Showcasing 60 artists and more than 100 works from major Italian private collections, the exhibition “Too Early, Too Late: Middle East and Modernity” examines the relationship between the East and Western modernity.
Starting from 1798, when Bonaparte and his army landed in Egypt, the project focuses on the contemporary artistic scene, alternating original documents and archive material with art installations, photographs and films to mark key cultural, political and societal events in the progressive westernization of the East – from the introduction of the “nation-state” to the spectacular museums created in the Arab Emirates.
Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition, which takes its name from the film of
Jean-Marie Straub (interviewed here by artist
Céline Condorelli), at Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, from January to April 2015, with Lida Abdul, Mustafa Abu Ali, Bisan Abu Eisheh,
Etel Adnan, Ayreen Anastas, Vyacheslav Akhunov, Can Altay, Omar Amiralay, Said Atabekov, Kutlug Ataman, Fikret Atay,
Kader Attia, Vahap Avsar, Mahmoud Bakhshi,
Gabriele Basilico, Neil Beloufa, CANAN,
Céline Condorelli, Dina Danish, Cem Dinlenmiş,
Peter Friedl, Rene Gabri, Sadhi Ghadirian,
Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi, Barbad Golshiri, Mona Hatoum, Malak Helmy,
Emily Jacir, Khaled Jarrar,
Lamia Joreige, Alimjan Jorobaev, Hiwa K.,
Hassan Khan, Abbas Kiarostami,
Taus Makhacheva, Mona Marzouk, Ahmed Mater, Sabah Naim, Moataz Nasr, Navid Nuur, Walid Raad, Koka Ramishvili, Hany Rashed,
Mario Rizzi, Ahmed Sabry, Roy Samaha,
Hrair Sarkissian, Ariel Schlesinger, Hassan Sharif, Wael Shawky, Ahlam Shibli, Eyal Sivan,
Jean Marie Straub-Danièle Huillet, Jinoos Taghizadeh,
Lawrence Weiner, Mohanad Yaqubi, Amir Yatziv,
Akram Zaatari.
