In Memoriam Doctor Niazi
Today I heard that one of my dearest friends died in a car accident on the Kabul-Jalalabad road. Doctor Mohammed Saeed Niazi was a true friend to me; more than that, he was one of those friends that...
View ArticleIdeological Guide to the Venice Biennale by Jonas Staal
I contributed the following pages to the Ideological Guide, besides being involved in the overall project and, as a jury member, in the award of the e-flux/ideological guide travel grants to three...
View ArticleKabul rising and getting high, 2013
Today I guided a Dutch architect researching urban developments in Kabul. After fixing the roaming internet connection on his Apple computer in a record time – praise be to the helpfulness and tech...
View ArticleMaking an exhibition with my students at the Paris School of International...
This was my fifth year lecturing at the Paris School of International Affairs (the international Master programme of Sciences Po) and the third year teaching the course ‘Contemporary Art and...
View ArticleAbout my trip to Najran
My next post about my trip to Najran, near the Yemeni border, was put online here by me today. Photo taken in the ruins of the city of Al Ukhdood (ancient Najran) by Abdelkarim Qassem
View ArticleReview of Crisis of History in Belgian art magazine
Aya Johanna Danielle Durst Britt wrote a thoughtful review, in Flemish, of the exhibition in Amsterdam I curated – and which recently finished – in Al Arte Magazine.
View ArticleUnwinding the history of the UAE
Historic consciousness in the UAE and in the other GCC states goes back only a few centuries, at most; this is how far back most prominent Emirati families can reliably trace their genealogy. What...
View ArticleChina China
Shortly after checking into the hotel, I went for a ‘short stroll’. Being back in Venice gave me a natural high, so I wandered further and further from the hotel, until I came to the metal gangway that...
View ArticleRaqqa DeZ peace conference – role playing simulation
This simulation of a peace conference is the final class of my Lessons (Not) Learnt in Afghanistan course at the Paris School of International Affairs. I will be tweeting about the results in live,...
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