Ephemeral vs Permanent | Hadeer Omar x Yasmeen Suleiman | 25 Years of VCUarts Qatar
01/19/24 • 50 min
We’re looking back over 25 years of Tasmeem Doha – one of the region’s leading and most influential design initiatives – and chatting with six VCU Qatar faculty members and key players who have helped make it what it is today. In the second episode of the Tasmeem Doha podcast, we examine ‘ephemerality vs permanence’.
Together with assistant professors at VCU Qatar Hadeer Omar and Yasmeen Suleiman, we think about Tasmeem Doha as a ‘maverick’ event that has fundamentally transformed the region’s design scene. They describe how university life has been changed by Tasmeem Doha and what they see to be the temporary vs permanent day-to-day legacies of the conference. And they celebrate the invaluable community, connections and conversations that are born out of Tasmeem Doha in each of its renditions.
Hadeer explains what ‘time-based media’ actually means — pushing us to reflect on perceptions and measurements of time in a fast-moving and transforming city like Doha. We contemplate the symbiotic relationship between permanence and temporality and finally, both Hadeer and Yasmeen share their favorite memories from Tasmeem Doha over the years.
Yasmeen Suleiman is Materials Library Curator and Assistant Professor at VCUarts Qatar. She approaches materials from a multifaceted design perspective, with an unquenchable curiosity and appreciation for how materials transform ideas into tangible reality. Her research interests encompass concepts of preservation, temporality and permanence, trace, value, culture, and contextual design. Previously, she taught Materials and Methods Studio as adjunct faculty in the MFA department. She also worked on the Hamad International Airport Project as part of their Architecture and Interior Design team.
Hadeer Omar is an Egyptian new media artist and Assistant Professor at VCUarts in Qatar. Her work centers on exploring socio-cultural issues through immersive XR media, graphics, photography, A/V performances, 360 storytelling, and video art installations. One of the key focuses of her artistic practice is to utilize technology to examine complex issues of cultural identity, memories, and the self in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Her approach to storytelling challenges conventional perceptions of art and design, inviting viewers to examine in new and thought-provoking ways. She was one of the co-chairs of the Tasmeem Doha Art and Design Conference in 2019.
As a dedicated educator, she teaches Time-based media and storytelling. Hadeer empowers her undergraduate/grad. students to utilize XR technologies to create immersive and engaging works. She bridges arts, new media processes, and storytelling to introduce her students to emerging technologies that will shape the future of art and design. Her teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that students' creative potential can be unlocked by fostering their unique perspectives and approaches to new media art. Her students explore and produce video art installations, 360 short films, photo sequencing, and more.
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
The afikra Podcast is our flagship series featuring experts from academia, art, media and beyond who are helping document and/or shape the histories and cultures of the Arab world through their work. Our hope is that by having the guest share their expertise and story, the community walks away with a new found curiosity and maybe some good recommendations about new nerdy rabbit holes to dive into head first.
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=-0voh_EioBM&list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX
****** ABOUT AFIKRA ******
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present, and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra
Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Watch other episodes in this series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xACvhOprM03PXJms10_3g
ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectivel...
We’re looking back over 25 years of Tasmeem Doha – one of the region’s leading and most influential design initiatives – and chatting with six VCU Qatar faculty members and key players who have helped make it what it is today. In the second episode of the Tasmeem Doha podcast, we examine ‘ephemerality vs permanence’.
Together with assistant professors at VCU Qatar Hadeer Omar and Yasmeen Suleiman, we think about Tasmeem Doha as a ‘maverick’ event that has fundamentally transformed the region’s design scene. They describe how university life has been changed by Tasmeem Doha and what they see to be the temporary vs permanent day-to-day legacies of the conference. And they celebrate the invaluable community, connections and conversations that are born out of Tasmeem Doha in each of its renditions.
Hadeer explains what ‘time-based media’ actually means — pushing us to reflect on perceptions and measurements of time in a fast-moving and transforming city like Doha. We contemplate the symbiotic relationship between permanence and temporality and finally, both Hadeer and Yasmeen share their favorite memories from Tasmeem Doha over the years.
Yasmeen Suleiman is Materials Library Curator and Assistant Professor at VCUarts Qatar. She approaches materials from a multifaceted design perspective, with an unquenchable curiosity and appreciation for how materials transform ideas into tangible reality. Her research interests encompass concepts of preservation, temporality and permanence, trace, value, culture, and contextual design. Previously, she taught Materials and Methods Studio as adjunct faculty in the MFA department. She also worked on the Hamad International Airport Project as part of their Architecture and Interior Design team.
Hadeer Omar is an Egyptian new media artist and Assistant Professor at VCUarts in Qatar. Her work centers on exploring socio-cultural issues through immersive XR media, graphics, photography, A/V performances, 360 storytelling, and video art installations. One of the key focuses of her artistic practice is to utilize technology to examine complex issues of cultural identity, memories, and the self in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Her approach to storytelling challenges conventional perceptions of art and design, inviting viewers to examine in new and thought-provoking ways. She was one of the co-chairs of the Tasmeem Doha Art and Design Conference in 2019.
As a dedicated educator, she teaches Time-based media and storytelling. Hadeer empowers her undergraduate/grad. students to utilize XR technologies to create immersive and engaging works. She bridges arts, new media processes, and storytelling to introduce her students to emerging technologies that will shape the future of art and design. Her teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that students' creative potential can be unlocked by fostering their unique perspectives and approaches to new media art. Her students explore and produce video art installations, 360 short films, photo sequencing, and more.
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
The afikra Podcast is our flagship series featuring experts from academia, art, media and beyond who are helping document and/or shape the histories and cultures of the Arab world through their work. Our hope is that by having the guest share their expertise and story, the community walks away with a new found curiosity and maybe some good recommendations about new nerdy rabbit holes to dive into head first.
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=-0voh_EioBM&list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX
****** ABOUT AFIKRA ******
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present, and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra
Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Watch other episodes in this series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xACvhOprM03PXJms10_3g
ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectivel...
Previous Episode
Cross-Cultural Kaleidoscope | Basma Hamdy x Peter Martin | 25 Years of VCUarts Qatar
Our first in four conversations is with Basma Hamdy, director of Tasmeem, and Peter Martin, one of the conference’s original co-directors. In this episode titled “Cross-cultural Kaleidoscopes” we discuss the birth of Tasmeem, and its evolution over the decades. Together Basma and Peter share the realities of putting together this kind of conference (especially during COVID-19) and how they think Tasmeem has influenced and impacted different audiences — including themselves.
Tasmeem Doha is a biennial international conference that focuses on unique and contemporary themes in art and design. For 2024, the theme of the event is “Under Construction”, which is both a metaphor for creative research as well as a celebration and investigation of transformation. It is also a state that Doha has found itself in for decades: a transformation that has presented an outsized impact on the residents of the city.
Under Construction will also explore the past, present and future of VCUQ’s flagship event Tasmeem. As part of the 25th anniversary of VCU’s campus in Doha, the event will bring together voices from the past, present and future of various disciplines involved in this cycle of rethinking and remaking.
The program will include talks, workshops, public exhibitions and performances.
Basma Hamdy is an assistant professor of graphic design at VCUarts Qatar and director of Tasmeem. She is a research-based designer, author and educator producing work that bridges historical, political and social issues with archival, documentarian, participatory and critical mechanisms. She is an advocate for collaboration and participatory practices, believing that design must promote multiperspectivity. She has collaborated with historians, photographers, designers, activists and cultural organizations to create work that reformulates or challenges established norms or conventions.
Peter Martin was one of the co-directors at the original Tasmeem conference. He holds a BS in Design and Environmental Analysis from Cornell University and an MFA in Graphic Design from Virginia Commonwealth University. His varied experience includes outdoor education, wooden boat building and organizational innovation consulting. He served as Interim Chair of Graphic Design at VCUarts Qatar (2016-2020), where he began teaching in 1999 where he co-led – in collaboration with VCUarts Richmond – the faculty’s development of a wholly new and forward-looking BFA curriculum. Since 2017 he has also been collaborating in developing interdisciplinary learning curricula and cultures with multiple universities of Qatar Foundation’s Education City campus. His design work investigates organizational and community participation platforms for co-creative processes for holistic and integrative transformations.
About The Tasmeem Podcast:
In collaboration with afikra, VCUarts Qatar has produced a series of four 30-minute podcasts available on YouTube featuring interviews with past Tasmeem Doha organizers, chairs and directors. The conversations delve into the origins, the memories and the connections that the conference has to them, the University and Qatar, and how the event evolved to become one of the most prestigious design conferences in the region.
This four-part series will be followed by another podcast series that will focus on specifics of the Tasmeem Doha 2024 conference which will be held in Qatar from March 2-5. The theme for the 2024 conference is Under Construction.
Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Watch other episodes in this series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xACvhOprM03PXJms10_3g
ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter:
Next Episode
Nontraditional Expression | Michael Perrone x Leland Hill | 25 Years of VCUarts Qatar
We’re looking back over 25 years of VCUarts Qatar through Tasmeem Doha – one of the region’s leading and most influential design initiatives – and chatting with six VCUarts Qatar faculty members and key players who have helped make it what it is today.
In the third episode of this series, we're joined by Professors Michael Perrone and Leland Hill to discuss the idea of 'non-traditional expression'. Together, we think about Tasmeem Doha as an example of a non-traditional design event and its exciting role as a shot of creative adrenaline for everyone who attends. Leland and Michael share what they see to be the conference's core impacts on the fields of art and design and map out its legacies over the years.
In the course of the conversation, we seek to 'demystify' art and design -- questioning whether we even need to distinguish between the two. Both professors contemplate the ways that arts education has changed and what opportunities and ideas have been brought to Doha as a result of the Tasmeem conference.
Tasmeem Doha is a biennial international conference that focuses on unique and contemporary themes in art and design. For 2024, the theme of the event is “Under Construction”, which is both a metaphor for creative research as well as a celebration and investigation of transformation. It is also a state that Doha has found itself in for decades: a transformation that has presented an outsized impact on the residents of the city.
Leland Hill is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar where he teaches typography and interdisciplinary collaborative systems design strategies. His interests also extend to how the relationship where graphic design and comic book studies come together as visual and sequential narratives. Leland is also the co-founder of the VCUarts Qatar Comics Lab, a partnership with the VCUarts Qatar Library to explore diverse narratives in comic and sequential art.
Michael Perrone is a painter, currently working as an Assistant Professor of Painting at VCUarts Qatar. He studied Art and Art Education at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania. His recent work is the result of his continued research and investigation into the concept of monuments, exploring both local, regional and several international sites.
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
The afikra Podcast is our flagship series featuring experts from academia, art, media and beyond who are helping document and/or shape the histories and cultures of the Arab world through their work. Our hope is that by having the guest share their expertise and story, the community walks away with a new found curiosity and maybe some good recommendations about new nerdy rabbit holes to dive into head first.
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0voh_EioBM&list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX
****** ABOUT AFIKRA ******
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present, and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra
Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Watch other episodes in this series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xACvhOprM03PXJms10_3g
ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram:
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