The emerging contemporary art scene in Syria: Between the tradition of social critique and a contemporary artistic movement in the Arab World
In 2007, the American scholar Miriam Cooke described the situation of artists in Syria during the 1990s under President Hafiz Al-Assad with the following words: “Artists were always left in a state of fear, always obliged to negotiate the permissible, never knowing when they were breaking the rules, never sure about the consequences of what they did”1. Cook further investigated how artists and intellectuals strove to keep their artistic and intellectual freedom, by continuously negotiating a space for independent expression between what she called “commissioned criticism” (critique as tolerated by the regime and used to promote a tolerant and open minded image of itself on an international scale) and the genuine desire to inspire change in their society and to remain true to their political ideals.
After the death of Hafiz Al-Assad in 2000, power was transferred to his son, Bashar Al-Assad. The first public appearances of the young president gave rise to considerable hopes for more individual freedom in the country. This hope was expressed in the short lived civil society movement (the “Damascus spring”) which lasted till 2001, when a severe crack down followed and numerous activists were arrested. In the arts’ field, the initial hope was translated into a search for new ways for artists to interact with audiences and society at large.
Since the possibilities of political expression remained restricted throughout the decade, just as it had been under Hafiz Al-Assad, art and culture came to be seen as a possible field of action by civil society activists, a space where civic activism could find an expression through different and less “dangerous” means. Art became a way to address social and political issues through a subtle language and it was hoped that this would arouse less suspicion among the authorities. Furthermore, artists saw themselves as active social agents whose role it was to balance the pursuit of aesthetic concerns with a strong social commitment and to work towards greater awareness of current problems of contemporary Syrian society.
Based on material collected from interviews with artists, gallerists and other cultural producers during extended research periods in Syria in 2007 – 2010 and using an interdisciplinary approach by drawing on methodologies from art history, anthropology and social sciences, the present project seeks to analyse the means applied by artists to articulate social and political critique in the context of fluctuating rules of censorship. It further seeks to investigate how artists sought to negotiate a space for individual artistic projects faced with the difficult and largely lacking exhibition opportunities inside Syria and the fast developing art scene of the Middle East with its movement of engaged and critical art practice that took shape in the Arab region since 2000.
