Pablo Lafuente on Catherine David's 'Contemporary Arab Representations' Project

In a 2007 essay for Afterall Journal, Pablo Lafuente analyzes Catherine David's multi-platform project 'Contemporary Arab Representations' (CAR), which began in 2002 with a focus on Beirut/Lebanon. The project included exhibitions at Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Witte de With, and BildMuseet, along with publications and seminars. CAR aimed to present contemporary Arab cultural production while avoiding Western-centric art discourse, using the term 'representation' instead of 'art' to sidestep hierarchies. Subsequent chapters focused on Cairo (2003) and Iraq (2006). Lafuente discusses the project's emphasis on self-representation, knowledge production, and the tension between art and information, particularly in the Iraq chapter where war conditions limited artistic work. The essay references Mahmoud Darwish, Étienne Balibar, and Jacques Rancière to frame the political and philosophical stakes.