About this episode
A conversation with artist Samia Halaby about her innovative approaches to painting and art influenced by her experiences and historical movements.
A conversation between artist Samia Halaby and Sanna Almajedi, recorded live following a performance at e-flux on September 10, 2024. In the performance, Halaby used a computer program that she coded in the early '90s to generate abstract shapes. These were manipulated in real-time alongside sonic improvisation by musician Amir ElSaffar. Samia Halaby is a trailblazer in contemporary abstract art internationally. In her distinctive painting style, Halaby draws inspiration from nature and historical movements such as early Islamic architecture and the Soviet avant-garde. Displaced from Palestine in 1948 with her family when she was eleven, Halaby was educated in the American Midwest at a time when abstract expressionism was popular but female abstract painters were marginalized. Halaby believes that new approaches to painting can transform our ways of seeing and thinking, not only within aesthetics, but also as a way to discover new perspectives for advances in teaching, technology, and society at large. This conviction has inspired her to pursue additional experiments in drawing, printmaking, computer-based kinetic art, and free-from-the-stretcher painting. Halaby's work is…
People in this episode
Host: Sanna Almajedi
Guest: Samia Halaby
Topics covered
- kinetic painting
- abstract art
- sonic improvisation
- female artists
- Palestinian art
- computer-based art
Keywords
- Samia Halaby
- kinetic painting
- abstract art
- sonic improvisation
- female abstract painters
- Palestinian artist
- computer art
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: e-flux, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Institut du Monde Arabe, Birzeit University
Books & works: abstract shapes, abstract expressionism
Places: Palestine
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