I have written the curatorial text for the new show “Descendants of the Dragons” by Singapore-based Kazakh artist Inessa Kalabekova at the Music Box Museum. The show opened on 1 December, and will run until 31 January 2024.
Please find the press release down below.
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My piece on the light art festival Noor Riyadh has just been published on Al-Monitor.
“Standing in the middle of the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, a swarm of drones creates delicate constellations on the horizon. A virtuoso is playing the piano on a stage, complementing the 3,000-drone performance conceived by Studio Drift — an artist duo formed by Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta — called ‘Desert Swarm’.”
Here is the link to the article
Finally we are in that part of the year where we start looking back and planning for the future. As everyone who has been around me lately knows too well, this year I went all in into the reviewing and the planning. Never was I so serious about it – I guess because it’s so much fun for me!
The reflecting phase started already from the 1st of December. I had just came back from a swirlwind of trips in end of October beginning of November – Paris, Budapest, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh literally one after the other – and even had to say no to two more, very enticing press trips to Khazakistan and Qatar. But I was exausted. I had to stop and digest all my experiences. So as soon as I put my suitcase on the parquet of my home in Pigneto, Rome, I de-installed the social media from my phone, and decided to go full into the reviewing/planning process.
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The Italian Magazine Arabpop has just published my interview with Libyan artist Marwa Benhalim in Italian, with the title “The history of the world in a fist of couscous.”
This issue magazine themed “feast” is now out in the press.
For architect and artist Sarri Elfaitouri, starting from scratch in Benghazi is an existential necessity. After the March 2023 demolition of the city’s historical center, he reflects on urbanism, social reforms, and the legacy of colonialism in Libya.
I have interview Elfaitouri for The Markaz Review.
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What is the role of art in times of conflict? I wrote a piece about it for Middle East Monitor, centered on the art light festival, Manar Abu Dhabi, curated by Reem Fadda and Alia Zaal Lootah from 15 November 2023. The festival runs to 30 January 2024.
Here is the link to the article
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The Markaz Review has published my latest article called “My Love for Derna: Interview with Libyan Writer Mahbuba Khalifa”
Mahbuba Khalifa, a Libyan philosophy graduate, is an author and poet from flood-devastated Derna, often called Libya’s “city of poets.” She has devoted her most recent book to the city of her childhood and adolescence.
Here is the link to the interview
I wrote an article for The New Arab about the Paris Art Week. Unquestionably one of the most important art events in Europe this year, the Paris Art Week, happened from 16 to 22 October.
Given the international climate, what was expected was for shows and art fairs to have an emphasis on the situation in Gaza, but this was not the case.
Here is the link to the article
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Beyond its historical district, Jeddah is home to a variety of contemporary art spaces. Not only are these spaces celebrating the work of Saudi artists and developing a creative community locally, but they’re also engaging with trends in the international art world.
I wrote a list of the most interesting galleries in town for the travel magazine Wanderlust.
Here is the link to the article
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I have a new piece out on the weekend edition of the Financial Times, called “Central Asia in the spotlight at Asia Now fair.”
The article looks at how craft, nomadism and spirituality feature prominently in the region’s artistic practices, and are the focus on the art fair Asia Now, happening next week in Paris.
I wrote a piece for The Markaz Review, wondering whether curators who organize international exhibitions and develop books aren’t in fact public intellectuals. With interviews to @roseissaprojects @punkorientalism @farah.abushullaih
“Contrary to popular belief, it remains true that the specter of the intellectual still haunts the art world. The only thing that has changed is the mask they now hide behind — that of ‘curator.’ The current dislike of the word intellectual runs just as deep as our love for the word “curator.” ‘
![Team photo from left to right:
Amélie Kalafat (Artistic assistant)
Clara Alabed Alnaef, (Partnership & communication),Joanna Chevalier (Artistic director), Laure d’Hauteville (Founder & fair director), Tara El Khoury Mikhaël (Gallery relations), Léonie Racy (Scenographer), Camelia Esmaili, (Special Project Advisor) [@Irenederosen]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2%C2%B0-equipe-menart-fair-2023-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1)
The successful Menart Fair, that has just concluded in Paris, is showing how artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are leading the conversation, while also opening up new perspectives in the European cultural arena.
I wrote the piece for Middle East Monitor
Here is the link to the article
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Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
