New York Arab Festival: "Arab Performance Histories" Exhibition
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New York Arab Festival
Curated by Adham Hafez
New York Arab Festival presents “Arab Performance Histories,” an exhibition looking at alternative, radical and traditional performance practices from the Arab world, curated by Adham Hafez and presented in partnership with La MaMa ETC at the Downstairs Theater gallery space (66 East 4th Street, NYC, 10003). While the history of performance in the Arab world is as diverse as the 22 countries that comprise the region, Arab performance is rarely seen through a nuanced lens. This exhibition is an opportunity to see the work of several artists who hail from diverse practices as a way to shed light on the complexity of the region's performance canon. It brings viewers to the contemporary dance world of the Egyptian dance duo nasa4nasa, where the lines between sports, dance, and social media are blurred. The exhibition offers a chance to explore Saudi performance and visual artists Balqis Alrashed and Nuur Taibah’s diverse work, which reflects on female histories and personal chronicles in and from Saudi and extends an invitation to play. The work of Farah Saleh, the seasoned Palestinian choreographer in the installation, encourages us to think of Palestinian bodies gesturing and signaling through thick layers of body politics.
The exhibition opens on Thursday, April 25 at 6pm, with a lecture performance in La MaMa’s newly renovated 74A East 4th Street location by performance and multidisciplinary artist Ahmed Fakeih (Riyadh), entitled “Sound of Mecca.” This performance allows us to learn about the history of sound, music, and performance in a city closely tied to religious practice and pilgrimage. Ahmed Fakeih reveals other dimensions of Mecca, including migratory histories, folk dance and music.
After Fakeih’s opening presentation, attendees will be directed to the exhibition at the Downstairs Theater gallery space (66 East 4th Street), where they can view “Arab Performance Histories” and stay for the opening night of LINES by Remote Theater Project/Roots Mbili Theatre at 8pm. The exhibition will be on view from April 25-May 9, Thursdays-Saturdays from 6-8pm and Sundays from 2-4pm at La MaMa ETC’s Downstairs Theater gallery space, running in tandem with LINES.
Photos by Lara Atallah
New York Arab Festival (NYAF) was established in 2022 to commemorate Arab American Heritage Month and fight the erasure of Arab and Arab American identities from New York City, a place that Arabs have called home for over three centuries. Many are unaware that the first country to acknowledge the American Declaration of Independence was Morocco, an Arab country, cementing centuries of cultural, diplomatic, economic and political relations between American and Arab people. At the NYAF, we believe in the urgency of dialogue between cultural practitioners in the US and Arabic-speaking regions, with a special focus on Arab American histories and practices.
NYAF is a multidisciplinary festival of art, culture, design, food, philosophy, and intersecting industries. It programs arts and culture from the Arabic-speaking region and the Arab diaspora, showcasing Arab American artists, particularly those working and living in NYC. Artists and speakers will come to New York from Palestine, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and beyond.
NYAF was founded by Arab, Arab American, and American artists, curators, and cultural operators and is organized and run by its founding members: Artistic Director and Curator Adham Hafez, Urbanist and Curator Adam Kucharski, and the festival’s founding Senior Producer Cindy Sibilsky. NYAF is produced by HaRaKa Platform and powered by Wizara LLC in partnership with many celebrated institutions in NYC and worldwide.