Naeem Mohaiemen

Naeem Mohaiemen (born 1969) is a writer and visual artist, working in Dhaka and New York. He uses essays, photography, and film to research histories of the international left, the failure of utopia projects, and national security panic.[1]

Contents

Writing

Naeem is editor of "Between ashes and hope: Chittagong Hill Tracts in the blind spot of Bangladesh nationalism",[2] an anthology on militarization and ethnic minorities. Other co-edited books are "Collectives in atomised time"[3] and “System Error: War is a force that gives us meaning”.[4]

Recently, he was one of the critics of "Dead Reckoning", a new book on the 1971 war of Bangladesh. His response was cited by the BBC[5] and was published in Economic & Political Weekly ("Waiting for a real reckoning on 1971")[6]. Other essays on Bangladesh history include "Accelerated Media and the 1971 Genocide" (Economic & Political Weekly)[7], "Musee Guimet as Proxy Fight against Army rule" (Playing by the Rules, Apex Art Journal),[8], "Mujtaba Ali: Amphibian Man" (The Rest of Now, Rana Dasgupta ed.),[9], "Mujib Coat" (Bidoun journal),[10] and "Everybody wants to be Singapore" (Carlos Motta’s The Good Life),[11]. He wrote the chapter on religious and ethnic minorities in the Ain o Salish Kendro Annual Report for Bangladesh.[12]

Essays regarding Muslim migrants include "Fear of a Muslim Planet: Islamic Roots of HipHop" (Sound Unbound, MIT Press DJ Spooky ed., Runner Up for Villem Flusser Theory Award),[13],"Beirut, Silver Porsche Illusion" (Men of the Global South, Zed Books),[14], "Why Mahmud Can’t Be a Pilot" (Nobody Passes: Rejecting the rules of Gender and Conformity, Seal Press),[15], and "No Exit" (with Glenn Urieta, Secret Identities: Asian Superhero Comics, New Press).[16].

Essays on culture issues include "Adman blues become artist liberation" (Indian Highway, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist)[17] and "At the coed dance " (Death of the Curator issue, Art Lies),[18]

Photography

Naeem co-founded Visible Collective,[19] a collective of New York based artists and lawyers investigating security panic. Visible's work exhibited internationally, including the 2006 Whitney Biennial of American Art ("Wrong Gallery" room)[20] and L’institut des cultures d’Islam in Paris.[21] His solo projects have looked at military coups ("My Mobile Weighs A Ton" at Dhaka Gallery Chitrak),[22] surveillance ("Otondro Prohori, Guarding Who?", Chobi Mela V at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy),[23] Indian partition ("Kazi in Nomansland" at Dubai Third Line),[24] architectural nationalism ("Penn Station Kills Me" at Exit Art),[25] and dueling leftist and islamist politics ("Live True Life or Die Trying" at Cue Art Foundation, New York).[26] Chapters from his ongoing research on the 1970s ultra left have shown at the Pavilion (Bucharest),[27] New Museum (New York),[28] Frieze Art Fair (London),[29] and MUAC Mexico City.[30]

Film

Naeem’s films include "Muslims or Heretics: My Camera Can Lie", “SMS Iran: After Gilles Peress” (with Mary Walling Blackburn) and “Der Weisse Engel”. Part 1 of a planned trilogy on 1970s ultra-left movements, “The Young Man Was (Part 1: United Red Army) ” premiered at the Sharjah Biennial of Contemporary Art.[31]

Naeem’s work has been featured in Granta ("Pakistan Issue"),[32] Modern Painters ("Art & War"),[33] Springerin, Brooklyn Rail, and the book "Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times" (Duke University Press).

References

  1. ^ ISEA 2010 Ruhr Exhibitions
  2. ^ Samya Kullab, “Championing Pahari Rights”, Star Weekend Magazine, 17 September 2010. Thedailystar.net (17 September 2010). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  3. ^ Collectives in Atomised Time, with Doug Ashford, Idensitat Press. Idensitat.net. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  4. ^ System Error, with Lorenzo Fusi, Silvana Press
  5. ^ Alastair Lawson, "Controversial book accuses Bengalis of 1971 war crimes", BBC, 16 June 2011
  6. ^ Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 46 No. 36, 3 September 2011
  7. ^ Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 43 No. 04, January 26, 2008
  8. ^ Playing by the Rules: Alternative Thinking/ Alternative Spaces (9781933347431): Robert Atkins, Julie Ault, Rene Block, Winslow Burleson, Biljana Ciric, Renaud Ego, Sofija Grandakovska, Boris Groys, Marina Grzinic, Pablo Helguera, Naeem Mohaiemen, Raphael Rubinstein, Irene Tsatsos, Steven Rand, Heather Kouris: Books. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  9. ^ Silvana Editoriale. Silvanaeditoriale.it. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  10. ^ Bidoun #14
  11. ^ Carlos Motta: The Good Life: Art in General New Commissions Program Book Series Vol. XVIII (9781934890189): Eva Diaz, Anne J Barlow, Stamatina Gregory: Books. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  12. ^ http://www.askbd.org/hr_report2008/15_Religious.pdf
  13. ^ Sound Unbound – Table of Contents – The MIT Press. Mitpress.mit.edu (31 May 2008). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  14. ^ Men of the Global South: A Reader (Global Masculinities) (9781842775134): Adam Jones: Books. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  15. ^ Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity (9781580051842): Matt Bernstein Sycamore: Books. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  16. ^ Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology (9781595583987): Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, Jerry Ma: Books. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  17. ^ Indian Highway Catalogue SOLD OUT Serpentine Gallery. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  18. ^ A Contemporary Art Quarterly
  19. ^ Press. Disappeared In America. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  20. ^ “Down by Law”, curated by Wrong Gallery. Whitney.org. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  21. ^ Collectif Visible – Institut des Cultures d'Islam. Institut-cultures-Islam.org. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  22. ^ Nader Rahman, “Blurred pictures and sharp words”, Star Weekend Magazine, 29 August 2008. Thedailystar.net (29 August 2008). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  23. ^ Jamil Mahmud, “Naeem Mohaiemen takes a look at fear mongering”, The Daily Star, 20 February 2009. Thedailystar.net (20 February 2009). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  24. ^ Beena Sarwar, “Artists Take On Post-Colonial Partitions”, IPS, 6 February 2009. Ipsnews.net (6 February 2009). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  25. ^ History | 2007. Exit Art. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  26. ^ Brian Boucher, Art in America, 1/15/2010. Artinamericamagazine.com. Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  27. ^ “What was socialism, and what comes next?”, Pavillion, #10–11. (PDF) . Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  28. ^ ArtCat Zine – Events – Naeem Mohaiemen at New Museum. Zine.artcat.com (27 January 2009). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  29. ^ “Retour à Frieze”, Le Monde, 26 October 2010. Lunettesrouges.blog.lemonde.fr (26 October 2010). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  30. ^ (Spanish) Concepción Moren, “arte, ficciones, política y violencia”, El Economista, 20 June 2011. Eleconomista.com.mx (30 June 2011). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  31. ^ Guy Mannes-Abbott, “On a Day of Words”, Sharjah Art Foundation, 18.03.2011. Sharjahart.org (18 March 2011). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  32. ^ High Noon (IV) | Online Only|Granta Magazine. Granta.com (30 September 2010). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.
  33. ^ » Modern Painters: Art & War. Art-for-a-change.com (22 April 2008). Retrieved on 12 November 2011.

External links