To commemorate the year that was, we invited an array of artists, writers, designers, and curators—from artist Kalup to poet LaTasha Diggs, author Jeff Chang to futurist Nicolas Nova—to share a list of the most noteworthy ideas, events, and objects they encountered in 2014.
Rima Mokaiesh is director of The Arab Image Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in Beirut in 1997 with a mission to collect, preserve, and study photographs from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab diaspora. The AIF’s expanding collection is generated through artist- and scholar-led projects. The Foundation makes its collection accessible to the public through a wide spectrum of activities, including exhibitions, publications, videos, a website, and an online image database. The ongoing research and acquisition of photographs include so far Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Mexico, Argentina, and Senegal. To date, the collection holds more than 600,000 photographs.
(1)
Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait at Cannes
(2)
Alexandre Paulikevitch’s Elgha performance premieres in Beirut
(3)
Le Plus Beau Jour by photographer Fouad Elkoury at Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris
(4)
Monditalia at the Venice Architectural Biennale
(5)
Mommy, by Xavier Dolan
(6)
55 artists confront the São Paulo Biennal about its sources of funding following Israel’s attack on Gaza
Fifty-five of the 68 artists exhibiting at the 2014 São Paulo Biennal addressed an open letter to the curators questioning the event’s funding in light of Israel’s attack on Gaza. In response, the biennal’s curators engaged in a conversation about the sources of funding of cultural events and the necessity of independence.
(7)
Laureate of the Prix Carmignac Gestion Photojournalism Award returns grant, jury indignant
Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian received, returned, and re-accepted the Prix Carmignac Gestion Photojournalism award, igniting strong reactions from the prize’s jury members. The whole story shed light on the role of patrons in art and photography, and, again, the non-negotiability of independence.
(8)
Ebola doctors named Time Person of the Year
(9)
Bob Dylan performs a private concert for one single fan at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia
(10)
Lebanese cops cannot tell a Salafi apart from a hipster
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