Exhibition sponsored in part by the Chancellor's Initiative for the Humanities in a Globalizing World; Silicon, Carbon, Culture: Combining Codes through the Arts, Humanities, and Technology; Krannert Art Museum Council; Illinois Arts Council; and Hampton Inn. Image credit: Mona Hatoum, Traffic, 2002, suitcases, plastic, metal, and human hair, Courtesy of the artist and Alexander and Bonin, New York, Photo: Arturo Gonzalez de Alba
Beyond East and West: Seven Transnational Artists displayed recent work by seven important contemporary artists who come from the region stretching from Egypt to Pakistan, but who have lived much of their lives in Europe or the United States. The artists, Jananne Al-Ani, Ghada Amer, Mona Hatoum, Y. Z. Kami, Walid Raad, Michal Rovner, and Shahzia Sikander, draw on their experiences of displacement and knowledge of multiple cultures to offer alternative visions of the contemporary world. They have crossed or collapsed political, cultural, and religious borders, and disrupted conventional and stereotypical representations of time and place, and of history and geography. Their art offers new kinds of intercultural understanding.
The exhibition addressed various experiences of travel, exile, diaspora, alienation, and integration, feelings of longing and belonging, memories of places and people, encounters with divergent views of sexuality and gender, alternate political understandings of the world, and cultural practices that both divide and unite us.
Exhibition programming
February 4
10 am: Exhibition Walk-through
With exhibition curator David O'Brien
February 7
4 pm: Video Presentation and Discussion
Screening of A Loving Man, by exhibiting artist Jananna Al-Ani, followed by discussion
March 3
5:30 pm: Gallery Conversation
"Beyond East and West" with exhibition curator David O'Brien
Beyond East and West Conference February 6–7:The conference, organized by David O'Brien and David Prochaska, explored contemporary transnational artistic practice, paying special attention to artists moving between the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and the United States. It was held in conjunction with the exhibition Beyond East and West: Seven Transnational Artists . Participants include both major artists and leading scholars:
Evelyne Accad, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Jananne Al-Ani, artist, London
Fred Bohrer, Hood College
Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota
Holly Edwards, Williams College
Okwui Enwezor, University of Pittsburgh/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Keya Ganguly, University of Minnesota
Salah Hassan, Cornell University
Y.Z. Kami, artist, New York City
Jane Kuntz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Walid Raad, artist, New York City
Shahzia Sikander, artist, New York City
Zohreh Sullivan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Barbara Thompson, Dartmouth College
Guest curators: David O'Brien and David Prochaska
