2011, revolutionary art, and particularly urban art, exploded, reinforced and amplified the democratic intention of popular art in Egypt, relayed by the Internet to both a local and international audience, resulting in a coexistence of the political and artistic avant-garde. The public dialogue between the graffiti artists and people in the street fueled the libertarian ambition of some, before waning revolutionary enthusiasm and the return to military power in 2014 caused its decline. ; Art populaire, art contemporain et pratiques politiques au Moyen-Orient : entre orientalisme et Révolution égyptienne, 2000-2014À partir des années 1990, l'art populaire, ainsi dénommé par les artistes contemporains d'Égypte et du Moyen-Orient, désigne une pratique antiélitiste qui détourne les esthétiques populaires, s'ancre dans le pop art et ...