Art Thinking Network & The Institute for the Public Interest

Art. Liberation.

Sabri Al-Qurashi
Held on 23rd-26th January 2025 in Paris,
Art.Liberation. was the first solo exhibition of the artist.

We invite you to enjoy some photographs of the event, and an interview with the artist.
Art. Liberation.
The exhibition was hosted jointly by Art Thinking Network and the newly-formed Institute for the Public Interest (IPI) and was held at the Villa Belleville art center, 23 rue Ramponeau Paris.

Art. Liberation. was designed to draw the viewer into the grotesque brutality
of the US base at Guantánamo Bay, the natural majesty of faraway lands such as
Yemen & Kazakhstan, and the grace & liberating power of art & imagination.

Sabri invites us all to free ourselves and rediscover peace & humanity.

This exhibition presented the work of Sabri Al-Qurashi from his times in Guantánamo to recent paintings made in Kazakhstan, and included a video interview made especially for the exhibition.
Interview with Sabri Al-Qurashi
The following interview was recorded and shown
as part of the exhibition.
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.
Recent Articles
A selection of recent articles published about
Sabri and his exhibition
    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
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