07 July - 11 November 2018 / Collaboration, Workshop ⟶
Arts Seminar in Baghdad

Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares participants to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminars take place at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute and culminate in a group exhibition format titled Baghdad Walk, presented in public spaces across the city of Baghdad.
Baghdad Walk takes the Iraqi capital as a case study, addressing the memories embedded in the texture of urban life, from personal events and stories, to architectural heritage and public monuments, the urban web is saturated with memories to be re-visited and revealed.
The workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a collaboration between the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and Hella Mewis.
Arts Seminar in Baghdad, 2018
Arts Seminar in Baghdad - Workshop SeriesAn event of the Goethe-Institut Irak in BAIT TARKIB, Baghdad in collaboration with Institut für Raumexperimente, Berlin
Participants:
Ahmed Hussein Ali, Ahmed Al Saad, Tabarek Al Atrakchi, Akram Assam, Ameen Mokdad, Ammar Hussein, Atef Al Jaffal, Hussam Mohammed, Hussain Muttar, Israa Ali, Loay Al Hadhary, Mohammed Alwash, Mohammed Kazratch, Muhaned Taha, Muna Al Jaffal, Osama Zaid Massoud, Zaid Saad.
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Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares the participants to engage with art works in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar will start with a kick-off session – an intense 3-day workshop at Tarkib –, followed by regular skype sessions and will result in an exhibition, that is also a guided tour of the city, titled Baghdad Walk.
Baghdad Walk is a group exhibition by emerging Iraqi artists presented in the public space and in different locations in Karada, Baghdad. The walk starts at Iraqi Independent Film Centre, leads along Al Rasheed Street to Midan Square, connects Tayeran Square, Tahrir Square and Kahramana Square, spreads along the Abu Nawas riverside and meanders through Karada neighborhood, featuring time-based works and interventions. Baghdad Walk is an exhibition and a narrative tour of the city. The participating artists connect their works with the specific locations, introducing background information on site. Manifold stories about the city of Baghdad are told and retold anew through the artists’ perspectives and the encounters they create.
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Documentation: Mounir Salah
Translator: Amal Ibrahim
Hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute
Special thanks to Hella Mewis
The series is choreographed by Christina Werner
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This event is part of a workshop series “Arts Seminar in Baghdad”, conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB.
Arts Seminar in Baghdad - Workshop SeriesAn event of the Goethe-Institut Irak in BAIT TARKIB, Baghdad in collaboration with Institut für Raumexperimente, Berlin
Participants:
Ahmed Hussein Ali, Ahmed Al Saad, Tabarek Al Atrakchi, Akram Assam, Ameen Mokdad, Ammar Hussein, Atef Al Jaffal, Hussam Mohammed, Hussain Muttar, Israa Ali, Loay Al Hadhary, Mohammed Alwash, Mohammed Kazratch, Muhaned Taha, Muna Al Jaffal, Osama Zaid Massoud, Zaid Saad.
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Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares the participants to engage with art works in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar will start with a kick-off session – an intense 3-day workshop at Tarkib –, followed by regular skype sessions and will result in an exhibition, that is also a guided tour of the city, titled Baghdad Walk.
Baghdad Walk is a group exhibition by emerging Iraqi artists presented in the public space and in different locations in Karada, Baghdad. The walk starts at Iraqi Independent Film Centre, leads along Al Rasheed Street to Midan Square, connects Tayeran Square, Tahrir Square and Kahramana Square, spreads along the Abu Nawas riverside and meanders through Karada neighborhood, featuring time-based works and interventions. Baghdad Walk is an exhibition and a narrative tour of the city. The participating artists connect their works with the specific locations, introducing background information on site. Manifold stories about the city of Baghdad are told and retold anew through the artists’ perspectives and the encounters they create.
–
Documentation: Mounir Salah
Translator: Amal Ibrahim
Hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute
Special thanks to Hella Mewis
The series is choreographed by Christina Werner
–
This event is part of a workshop series “Arts Seminar in Baghdad”, conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB.
Arts Seminar in Baghdad, 2019
Memories revisited; postcard from Baghdad
Arts Seminar in Baghdad - Workshop SeriesCultures of Memory
Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares the participants to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar starts with a kick-off session – an intense 3-day workshop at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute –, followed by regular skype sessions and will result in an exhibition, that is also a guided tour of the city, titled Baghdad Walk.
The seminar examines questions on memory cultures. It explores how memory understood as both a psychological and a social–cultural process can find its forms in the immaterial and material realm. Memory is deeply entwined with social relationships, with stories orally transmitted, as well as passed on in film, social media or literature, it leaves traces in form of buildings and monuments, ritual practices or commemorations, material artifacts or other cultural devices.
The exhibition Baghdad Walk will present site-specific interventions that address the paradigmatic shifts that the city of Baghdad has witnessed; historical, ideological, sociopolitical, and symbolic turns of events seen through the lense of the personal. The artists zoom in and out, finding microscopic details or distant perspectives, always looking for locations that are part of the collective memory or part of a personal trajectory within the larger frame of society’s past. The question is not whether to be part of the city’s history but how and on what terms. And what should change and what shouldn’t?
Baghdad Walk takes the Iraqi capital as a case study, addressing the memories embedded in the texture of urban life, from personal events and stories, to architectural heritage and public monuments, the urban web is saturated with memories to be re-visited and revealed.
Participants: Zainab Abbas | Ban Ahmed | Tabark Al Atrakchi | Hiba A. AL Azzawi | Maryam Mary | Aisha Saad | Amna Rafaa | Raneen Sami | Loay Al Hadhary | Nawful Hussein | Atef Al Jaffal | Faruq Al Jamal | Ahmed Al Majid | Husam Mohammed | Muhaned Mohammed | Sajjad Mohammed | Ameen Mokdad | Hussain Muttar | Mohammed Ridha | Zaid Saad | Muhaned Taha | Hadjer Qussay | Fatima Raad
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This event is part of a workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad, conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and realized with support by Hella Mewis.
Memories revisited; postcard from Baghdad
Arts Seminar in Baghdad - Workshop SeriesCultures of Memory
Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares the participants to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar starts with a kick-off session – an intense 3-day workshop at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute –, followed by regular skype sessions and will result in an exhibition, that is also a guided tour of the city, titled Baghdad Walk.
The seminar examines questions on memory cultures. It explores how memory understood as both a psychological and a social–cultural process can find its forms in the immaterial and material realm. Memory is deeply entwined with social relationships, with stories orally transmitted, as well as passed on in film, social media or literature, it leaves traces in form of buildings and monuments, ritual practices or commemorations, material artifacts or other cultural devices.
The exhibition Baghdad Walk will present site-specific interventions that address the paradigmatic shifts that the city of Baghdad has witnessed; historical, ideological, sociopolitical, and symbolic turns of events seen through the lense of the personal. The artists zoom in and out, finding microscopic details or distant perspectives, always looking for locations that are part of the collective memory or part of a personal trajectory within the larger frame of society’s past. The question is not whether to be part of the city’s history but how and on what terms. And what should change and what shouldn’t?
Baghdad Walk takes the Iraqi capital as a case study, addressing the memories embedded in the texture of urban life, from personal events and stories, to architectural heritage and public monuments, the urban web is saturated with memories to be re-visited and revealed.
Participants: Zainab Abbas | Ban Ahmed | Tabark Al Atrakchi | Hiba A. AL Azzawi | Maryam Mary | Aisha Saad | Amna Rafaa | Raneen Sami | Loay Al Hadhary | Nawful Hussein | Atef Al Jaffal | Faruq Al Jamal | Ahmed Al Majid | Husam Mohammed | Muhaned Mohammed | Sajjad Mohammed | Ameen Mokdad | Hussain Muttar | Mohammed Ridha | Zaid Saad | Muhaned Taha | Hadjer Qussay | Fatima Raad
—
This event is part of a workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad, conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and realized with support by Hella Mewis.
Arts Seminar in Baghdad, 2020
Arts Seminar in Baghdad – Workshop Series
Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares the participants to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar starts with a kick-off session – workshops and exercises at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute and along Haifa Street –, followed by regular online sessions and results in an exhibition, that is also a guided tour of the city. The exhibition Baghdad Walk III will take place in November 2020 and presenting site-specific interventions along Haifa Street.
Baghdad Walk takes the Iraqi capital as a case study, addressing the memories embedded in the texture of urban life, from personal events and stories, to architectural heritage and public monuments, the urban web is saturated with memories to be re-visited and revealed.
Participants:
Ali Adnan, Anees Amer, Shams Aqeel, Tabarek Al Atrakchi, Loay Al Hadhary, Hussam Mohammed, Ameen Mokdad, Hussain Muttar, Hadjer Qusay, Zaid Saad, Zain Saad, Muhaned Taha
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The workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad is conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and realized with support by Hella Mewis.
Arts Seminar in Baghdad – Workshop Series
Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that prepares the participants to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar starts with a kick-off session – workshops and exercises at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute and along Haifa Street –, followed by regular online sessions and results in an exhibition, that is also a guided tour of the city. The exhibition Baghdad Walk III will take place in November 2020 and presenting site-specific interventions along Haifa Street.
Baghdad Walk takes the Iraqi capital as a case study, addressing the memories embedded in the texture of urban life, from personal events and stories, to architectural heritage and public monuments, the urban web is saturated with memories to be re-visited and revealed.
Participants:
Ali Adnan, Anees Amer, Shams Aqeel, Tabarek Al Atrakchi, Loay Al Hadhary, Hussam Mohammed, Ameen Mokdad, Hussain Muttar, Hadjer Qusay, Zaid Saad, Zain Saad, Muhaned Taha
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The workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad is conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and realized with support by Hella Mewis.
Arts Seminar in Baghdad, 2021
Revised design for Baghdad Railway Station drawn by Frank A Evans. Credit: Barry Joyce
Arts Seminar in Baghdad – Workshop Series
Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that invites Iraqi artists and creatives to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar starts with a kick-off session – workshops and exercises at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute and in the city –, followed by regular mentoring sessions and results in an group exhibition in Baghdad. The latest edition – Baghdad Walk IV – took place at Baghdad Central Station.
Participants:
Mayar Abdulkareem, Atef Al Jaffal, Zahraa Al Obaidi, Muntadher Amel, Anees Amer, Shams Aqeel, Tabarek Al Atrakchi, Fatima Dhahir, Loay Al Hadhary, Maryam Hazim, Zahraa Hassan, Nada Hussain, Hella Mewis, Hussam Mohammed, Ameen Mokdad, Yousr Mokdad, Hussain Muttar, Mohammed Nameer, Karrar Saad, Zaid Saad, Muhaned Taha, Basma Watheq, Mohanad Yakoob, Rose Yousif
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The workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad is conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and realized with support by Hella Mewis.
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Revised design for Baghdad Railway Station drawn by Frank A Evans. Credit: Barry Joyce
Arts Seminar in Baghdad – Workshop Series
Arts Seminar in Baghdad is a workshop series that invites Iraqi artists and creatives to engage with their art works and interventions in the urban space of Baghdad. The seminar starts with a kick-off session – workshops and exercises at TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute and in the city –, followed by regular mentoring sessions and results in an group exhibition in Baghdad. The latest edition – Baghdad Walk IV – took place at Baghdad Central Station.
Participants:
Mayar Abdulkareem, Atef Al Jaffal, Zahraa Al Obaidi, Muntadher Amel, Anees Amer, Shams Aqeel, Tabarek Al Atrakchi, Fatima Dhahir, Loay Al Hadhary, Maryam Hazim, Zahraa Hassan, Nada Hussain, Hella Mewis, Hussam Mohammed, Ameen Mokdad, Yousr Mokdad, Hussain Muttar, Mohammed Nameer, Karrar Saad, Zaid Saad, Muhaned Taha, Basma Watheq, Mohanad Yakoob, Rose Yousif
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The workshop series Arts Seminar in Baghdad is conceived and organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak, in collaboration with the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institut for Spatial Experiments), Berlin and hosted by TARKIB Baghdad Contemporary Arts Institute in BAIT TARKIB. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and realized with support by Hella Mewis.
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