Inverted Worlds: Congress on Cultural Motion in the Arab Region
Beirut, Lebanon
4 - 8 October 2012
The Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB) is pleased to announce Inverted Worlds – Congress on Cultural Motion in the Arab Region, to take place in Beirut from 4 to 8 October 2012. Artists, activists and academics engage in debate and exchange in this five-day international conference highlighting the creative side of recent change in the region. Inverted Worlds also celebrates the free spirit so characteristic of Beirut. To underline this city’s diversity the congress will take place in different locations across town, including the Orient-Institut, USJ’s Bibliothèque Orientale and Theatre Monnot, LAU’s Gulbenkian Theatre and the Beirut Art Center. Inverted Worlds will be opened by Elias Khoury, leading intellectual and renowned novelist whose voice finds resonance in the Arab region and beyond.
Inverted Worlds questions arenas and manifestations of cultural change effective in the eventful outbursts of the Arab spring. Four panels will open debates on regional and cross-cultural aspects of Cultural Motion in the Arab Region. In Sound Messages: Popular Music and Social and Political Transformation the focus will be on the “air” of the Arab spring, asking what musicians of the young generation have set out to fight for. Hip Hop, Palestinian electro, pop and protest chants all feature in this dynamic panel. Linear and non-Linear Narratives in the Context of Arab Revolutions brings together leading researchers, artists and activists to debate new media’s fluidity in relation to current revolutions, including new media authority Lev Manovich and local intellectuals such as Hassan Choubassi and al-Safir’s Sahar Mandour. The inception, execution and effect of the Arab spring will be discussed in Open Rebellion; Hidden Scripts by academics and activists from Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Serbia, the Netherlands and Lebanon. Humour, Suffering and Resistance illustrates the various roles of humour in coping with political, social and cultural oppression. Mona Abaza and graffiti artist Alaa Awad talk about downtown Cairo, Egyptian heritage and popular saga, and two founding members of Egypt’s comic magazine Tok Tok will discuss the role of humour and slogans as weapons of resistance alongside renowned intellectuals.
To experience some culture in motion live, a film screening takes place on the St Nicolas Stairs in Gemmazyeh on Friday, 5 October, showing a series of independent Arab short films dealing with issues such as women’s voices in the revolutions and music as an outlet for expressing social concerns. Celebrating the near-conclusion of their recording project, regional hip hop project Khat Thaleth are voicing the complexity of regional realities in their concert at Metro Al Madina on Sunday, 7 October.
To find out more and see the full programme, please visit OIB’s website or Facebook page.