Culture Now: Khaled Hourani

Palestinian artist Khaled Hourani is joined by Tessa Jackson to discuss his work as an artist, critic and curator, on the occasion of his first retrospective at CCA, Glasgow, as part of Glasgow International 2014. This retrospective brings together new and existing paintings, installations and conceptual work, proving Hourani’s practice to have had a vital influence on the growth and perception of contemporary art in Palestine.

Hourani is the co-founder of the International Academy of Art Palestine in Ramallah and the initiator of the 2011 Picasso in Palestine project. The school borrowed and exhibited Picasso’s Buste de Femme, 1943, from the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, exhibiting it in Ramallah and documenting the first time that such a Modernist masterpiece had made such a journey.

Khaled Hourani at CCA Glasgow runs from 4 April to 18 May 2014. More information →

Hourani (born Hebron, 1965) has curated and organised several exhibitions such as the Young Artist of the Year Award in 2000 and 2002, for the A.M. Qattan Foundation. He was the curator of the Palestinian pavilion for São Paolo Biennal, Brazil, 2004, and the 21st Alexandria Biennale, Egypt, 2001, and served as an Artistic Advisor for Liminal Spaces in 2006. He writes critically in the field of art and is an active member and founder of a number of cultural and art institutions. Recently he was awarded the Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change.

Tessa Jackson is Chief Executive of Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), a centre for global art and artists in East London. Reflecting the diversity of contemporary society, Iniva offers a space for artistic experiment, cultural debate and the exchange of ideas. Tessa Jackson is a curator and writer and previously has been Director of Arnolfini, Bristol, Director of the Scottish Arts Council and founding Artistic Director of Artes Mundi, Wales International Art Prize.