talk
Emancipatory Aesthetics of Contemporary Arab Art
Talk by Khaldoun Hijazin

Tuesday 30 September 2025 | 6:30 PM | Beit al Beiruti

Contemporary artists from the Arab Eastern Mediterranean and its diasporas are developing new approaches, through both traditional practices and new media technologies, to confront the colonial legacies and the socio-political challenges of the present. Their work aims to nurture resilience, resistance, and liberation, while reviving indigenous cultural and knowledge systems in both collective imagination and lived experience.

Drawing on critical theory and decolonial thought, this talk examines the philosophical and methodological frameworks that shape this potential of art, and presents examples of artists, collectives, and cultural practices engaged in emancipatory aesthetics.

Khaldoun Hijazin, recipient of the Darat al Funun Dissertation Fellowship for Modern and Contemporary Arab Art 2025, presents this talk as part of his doctoral research. His work explores the aesthetic and philosophical criteria through which contemporary artistic practices can be understood as catalysts for emancipatory awareness in the face of colonial and capitalist structures.

The talk is in Arabic.

Image: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Zifzafa, 2024, video game, color, sound, 45 minutes. Production still.
Khaldoun Hijazin is a Jordanian visual artist, cultural and artistic director, and lecturer at the School of Arts and Design at the University of Jordan. He has collaborated with numerous institutions locally and internationally, curating and producing a wide range of art and cultural projects. In addition to his artistic record of solo exhibitions in Amman and Dubai, Khaldoun has participated in numerous group exhibitions, workshops and artistic exchange programs in Jordan and abroad. Hijazin holds a Master of Fine Arts from Tufts University in Boston, and is currently completing a PhD in Philosophy at the School of Arts - the University of Jordan.