The course deals with contemporary Palestinian visual art, with an emphasis on photography, video, and film, and the affinity to art from the Near East and Arab countries. It starts with a brief historical overview and the changes in Palestinian art from the 1970s, both in terms of a broad range of media - photography, painting, art installations, video, performance art and art in the public sphere - the engagement with subversive issues.
The course focuses on Palestinian creators active in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and in exile in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and ends with the work of young artists active in the last decade. Special emphasis is given to Palestinian artists living in Israel, especially the work of female artists and their place in contemporary art and art criticism discourse. Also addressed, the connection between contemporary Palestinian art in Israel and civil society, and the important role it plays in establishing democratic processes. The course discusses the work of contemporary Palestinian artists as part of the vibrant cultural activity of contemporary artists from the Middle East and Arab countries, active in their respective countries and the West. It also examines the impact of the Arab Spring and the key issues that concern these artists: gender, language, immigration, colonialism
