PANEL DISCUSSION
Gender Policies in Contemporary Artscapes | Hosted by Dima Hamadeh (Writer/Researcher, LEB)
Participants: Myra Al Mir (Artist, LEB), Lina Ramadan (Curator/Writer, PAL, LEB, QTR), Luz (DJ/Cofounder of Room 4 Resistance, GER)
This panel looks at how gender mainstreaming, a notion publicized in the 1990s, has resulted in a growing commitment to diversity and inclusivity in the contemporary art world. While this attentiveness to gender and race, has unleashed an unprecedented support and created a wider framework of visibility for women artists of color and gender non-conforming artists in the Arab region and elsewhere, the question is how to develop and mobilize this framework beyond politics of representation in order to build meaningful relationships and conversations based on solidarity and collectivity.
In what ways is the growing focus on gender diversity and inclusivity in contemporary artscapes effective in redressing the hegemony of western male-centric narratives in art and in social practice? And what strategies can we devise, both artistically and politically, to build networks of visibility, collectivity and solidarity that go beyond current identity politics?
In Arabic & English (simultaneous translation)
Dima Hamadeh (LEB) is a writer and researcher based in Beirut. Her work is focused on areas related to contemporary art practices within the Arab context, in terms of their epistemological frameworks and thematics, modes and conditions of production, institutions and labour. Previously, Hamadeh was the Assistant Director of Beirut Art Center.
Luz Diaz (GER)
is a DJ and the founder of Room 4 Resistance, a Berlin-based queer femme forward collective focused on community-building and creating safer space & visibility for underrepresented artists in dance music.
Myra Al Mir (LEB) is a researcher and visual artist. She studied Fine Arts in the Lebanese University and ESAL, France and is currently working on her PhD in Gender studies in Paris 8. She co-founded Space27, a feminist art space/work studio in Tayyouneh.
Lina Ramadan (PAL/Qatar) is a researcher and curator based in Doha. Her work investigates topics on Arab Nationalism and Feminism in the post-colonial period, looking at artistic and literary productions within institutional models. Since 2016, she is assistant curator at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha.
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