Upcoming Programs

For this special TRACE event, co-hosted with the NYU Grey Art Gallery, Inventing Downtown curator Melissa Rachleff reunites with the Director of the NYU Grey Art Gallery, Lynn Gumpert, and the Executive Director of The NYUAD Art Gallery, Maya Allison. Starting with the landmark exhibition Inventing Downtown as a point of departure, the speakers will explore the history of the famed New York “downtown” art scene, and explore how art scenes form today, even in a time of physical separation.

The Cultural Diplomacy Department of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, DC is pleased to invite you to join an online event exploring how the relationship between United States and United Arab Emirates-based institutions has shaped the regional art scene in the last decade. The discussion will highlight how these partnerships created an influential ecosystem of arts experts in education, museums, the art market, and philanthropy.

Session 3 of 3. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, Arab countries were transformed through decolonization, the rise of nationalism, socialism, rapid industrialization, and wars and mass migrations. At the same time, artists were revitalizing their practices, finding inspiration in Arabic calligraphy, geometry and mathematics, and local topographies. Hannah Feldman, Associate Professor of Art History, Northwestern, will focus on abstract art in Algeria; and Alex Dika Seggerman, Assistant Professor of Islamic Art History, Rutgers University–Newark, on figurative art in Egypt. Moderated by Sarah-Neel Smith, Assistant Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism, Maryland Institute College of Art.