John O’Brien
Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Policy
The Program
The program consists of 10+ events that combine the arts and social sciences. These include four artist events focusing on nurturing interdisciplinary conversations between the exhibition’s artists, faculty, and students at NYU New York and NYUAD.
Film Screening and Discussion: Um Al-Naar
Film Screening of Um Al-Naar followed by a discussion between Farah Al Qasimi and Gayatri Gopinath at 19 Washington Square North, New York University.
Social Science Conversations: Theorizing Up
Laure Assaf
Assistant Professor of Arab Crossroads Studies and Anthropology
Rana Al-Mutawa
Assistant Professor Emerging Scholar of Social Research and Public Policy
May Al-Dabbagh
Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy
Nidhi Mahajan
Visiting Fellow at ASC-IIAS
“Theorizing Up” is a series of conversational social science talks about what it means to engage with theory in academic research on the Gulf. Hosted by Haraka Experimental Lab, this series features five ethnographic projects on the UAE covering topics such as labor, impermanence, belonging, authenticity, and mobility. The authors reflect on their process and share ideas that correspond to the themes of the Sharbaka exhibition.
Student Panel: What We (un)Learned
This student panel responds to the themes of Alaa Edris’s video work School and unpacks questions of power, positionality, and process in educational institutions.
Artist Conversations: Back to the Drawing Board!
In Back to the Drawing Board Vikram Divecha engages in conversations with 4 academics about his work-in-progress, Veedu. Departing from a traditional artist talk, these private/public conversations emphasize the importance of process in artistic and academic work.
Artist Talk: Archive, Affect, and Language
Ala Younis discusses the making of the Ajman Independent Studios images for the Sharbaka Exhibition.
Performing the Exhibition: Sharbaka Workshop
Participants are invited to perform the exhibition by learning how to make music through a “sharbaka” clapping workshop, embodying ideas of attunement and entanglement. Led by Ghazi Al-Mulaifi, Applied Ethnomusicologist at NYUAD, this workshop is a campus-wide experiment in the corporeal transmission of knowledge.