Art
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"Forever is Now": Art in the Egyptian desert
A premiere after 4,500 years: in autumn 2021, Egypt hosted its first art exhibition against the backdrop of the Giza Pyramids. Various artists created large installations in the desert sand. By Nele Jensch
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Iranian artist Farzaneh Khademian's "Peephole"
Women living "life without a life"
In her latest exhibition in Japan, Farzaneh Khademian depicts figures who seem detached from their surroundings. In interview with Qantara.de, the Iranian photographer and painter explains the impact of photography, migration and gender-based inequality on her paintings. By Changiz M. Varzi
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"I am a stranger: a stranger twice over"
Contemporary art meets early Islamic high culture
Running until 20 February 2022, Ali Kaaf’s installation "Ich bin Fremder. Zweifach Fremder" will be on show in front of the largest and perhaps most significant piece of Islamic art to grace any museum worldwide. In exhibiting his piece in this way, Kaaf draws it into a contemporary dialogue with the 1,300-year-old facade
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Theatre in Pakistan
"I just want to dance"
Young performers in Lahore are shaping their lives outside the perceptions of Pakistani society, which views many art forms as obscene. As part of a new generation that hopes to change the country, they find themselves taking on conservative mullahs, censorship bodies and sometimes even their own families. By Karin A. Wenger with photos by Philipp Breu
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Best of Qantara.de 2021
Top ten most-read articles on Qantara.de
Every year in December, the team at Qantara.de takes a look back at the articles that proved most popular with our readers. This year is no different. Here is a run-down of the stories that mattered most to you in 2021. Happy New Year to all our readers!
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Lebanon
Beirut nightlife grinds to a halt
A pandemic, civil strife and an economic meltdown have conspired to bring Beirut's vibrant club scene to its knees. Yet the city needs parties more than ever. Kate Martyr reports
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Five millennia of Iranian art – an exhibition
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Five millennia of Iranian art – an exhibition
Persian culture is in the spotlight in an exhibition at the James Simon Gallery in Berlin. The artefacts feature unexpected multicultural influences. By Christine Lehnen
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Etel Adnan, Lebanese American poet and artist
A woman full of questions and innocence
Etel Adnan, the artist who transcended the borders of culture and language, may have died in Paris, writes Lebanese author Elias Khoury, yet her death holds a mirror up to the stifling rhythm of what Beirut has become. Indeed, every death now seems a metaphor for the death of Beirut
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The new Ataturk Cultural Center in Istanbul
Turkey's second modern age
Between Ataturk's republican utopia and Erdogan's 21st century Islam: the newly built AKM Cultural Center in Istanbul. By Tomas Avenarius
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Marwan Rechmaoui exhibition in Beirut
But the trees kept voting for the axe
The work of artist Marwan Rechmaoui is both minimalist and complex and embodies the faultlines of his home city. Some of his latest pieces are now on show at a leading Beirut gallery – its first exhibition since the explosion that rocked the city last summer. By Lena Bopp
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Lebanese cartoonist Bernard Hage
"I’m afraid you have Hezbollah"
Lebanese cartoonist Bernard Hage has made a name for himself in a very short space of time, both at home and abroad. Now he sees no future for himself in Lebanon, and is about to make the move to Berlin. By Lena Bopp