It's going to be quite a month for Middle Eastern art in London this July. The annual programme for the Shubbak Festival festival of contemporary Arab arts and culture is really strong, with many open air spaces and galleries across the city taking part. A certain highlight will be the exhibition at the Mosaic Rooms curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. I Spy with My Little Eye: A New Generation of Beirut Artists is an exhibition that explores a shift in artistic practice and individual concerns within a fiercely independent new generation of artists connected to Beirut.
Performance and sound artist Joe Namy will present a new iteration of his piece A Third Half Step on opening night on Friday and photographer George Awde, who recently showed his work in Dubai is among the artists showing in this group show. Charbel Joseph H Boutros and Aya Haidar are two other strong talents, carefully selected by Bardaouil and Fellrath to showcase the rise of a new, young art movement.
Although all artists were born after the outbreak of the civil war in 1975 and so do not remember a time of peace, most favour the personal over the collective, and for the most part, they do not choose to make the war an entry point of their artistic practice.
The show runs until August 22 and is well worth catching if you are planning a visit to London this summer. Afterwards it travels to the Casa Arabe galleries in Madrid and Cordoba, so it is also possible to catch if you are visiting Spain.
* For more information: www.mosaicrooms.org
