The Panache of Artivism within the Imperial Cultural Narrative of the Middle East
Guest lecture by Khaled Ramadan (Lebanon) organized by Marina Grzinic, Post Conceptual Study Program and Walter Seidl, curator, Vienna
Khaled Ramadan is Artivist, Filmmaker, Curator and Art Writer. Currently, director of Bait Muzna Center for Art Film, Oman. Ramadan’s professional areas of expertise are the history of art and visual culture, investigative aesthetics, constructed media, and documentary filmmaking. For the past decade his work has navigated the fields of art research, theory and practice, with a particular emphasis on the topic of informational aesthetics. Far from the traditional methodology of filmmaking, Ramadan’s specialized approach is that of a transformative archivist; his work presents an unexpected arrangement and exploration of visual and geographical mapmaking that is committed to bringing about social equality, representation, and memory in relation to history. Ramadan’s film practice has been most inspired by Lev Manovich’s book The Language of New Media. Manovich’s theories indicate how the re-conceptualization of filmmaking can function as a tool to understand the power relations existing between film critic, media, contemporary art, and visual culture. Ramadan’s scope is to record the invisible, to span neglected history in a non-journalistic fashion, as an archivist or révélateur.
Ramadan participated in numerous projects, among others in Be-diversity, MUSE di Trento, Italy 2015; A Room of His Own, The Artsonje Center Seoul 2014; Overflow, The Politics of Water, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul 2014; The Maldives Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale 2013; Manifesta 8, Spain; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; KW Berlin, Germany; frei_raum Q21 exhibition space, Vienna 2016. In 2009 Al-Jazeera TV produced a documentary about Ramadan’s work and activities. Khaled Ramadan: Lebanon
Ramadan will provide a final point on the research travel by PCAP in Spain in 2016.