LECTURE
Ce que le catalogue d’exposition a fait à l’histoire de l’art irakien
Zouina Ait Slimani
Symposium "L’exposition à l’ouvrage. Histoire, formes et enjeux du catalogue d’exposition"
Paris, Centre Pompidou, 13.5.23
Within the Iraqi art history discipline, works of art and artists are the main objects of investigation in modern art studies. Exhibition catalogs are generally perceived as the only available references. Considered both as tools and sources, they are systematically invested in research as a discourse of representation and narrative, actively participating in the writing of art history. The lack of scholarship about the arts could be interpreted as an absence of written traces in Iraq. However, it is mostly due to the lack of recognition of sources published in Arabic.
Based on a globalized sample of catalogs, and adding some vernacular sources from her research, Zouina will explore the possibillities of an inclusive art history that would take into account current artistic debates and the history of its writing, based on sources that have never been analyzed or even compared before. The objective of this paper is to provide elements of reflection that would allow the reconstruction and understanding of the Iraqi art scene and its international relations.
