A young man sits in the last of the downtown cafés that serve both ahwa sada (Turkish coffee) and beer, putting back Egypt’s own version of the latter (Stella) and taking in his surroundings. This is Hassan Khan and this is Cairo—a city marked by the occasional money-laundering sheikh, Prada hippies sipping Italian coffee [...]

Mohammad Shirvani’s first feature film is an intimate diary that mixes real life and screen life with experimental abandon. Welcome to Big Brother, Iranian style.
I am born
I shall die
I think that maybe I was dreaming
I was asleep
I think that maybe I was dreaming
I was dreaming
I was asleep
As Nahf (Navel) comes to close, the great [...]

PREVIEWS
Upcoming Exhibitions

PROFILE
Colonizing Fantasy in Pursuit of a Unifying Gene The intricate creations of Amina Mansour
Basem El-Barooni
ART
Going Public: The Development of Current art spaces in the Region
Vasif Kortun

Dead Dogs: A Decade of Public Art Experiments in Tehran
Antonia Carver

The Transformer: Bidoun Meets the Director of the Young Arab Theatre Fund
Alia Rayyan

The video work of Hassan Khan
Negar Azimi

Breathing Room: Shirazeh Houshiary’s Breath in Lower Manhattan
Brian Ackley
FILM
Navel Gazing: Welcome to Big Brother Iranian style
Antonia Carver

From Tehran to Tribeca: Bidoun’s Spring Film Festival Diary

BerlinBeirut: An interview with the lovely Myrna Makaroon

Head On Turkish Delight: The winner of this year’s Berlinale
Alia Rayyan

Ejteyah (Invasion)
Antonia Carver

Film Reviews in Brief

MUSIC
From the Bronx to Beirut: A focus on hip hop from the Middle East
Ramsay Short

Meta Music: An interview with DJ Mutamassik

Beirut’s CD Theque
Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

DJ Sharif shares a track list

FASHION
Hand Baggage Control

The Drape and Fold of Rami Kashou
Porochista Khakpour

Opposites Collapse

REVIEWS
Death to America
Far Near Distance: Contemporary Positions of Iranian Artists
Tirdad Zolghadr

Sharam Entekhabi
Play Gallery, Berlin
Alia Rayan

Turning Points: 20th Century British Sculpture Museum Contemporary Art, Tehran
Negar Azimi

Poetics of Proximity Chapman Univeristy, Orange, California
Laura J. Kuo

For Bam
Antonia Carver

Rogue Farhad Moshiri at Kashya Hildebrand, New York
Media Farzin

HOROSCOPE
By Tehran’s classy clairvoyant Ms. Shenas

FOOD
Maha Alusi’s Modern Makluba

Fatima’s Qurb

SPOTLIGHT
Alwan for the Arts
Dina Ramadan