This will be the first exhibition in Paris of contemporary Middle Eastern art prepared by students of international relations. They are mostly international exchange students following the course 'Contemporary Art and Geopolitics in the Arab World' at the Paris School of International Affairs / Sciences Po.

This course has been given since 2012 by me, the lecturer and curator Robert Kluijver. I work intensely with artists from all over the Middle East. The point of the course is to introduce art as a new way of understanding sociocultural change in the region.

Each student has paired with one artist to discuss a specific series of the artist's work. The end-of-term papers of the students provide an in-depth analysis into the meaning of that work of art, from the unique perspective of a student of international relations. Based on that meaning, I will install the exhibition.

To cover modest installation costs, and food and drinks during the opening, I need external funding, as Sciences Po has no budget for this. I have calculated, in all, 500 Euros printing and installation costs, and 500 Euros for food and drinks during the opening. Any left-over food and drinks will be donated to the artspace, The Window, which has agreed to host the exhibition free of charge.

The opening coincides with the last day of the Spring season and the beginning of the Easter Holidays.

The work at the top of the page is an Installation View of Faycal Baghriche's 'Souvenir' and 'Elective Purification'. For names of other participating artists, and the images of other works included in the exhibition please consult the website