YOUR NIGHT, MY DAY

The Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI) presents, in conjunction with the UNT-International Peace Conference:

YOUR NIGHT, MY DAY
an intercultural collaborative art exhibition between artists in Iran and the U.S.

Your Night/My Day is an online and digital intercultural collaborative art project between artists in Iran and the U.S. which began in the Fall of 2010. Curated by Morehshin Allahyari and Eden Ünlüata, this project explores the process of cultural exchange- or lack thereof - between Iran and the United States. The project employs digital media and online collaboration and serves as a bridge to create an intercultural dialogue and exhibition.

In Your Night/My Day, the process of art making is based on a series of invitations from the curators, called Inspiration Notes featuring topics that are commonly referenced in discussions about culture. Through the Inspiration Notes, teams in each country write instructions in their native language for the opposite team to perform and document. However, before the opposite team receives the instructions, they are sent electronically through an artist/editor from Turkey who put them through Google Translate (Farsi>Turkish>English / English>Turkish>Farsi) and edits them as she sees ft. The translated works then follow the same path back with the Turkish artist editing the artwork at will. Using this multi-part series, we are not only deciphering and depicting the nature of the dysfunctional dialogue between Iranian and American cultures, but through art, we are seeking to fnd paths that may lead to a better understanding of each other as human beings. Your Night/My Day presents the fruit of these two-years; a collection of intercultural pieces designed to celebrate cultural differences and fnd harmony through art. Participating artists are: Andrew Blanton, Negin Ehtesabian, Zeren Göktan, Patrick Lichty, Vana Nabipour, and Allie Pohl.

Your Night/ My Day has been brought to UNT by The Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI). The exhibition upholds the core values of the institute as it creates a digital and visual forum for peaceful exchange and dialogue. http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxDU-Morehshin-Allahyari-Coll

The Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI) is an interdisciplinary institute composed of faculty drawn from the visual arts, social sciences, and humanities at the University of North Texas. CAMCSI serves UNT as the coordinating body and the primary source of support for the various courses and academic programs that cover the Arab and Muslim worlds, which include the Arab states, Iran, Turkey, central and south Asia and other parts of the world with Muslim communities. For more information about CAMCSI please visit the CAMCSI website - http://cams.unt.edu/about.html or contact Tiffany Floyd ([email protected]).

For the first time at the University of North Texas, Your Night, My Day will be displaying the result of this collaboration to the public, beginning March 22 until April 3 at UNT on the Square. A panel discussion with four of the artists will be held on March 22 , 10:45am- 12pm at the UNT-International Peace Conference: The Middle East, A New Era chaired by Dr. Nada Shabout, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of The Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI) http://international.unt.edu/unt- peace-conference.
For more information please contact: [email protected], [email protected]