27 – 28 September
Future City, a Pop-Up Mathaf project initiated by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar in partnership with the Liverpool Biennial and in collaboration with Tate Liverpool, and Liverpool John Moores University, will take place in various locations in Liverpool, as part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture
Future City investigates the connections and asymmetries between cities and considers the optimistic agendas for urban transformation surrounding the partner institutions. It is also an exploration of the ability of contemporary art and cultural knowledge production to imagine urban and social development in a global context.
The programme includes a day-long forum with contributions from distinguished thinkers and practitioners in the fields of art, architecture, urbanism, visual culture and sociology on Friday 27 September at Liverpool John Moores University. A series of expeditions exploring the city of Liverpool will take place the following day including a boat tour of Stanley Dock, an excursion to the Homebaked bakery in Anfield with Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, and a field trip led by artist Bouchra Khalili and writer and curator Omar Kholeif. There will also be a Futurist Library produced by London based designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad at Liverpool John Moores University for the duration of the event.
Speakers in the forum include Deena Chalabi, Guest Curator, Pop-Up Mathaf; Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; Joseph Grima, Architect and Writer; Francesco Manacorda, Artistic Director, Tate Liverpool; Sophia Al Maria, Artist; Claire McColgan, Director of Culture, Culture Liverpool; Andrea Phillips, Reader in Fine Art, Goldsmiths; Nasser Rabbat, Architect and Historian; Irit Rogoff, Professor of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths; Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University; Noura Al Sayeh, Architect; Payam Sharifi, Artist; and Imre Szeman, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies, University of Alberta.
There will also be related programming in Doha, and a publication following the events.