July 2017
I'm thrilled to have been selected by Alserkal Avenue to receive a travel grant to CIMAM's Annual Conference in Singapore in November 2017. The theme of this year's conference is The Roles and Responsibilities of Museums in Civil Society.
Midad: The Public and Intimate Lives of Arabic Calligraphy - press
April - October 2017
Read about Midad in Ibraaz and L'Orient Le Jour!
The exhibition has been extended until October 19th.
To my very own singular desire: Annette Messager in conversation with Rachel Dedman and Marie Muracciole
November 2016
Join us on 2nd November at Beirut Art Center for an evening with iconic artist Annette Messager, whose work My Collection of Proverbs (1974) is on show in Unravelled, the exhibition I co-curated with Marie Muracciole.
Read more about the event here.
Qalandiya International 2016: Panel at the Palestinian Museum
October 2016
Thanks to QI 2016 for having me in Ramallah to speak about the political potential of embroidery in a panel with Sliman Mansour, Tania Nasir and Farida al-Amad. Read more here.
Pecha Kucha Beirut
October 2016
Ayman Hassan of studio zumra and I will be presenting at Pecha Kucha Beirut 2016, on our collaborative project Halcyon - an exhibition on writing and art working around themes and tropes of science fiction.
Berlin Biennale Young Curators Workshop 2016
September 2016
I was thrilled to be part of BB9's Young Curators Workshop hosted by KW in Berlin this September. Read about the program here!
Halcyon at the Mosaic Rooms, London
August 2016
The Mosaic Rooms has invited me to present short films selected from Halcyon, the exhibition I curated for the Transart Triennale in Berlin this Summer, at a screening on 10th August.
Films by Tom Bogaert, Lea Najjar, Mirna Bamieh and Larissa Sansour will be introduced by Rachel Dedman. The screening considers the ways in which sci-fi might offer models for the disruption of established narratives, alternative articulations of the self and subtle negotiations of the future, and will be followed by a Q&A with the curator.
Read more about the event here!
Artists' talk as part of Halcyon at the Transart Triennale, Berlin
August 2016
Join artists Lynn Kodeih and Arjuna Neuman, each presenting texts as part of Halcyon, in conversation with curator Rachel Dedman. Kodeih and Neuman will be reading excerpts from their work in the exhibition, and discussing the role science fiction plays in their diverse practices. As artists who engage with text and image, performance and video, in quite different ways, what critical, narrative and speculative opportunities are offered by science fiction?
Panel at the Transart Triennale 2016, Berlin
August 2016
As part of the Transart Triennale 2016 symposium The Imperceptible Self: Knowledge Ecologies, I will be speaking in a panel entitled Flux and Becoming: Identity, Self, Love, Other with fellow curators Gaby Cepeda and Andrea Spaziani, moderated by Ruth Novaczek. See the full program here.
Book Launch: At the Seams
June 2016
I am delighted to announce the launch of my first book, At the Seams: a Political History of Palestinian Embroidery, published by the Palestinian Museum as part of the exhibition I curated of the same name.
A huge collaborative effort, thanks to all who helped make it happen. For information about where to purchase a copy, contact me at rdedman@palmuseum.org.
Salon Discussion at the Sursock Museum
April 2016
Sursock Museum Beirut invited me to lead the inaugural Salon Discussion in their Salon Arabe around the methodologies of work I am applying to the making of At the Seams exhibition for the Palestinian Museum. Read more here!
POLYCEPHALY receives an AFAC grant
January 2016
I'm delighted to announce that Lynn Kodeih and I (collectively, Polycephaly) have received an RTR grant from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture to conduct research into contemporary art practice. Read more here.
Vessel/MADA's International Curatorial Retreat
May 2015
I was thrilled to have been selected for Vessel's annual International Curatorial Retreat held this year in Puglia, Italy on the theme of curatorial writing. Thank you Vessel and MADA for a fantastic week! You can read Latitudes' round-up of the experience here. Photo by Nienke Terpsma of the Fucking Good Art collective, from our outing to Monopoli.
International Awards for Art Criticism Publication
April 2015
I am delighted to announce that my review of Kader Attia's Contre Nature at the Beirut Art Center will be published in May by the International Awards for Art Criticism in their book of the top 12 entries in English and Chinese. See here for more information.
CIMAM Grantees Report
March 2015
It was a pleasure to be a part of CIMAM's annual conference in Doha, Qatar in 2014. Here is my report for the Getty Foundation, who funded my trip, on my experience.
The Museum of Immortality
January 2015
The Museum of Immortality, an exhibition I was part of at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, last year, has been named in Hyperallergic's Best of 2014: Top Ten Exhibitions Around the World. Read the article here.
Palestinian Museum
September 2014
I’m excited to be curating a project for the Palestinian Museum on Palestinian embroidery, to be held in Beirut in early 2016.
The Palestinian Museum is currently under construction in Birzeit, West Bank, directed by Jack Persekian. Learn more about their fantastic work here!
Getty Grant
August 2014
I have been awarded a Getty Grant to attend CiMAM’s annual conference, held this year in Doha, Qatar. The theme and title of the conference is Public Museums, Private Resources? The grant is intended to facilitate the travel of young curators, particularly from countries without established infrastructures, and their participation in the conference. Due to its location this year – in Qatar – the content will focus upon the Middle-East and North Africa.
ICI Curatorial Intensive in Moscow
August 2014
In August 2014, I spent a fantastic week in Moscow with Independent Curators International, as part of their Curatorial Intensive at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. It was a wonderful and enlightening week of trips, tours, talks and hard work, as each participant developed a curatorial project. Thank you, ICI, for everything!
Ashkal Alwan Exhibition
June 2014
My work is included in The Museum of Immortality, an exhibition initiated by Anton Vidokle, at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut. Consisting of over 50 works by participants of this year’s Home Workspace Program, the exhibition explores ideas of immortality and resurrection as theorised by Nikolai Federov and Boris Groys.
ICI Scholarship
June 2014
I have received a full scholarship to Independent Curators International’s Moscow Curatorial Intensive! The central subject is developing infrastructures for art, and brings participants into contact with established curators and scholars from all over the globa. I’m thrilled to spend time in Moscow, and meeting other young curators from Russia and across the world. See more of ICI’s work here.