Art Thinking Network & The Institute for the Public Interest
En Fr

Art. Liberation.

Sabri Al-Qurashi
23 - 26 January 2025
Villa Belleville, 23 rue Ramponeau Paris
Art. Liberation.
Art Thinking Network and the newly-formed Institute for the Public Interest (IPI) welcome you to the first solo exhibition of the artist Sabri Mohamed Al-Qurashi at the Villa Belleville art center.

Art. Liberation. draws the viewer into the grotesque brutality of the US base at Guantánamo Bay, the natural majesty of faraway lands like Yemen & Kazakhstan, and the grace & liberating power of art & imagination.

Like Sabri's paintings, the exhibition invites us all to free ourselves and
rediscover peace & humanity.

This exhibition will present the work of Sabri Al-Qurashi from his times in Guantánamo to recent paintings made in Kazakhstan, a video interview made especially for the exhibition and an edition of silkscreen printings poster in support of Sabri Al-Qurashi and the IPI.

Villa Belleville, Paris 23 - 26th January 2025
Alongside the exhibition, two talks will be organised on Saturday, 25th January:

Mohamedou Ould Slahi will discuss his imprisonment at Guantánamo and his life since.

There will also be a discussion between Deepa Govindarajan Driver and Nil Samar about art,
human rights and our vision for a better world.

Both discussions will include sufficient time for audience interaction.
About Sabri Al-Qurashi
Sabri was born in 1973 to Yemeni parents in Saudi Arabia. After Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and increasing instability in the region, his family’s situation in Saudi Arabia became more precarious, and Sabri left school to go to work. While on a business trip to Pakistan, the attacks of 9/11 took place and the borders were closed. Sabri was arrested by Pakistani security forces and turned over to the US military, which transported him to Kandahar, Afghanistan and then to the US detention center at Guantánamo Bay. He was held there without charge from 2002-2014, when he was transferred to Kazakhstan. While in Guantánamo, he discovered and developed his talent as a painter. Over the last decade, he has continued to create artwork, and his work has been shown to critical acclaim in numerous international exhibitions. This is his first solo exhibition.
Exhibition Schedule
Thursday 23rd January
18:00 - 21:00 Vernissage
Friday 24th January
14:00 - 18:00 Exhibition open

15:00 - Guided Tour of Exhibition*
Saturday 25th January
14:00 - 19:00 Exhibition open

Discussion/Presentations:

14:00 - 15:30 Deepa Govindarajan Driver and Nil Samar

16:00 - 17:30 Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Sunday 26th January
14:00 - 18:00 Exhibition open

15:00 - Guided Tour of Exhibition*
*For more information on booking a place on a guided tour, please contact Pierre Tectin
Mohamedou Ould Slahi will discuss his imprisonment
at Guantánamo and his life since
Saturday 25 January - 16:00-17:30
  • Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini
    Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini is an internationally acclaimed author, public speaker and advocate for human rights, justice, and reconciliation, inspiring audiences worldwide with his unwavering courage and humanity.
    Mohamedou’s journey is one of extraordinary resilience and triumph over injustice. Originally from Mauritania, he has both Arab and African roots but is now based in the Netherlands.
    Mohamedou earned a scholarship in electrical engineering at the Gerhard-Mercator University in Germany.Then, while living and working in Mauritania in 2001, he was unjustly detained, beginning a harrowing 15-year ordeal, including imprisonment in the US base at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial.
    While there, he authored a powerful account of his experience, the Guantánamo Diary, later publishing the “restored edition” after his release in 2016.
    His story was also adapted into the award-winning Hollywood film The Mauritanian (2021, dir. Kevin Macdonald) starring Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, and Benedict Cumberbatch. He has since published his first novel, The Actual True Story of Ahmed and Zarga, and also co-written the theatre production Yara’s Wedding.
    Mohamedou’s relentless dedication to peace and justice has earned him prestigious accolades, including the Netherlands PAX Peace Prize (Verededuif) in 2022 and The Marco Borradori Prize in 2023.
Discussion between Nil Samar and Deepa Govindarajan Driver about art, human rights and our responsibility to make a better world
Saturday 25 January - 14:00-15:30
Doors open at 13:00 - English speaking event
  • Dr Deepa Govindarajan Driver
    Dr Deepa Govindarajan Driver lectures in the areas of state and corporate accountability, and financial regulation at the University of Reading, UK. She is chair of negotiators for the union side for a higher education sector-wide pension scheme. Deepa serves as vice-chair of Finance Watch, Brussels and co vice-chair of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, UK. She undertakes trial observations on behalf of the ELDH and Haldane Society, mainly covering national security journalism, whistleblowing and the misuse of counter-terrorism and anti-espionage laws.
  • Nil Samar
    Nil Samar worked as a science and art mediator in different museums, including the French National Museum of Natural History and the Centquatre, a major innovative art center in Paris.
    Nil is now an affiliate professor at ESCP and lecturer on the links between art, science and innovation, and an active member of the Art Thinking Network.
Guided Tours of the Exhibition
Guided tours of the exhibition will be held on Friday and Sunday at 15:00.
-
To check availability or to book a place, please contact Pierre Tectin below.
  • Pierre Tectin
    Pierre lives and works in Paris. He is a graduate of the School of Art and Design in Reims and Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris. Pierre Tectin’s sculptures call on our senses and reveal, beyond their physical form, a reinterpretation of the world, carried by the desire for re-appropriation. Interested in the relationship between creation and organization, he is a member of the Curry Vavart collective and is co-founder of the Improbable workshops and the Art Thinking Network.
Contact Pierre at:

email: pierretectin@gmail.com
tel: +33 6 19 39 72 72
Partners
  • Art Thinking Network
    The Art Thinking Network is an international open-source collective gathering artists and experts in entrepreneurship, working together to create the improbable to rethink major issues.
    Recognized as one of the 10 best pedagogical innovations, several thousand participants have taken part across a dozen countries (in Europe, the United States, and Japan), for academic institutions and innovation centres, as well as major corporations curious to explore new ways of doing things. Sylvain Bureau, PhD from Ecole Polytechnique and professor at ESCP Business School, and Pierre Tectin, visual artist and Artistic Director of the Art Thinking Network, are the co-founders.
  • Institute for the Public Interest
    The IPI seeks lasting world peace through disarmament. We seek to nurture critical debate and promote a culture of peace, global understanding and global justice. We promote - within key national and international institutions and within civil society discourse - a culture that prioritises the public interest and uncompromisingly safeguards human rights.
  • Villa Belleville
    Villa Belleville is a cultural establishment of the City of Paris dedicated to the visual arts and part of neighborhood life. It has been managed by the AGETA/Curry Vavart Association since 2015.
    As a resource space for creation, it offers an artist residency program, as well as shared workshops open to all. Many cultural and social action projects aimed at young people and residents are organized both at Villa Belleville and outside it's walls.
  • Project coordinated by Deepa Govindarajan Driver, Pierre Tectin and Mohamedou Ould Slahi

    Dr Deepa Govindarajan Driver is a trade unionist, university lecturer, and an experienced finance professional with over two decades of experience with organisations - including the UK regulator (FSA) - both in continental Europe and the UK.

    Pierre Tectin is an artist practising sculpture. He is the co-founder of the Improbable Seminar and Art Thinking Network and an active member of the Curry Vavart Association.

    Mohamedou Ould Slahi is an internationally acclaimed author, human rights activist, and speaker with Arab and African roots, currently based in the Netherlands
Location
Villa Belleville
23 rue Ramponeau 75020 Paris - M° Belleville
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