Taking the Initiative: Modernism, institutionalisation and cultural capital at Mathaf, Doha, 2011 [séance en anglais et en hybride]

Ted Mcdonald-Toone, Senior Project Curator, International Partnerships team, Tate

In the decades after the turn of the century the “regional” or “geographical” exhibition as a curatorial paradigm has been central to the mediation of contemporary and modern art from the Arab world and the Middle East and their diasporas. Such exhibitions have been numerous, and presented in many places – including in the Arab world itself, where infrastructures for art have grown rapidly, consistent with evolutions in the institutionalisation of art as a form of cultural capital under the sign of globalisation and with geopolitical shifts within and in relation to the region. This presentation will consider an important moment in this story: the opening of Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha at the close of 2010, and the attempt made by one of its inaugural exhibitions, Sajjil, to institutionalise a collection and propose a framework for understanding modern art from the Arab world. In surveying art from across a vast geography and timespan, Sajjil served to highlight a tension between the need to present art in relation to specific practices, places and histories, and a pull towards the reification of collective notions of regional identity and space in the service of a project of geopolitical positioning.

Dr Ted McDonald-Toone holds a Doctorate in History of Art from UCL (University College London), where his research focussed on the geopolitics of modern and contemporary art exhibitions in relation to representations of the Arab world and the Middle East and North Africa. He undertook a Darat al Funun Dissertation Fellowship in Amman in 2015, and holds a BA (Hons) in Art History from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Having worked in museums both before and after his graduate study, he now works as a Senior Project Curator in the International Partnerships team at Tate, where he oversees a portfolio of exhibitions drawn from the Tate collection and realised in collaboration with venue museums around the world.

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Infos pratiques (English text below)

Pour permettre au plus grand nombre de suivre le séminaire, celui-ci se déroulera cette année en mode hybride.

• Périodicité : 1er et 3e vendredi du mois, du 17 novembre 2023 au 7 juin 2024
• Horaires : 15:00-17:00
• Lieu : Salle B03_18, 54 bd Raspail 75006 Paris
• Visioconférence : Zoom

Attention : Vous ne pourrez pas accéder à ce séminaire sans avoir préalablement déposé une demande via le lien suivant : https://participations.ehess.fr/demandes/__nouvelle__?seminaire=679.

Merci de déposer la demande au plus tard 72 heures avant la première séance. Une seule demande suffit pour l’année et elle peut être effectuée à n’importe quel moment de l’année.

Avant chaque séance, nous enverrons un message de confirmation pour ceux qui seront en présentiel et le lien vers la salle de visioconférence pour ceux qui seront en distanciel.

Pour toute information, contactez-nous à l’adresse suivante : arvimm.groupe(at)gmail.com

Practical info

The seminar will be held in hybrid mode to allow as many people as possible to attend.

Frequency: 1st and 3rd Friday of the month, from November 17, 2023 to June 7, 2024
Schedule: 3 to 5pm
Location: Room B03_18, 54 bd Raspail 75006 Paris (capacity: 12 seats)
Videoconference: Zoom

Please note: You will not be able to attend this seminar without first submitting a request via the following link: https://participations.ehess.fr/demandes/__nouvelle__?seminaire=679.

Please submit the application no later than 72 hours before the first session. The application is valid for the whole year and it can be made at any time.

Before each session, we will send a confirmation message to those who will be onsite, and the link to the videoconference room for those who will be online.

For more information, please contact us at the following address: arvimm.groupe(at)gmail.com

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