Ibraaz

Ibraaz is an online forum and research platform devoted primarily to contemporary visual culture in North Africa and the Middle East. It was established in response to concerns that cultural production from the region was often discussed through simplified or externally imposed frames. The platform seeks to create a more expansive field of inquiry by commissioning writers, artists, academics, curators, activists, filmmakers, and other contributors from the region and internationally. Its principal editorial format is an annual platform organized around a question or research theme relevant to the Middle East and North Africa. Contributors are invited to respond from different disciplinary, geographic, and personal perspectives, and new material is published online during the year. At the beginning of a subsequent platform cycle, the preceding material is archived, creating a series of thematic records rather than a conventional continuously updated magazine. The model allows Ibraaz to combine editorial programming with longer-term research and documentation. Ibraaz’s coverage is centered on contemporary art and visual culture, but its scope also extends to sound-based practice, moving image, cultural institutions, archives, political histories, and selected aspects of modern art. Its output includes essays, interviews, reviews, artists’ projects, commissioned platform responses, and video contributions. This editorial range positions Ibraaz between an online journal, an archive, and a collaborative research project. The organization has also developed a publishing program under the series title Visual Culture in the Middle East. Books associated with the program include Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East, Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East, and Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East. These publications extend the platform’s thematic work into edited academic and critical volumes. Beyond online publishing, Ibraaz has organized or co-hosted public events, book launches, panel discussions, conferences, and other cultural programs. Its activities have included the annual Jaou Tunis conference and collaborations with organizations and exhibitions in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. A notable event was Future Imperfect: Cultural Propositions and Global Perspectives at Tate Modern in London in 2013. Ibraaz has also participated in projects connected with Asia Contemporary Art Week, Qalandiya International, the Delfina Foundation, Hayward Gallery, Maraya Art Center, and The Jerusalem Show. Ibraaz was founded as an initiative of the Kamel Lazaar Foundation. Its identity is therefore best understood as that of a foundation-backed cultural research and publishing platform rather than a consumer brand or commercial product label. Public reference material does not establish a conventional corporate headquarters, commercial ownership structure, financial profile, or current operating status.

Ibraaz emerged from discussions among Anthony Downey, Kamel Lazaar, and Lina Lazaar about the need for a different framework for discussing cultural production connected with the Middle East and North Africa. The founders sought to challenge stereotypical or overly narrow interpretations of the region and to provide a space in which research, criticism, and artistic practice could be developed through multiple perspectives. The initiative was established as a project of the Kamel Lazaar Foundation. The inaugural Ibraaz platform was launched in June 2011 during the 54th Venice Biennale, in association with The Future of a Promise, a major Pan-Arab exhibition. Its first platform addressed the political and social changes then unfolding across North Africa and the Middle East, including the consequences of the events commonly described as the Arab Spring. Rather than treating those developments solely as news or political history, Ibraaz examined how they affected visual culture, artistic practice, cultural institutions, and forms of representation. Ibraaz developed an annual editorial structure. Each platform begins with a question or proposition, which is circulated to contributors in the MENA region and elsewhere. Responses are published online throughout the year, and the accumulated material is subsequently archived when a new platform begins. This structure combines the immediacy of an online publication with the continuity of a research archive. Contributors have included emerging writers and artists as well as established academics, curators, activists, filmmakers, and internationally recognized cultural practitioners. The platform’s subject matter has remained broad within the field of visual culture. It has published critical essays, interviews, reviews, artists’ projects, video material, and commissioned responses. Although much of the work concerns contemporary art in or about the Middle East and its diaspora, Ibraaz has also addressed sound-based art, modern art, new media, archives, cultural institutions, and contested narratives. The editorial model has enabled connections between artistic practice, political history, technology, memory, and institutional critique. A complementary publishing program expanded Ibraaz’s research into books. The Visual Culture in the Middle East series, edited by Anthony Downey, included Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East, published by I.B. Tauris in 2014; Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East, published in 2015; and Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East, published by Sternberg Press in 2016. These volumes developed questions that also informed Ibraaz’s online work. Ibraaz has operated through a combination of digital publishing, print publication, events, and partnerships. It has organized or co-hosted book launches, panel discussions, and conferences, including the annual Jaou Tunis conference. In 2013, it presented Future Imperfect: Cultural Propositions and Global Perspectives at Tate Modern in London. It has also worked with international cultural organizations and exhibition platforms, including Asia Contemporary Art Week, Qalandiya International, the Delfina Foundation, Hayward Gallery, Maraya Art Center, and The Jerusalem Show. The available reference material does not provide a confirmed current leadership roster, headquarters, financial information, or definitive evidence about whether the platform remains actively updated. Ibraaz is therefore documented here as a foundation-backed cultural publishing and research initiative whose principal public identity is its archive, editorial platforms, publications, and event collaborations.

1. 2016Future Imperfect book is published

   A book on contemporary art practices and cultural institutions in the Middle East is published through the Ibraaz-associated series.

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2. 2016Ibraaz collaborates on FIELD MEETING Take 4

   Ibraaz participates in Asia Contemporary Art Week’s FIELD MEETING Take 4: Thinking Practice in New York.

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3. 2015Dissonant Archives is published

   The series publishes a volume examining contemporary visual culture, archives, and contested narratives in the Middle East.

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4. 2014Uncommon Grounds is published

   The Visual Culture in the Middle East series includes a volume on new media and critical practices in North Africa and the Middle East.

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5. 2013Future Imperfect conference takes place at Tate Modern

   Ibraaz presents a London conference examining cultural propositions and global perspectives in contemporary art.

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6. 2011Ibraaz is founded

   Ibraaz is established through discussions among Anthony Downey, Kamel Lazaar, and Lina Lazaar as an initiative of the Kamel Lazaar Foundation.

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7. 2011Inaugural platform launches at the Venice Biennale

   The first Ibraaz platform is launched alongside The Future of a Promise at the 54th Venice Biennale, addressing regional political change and its implications for visual culture.

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A foundation-backed, international research and publishing platform that broadens critical discussion of visual culture in North Africa, the Middle East, and related diasporas.

• Annual Ibraaz PlatformsDigital editorial platform2011

  Ibraaz’s core publishing format consists of annual thematic platforms built around a question relevant to visual culture in North Africa and the Middle East. Writers, artists, academics, curators, activists, and filmmakers respond from different locations and disciplines. Contributions are published online over the course of the platform year and later archived when a new platform begins.

• Visual Culture in the Middle EastEdited book series2014

  This book series, edited by Anthony Downey, extends Ibraaz’s research agenda into print. Its documented titles address new media, critical practices, archives, contested narratives, contemporary art practices, and cultural institutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The books were published by academic and art publishers including I.B. Tauris and Sternberg Press.

• Ibraaz online archiveDigital archive2011

  The website preserves essays, interviews, reviews, artists’ projects, platform responses, and audiovisual contributions concerning visual culture in the region and its diasporas. The archive reflects Ibraaz’s aim to support sustained research rather than only time-sensitive cultural reporting.

• 2016FIELD MEETING Take 4: Thinking Practice

  New York · International

  Ibraaz collaborated with Asia Contemporary Art Week on a program presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Asia Society.

  Outcome. The collaboration connected Ibraaz’s research network with an international contemporary-art convening.

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• 2013Future Imperfect: Cultural Propositions and Global Perspectives

  London · International

  Ibraaz organized a conference at Tate Modern addressing contemporary art, cultural institutions, and global perspectives, with participation from artists and cultural practitioners.

  Outcome. The conference extended Ibraaz’s online research into an international public event.

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• 2011The Future of a Promise

  Venice · Middle East and North Africa · International

  Ibraaz launched its inaugural editorial platform alongside this Pan-Arab exhibition at the 54th Venice Biennale, using the event as a setting for research into regional cultural and political developments.

  Outcome. The launch established Ibraaz’s annual platform model and its focus on regional visual culture.

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• 2016Ibraaz participates in FIELD MEETING Take 4

  Ibraaz collaborated with Asia Contemporary Art Week’s FIELD MEETING Take 4: Thinking Practice, presented through venues including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Asia Society in New York.

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• 2013Ibraaz presents Future Imperfect at Tate Modern

  Ibraaz held the Future Imperfect: Cultural Propositions and Global Perspectives conference at Tate Modern in London, bringing together artists, writers, and cultural practitioners to discuss contemporary art and institutional questions.

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• 2011Ibraaz launches its inaugural platform at the 54th Venice Biennale

  The first Ibraaz platform was introduced alongside The Future of a Promise exhibition at the 54th Venice Biennale. Its initial theme addressed political and cultural developments across North Africa and the Middle East during the period associated with the Arab Spring.

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1. Ibraaz
2. Ibraaz official website