Selected recent reviews, press articles, and interviews.
Iain Overton and Aya Wazaz, Review of Anthony Downey’s Keynote Decolonizing Artificial Intelligence (Action on Armed Violence), April 7 2023.

Review by Matt Barlow in Third Text of Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air, edited by Anthony Downey (Sternberg Press and The Power Plant, 2022). Interview with Anthony Downey, Delo National, Slovenia, April 8, 2023.

Orit Gat. Exhibition Review: Transmediale, “a model, a map, a fiction”, e-flux Criticism. “In the panel on “How an Image Matters,” theorist Anthony Downey discussed AI and military violence, and fleetingly described how algorithms “hallucinate”—that is, they see patterns where patterns do not exist.” Read full review here.

Exhibition Review: The Mosaic Rooms: Heba Y. Amin “When I See The Future, I Close My Eyes”, World Art Foundations. “This exhibition presents the latest iterations of three distinct and evolving bodies of work by the artist: Project Speak2Tweet, The General’s Stork and Operation Sunken Sea…”. To access review see here.

Stephanie Bailey. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin Brings Storks and Drones to London, Ocula. “In September 2013, a stork was captured in Qena, a small city in Upper Egypt. Carrying an electronic device on its back, Egyptian authorities suspected the animal of espionage…” Read full review here.

Ruba Hattar. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin – When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes- Solo Exhibit at the Mosaic Rooms in London, AlBawaba. “Throughout the exhibition, Amin conveys the ways in which the apparently regional politics of the Middle East, as evidenced in these projects, relate to broader global concerns about surveillance, dictatorships, and the emergence of digital authoritarianism…” Read full review here.

Nat Muller. Exhibition Review: Between the Eye of the Stork and the Eye of the Drone. “A lone stork soars in the sky to sentimental music. “Seeing the country from the top, is not like seeing it from below,” a man’s voice muses in Egyptian dialect. The dialogue is taken from Egyptian director Sherif Arafa’s film Birds of Darkness (1995), a comedy addressing ideology, corruption, abuse of power, and social injustice…” Read full review here.

Melissa Gronlund. Exhibition Review: Stranger Than Fiction: How Egyptian Artist Heba Amin Uses History’s Overlooked Stories, The National. “In the mid-19th century, French geographer Francois Roudaire suggested draining the Mediterranean Sea – as if it were a giant bathtub needing to be cleaned. The water would be diverted into the Sahara to make an inland sea, and by pushing the Arabs and Berbers further south…” To access review see here.

Review by Tom Snow of Critique in Practice , edited by Anthony Downey (Sternberg Press, 2019).

Maximiliane Leuschner. Exhibition Review: I Spy With My Little Eye: Maximiliane Leuschner on Heba Y. Amin at the Mosaic Rooms, London, Texte Zur Kunst. “Berlin-based artist Heba Y. Amin works across a broad range of media, creating meticulously researched installations that treat sensitively questions of colonialism, democracy, surveillance, and censorship…” Read full review here.

Matt Ross. Exhibition Review: Egyptian artist Heba Y. Amin wants you to question everything, Arab News. “For many artists, the final installation of an exhibition is the culmination of months or years of work — and the moment when their involvement in the artistic process, for the most part, comes to an end. But for Egyptian artist Heba Y. Amin…” Read full review here.

Hiba Mohamed. Exhibition Review: How Europe Used Surveillance to Command the Middle East, Frieze. “At the Mosaic Rooms in London, Heba Y. Amin traces colonial footprints in the Arab world through communication technologies…” To access review see here.

Gwen Burlington. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin: When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, Burlington Contemporary Journal. “Heba Y. Amin’s first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom, When I see the future, I close my eyes, explores themes central to current global political debate: censorship, surveillance and democracy. Held at The Mosaic Rooms, London, the show focuses on the geopolitical context of Egypt and the Middle East…” Read full review here.

Lucy Rogers. Book Review: Books That Rocked Our World in 2020, C4 Journal. “Amin explores a bird-eye view of military technology through the true tale of a migratory stork detained for espionage by the Egyptian authorities…” To access review see here.

Alex Merola. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin: When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, 1000 Words. “Alex Merola examines Heba Y. Amin’s investigation into the ubiquitous shadow of surveillance that prevails over the Middle East, giving rise to the fear of the skies above…” Read full review here.

Symposium: Anthony Downey in conversation with Edmund Clarke, IKON Gallery, Birmingham, February 12, 2018. Bringing together artists, therapists, critics and criminologists, the symposium will consider how prisoners and the criminal justice system are perceived by the public, politicians and media and the potential for artists to influence these perceptions.

Rijuta Mehta. Book Review: Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Duke University Press Volume 14, Number 3, November 2018, pp. 348-350. “We are literally in need of archives,” declares Hela Ammar, a Tunisian visual artist and “self-described militant feminist.” Ammar’s statement, published in March 2014 on the multilingual research forum Ibraaz, is one among many declarations about archive formation after the Arab Spring …” To access review see here:

Rawan Sharaf Khatib, Book Review: Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East, ed. by Anthony Downey, Third Text, April 2018.This volume is an extensive anthology that investigates the history and current politics of cultural institutions and production in the Middle East. It is the latest addition to the series ‘Visual Culture in the Middle East’…” Read full review here.

Katarzyna Falęcka, Book Review: Journal of Arabian Studies, September, 2017, Anthony Downey, ed., Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East.  “Composed of nearly thirty essays and interviews, edited by Anthony Downey, and published at a time when political turmoil marginalizes the role of culture in many parts of the region, this volume considers the potentialities for rethinking cultural institutions from within crisis…” Link to book.
Sara Callahan, Book Review: Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History, Volume 86, 2017, Anthony Downey, ed., Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East. “Dissonant Archives … highlights the radical political potential of artists practices … The archive is treated as a complex and multi faceted notion; and a strength of the publication is that most of the discussions are anchored in concrete examples”. Link to Book. Paula Sequeiros, Book Review: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, no. 114, 2017, Downey, Anthony (org.) (2015), Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East. “Promessa e responsabilidade pelo amanhã são palavras-chave na introdução assinada por Anthony Downey a esta coletânea, citando Mal d’archive de Jacques Derrida …” Link to Book. Verena Straub, Book Review: Recensio: Review Platform for European History, Vol. 17; Nr. 9. Anthony Downey (ed.): Future Imperfect. Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East . ‘Der Sammelband Future Imperfect. Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East beginnt mit einer eher düsteren Bestandsaufnahme der institutionellen Kulturlandschaft im Nahen Osten. In seiner Einleitung wählt Herausgeber Anthony Downey deutliche Worte…” Link to book. Lama Suleiman, Book Review: Tohu Magazine, August, 2017, Anthony Downey, ed., Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East. “The collection offers valuable analyses and detailed research-oriented knowledge of the workings of culture and its underlying socio-political circumstances in the Arab world…” Link to book. Susanna D’Aliesio, Book Review: British Journal of Photography,  June 2017, Art, Justice and Terror Conference, Imperial War Museum, London. “In the last four months there have been four separate terrorist attacks in the UK: against this backdrop, the Imperial War Museum London and London College of Communications symposium Art, Justice and Terror on 17 June came at a vital time…” Angela Harutyunyan, Book Review: Hyperallergic, May 2017, Anthony Downey, ed., Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East. “The ambitious volume Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East in many ways responds to the post-1990s archive fever, but from a specific geographic locale…” Link to Book. Gareth Harris, NEWS: The Art Newspaper, March 2017, New Professorial position dedicated to contemporary art and culture of Middle East.  “BCU has created the position to address the fact that there is currently no postgraduate programme offering degrees in the field of visual culture in the Middle East. The idea is to create a globally significant research cluster for postgraduates and PhD research students to study visual culture in the Middle East at BCU, in partnership with other organisations based in the [Middle East] region …” Anon. Book Review: Monocle, March 2017. Review of Anthony Downey, ed., Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East. “The complexities of the Middle East can befuddle the most experienced pundits. So for a bit of context about the health of the arts there, this compendium of essays explores how the dust has settled after a series of revolutions that rocked the region – and what these shifts might mean for the Middle East’s complex but simmering art scene…” Link to book. Christopher M. Laico, Book Review: American Archivist, Fall/Winter 2016, Anthony Downey, ed., Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East. “The late Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) asserted that you can tell whether a man is clever by his answers and wise by his questions. In Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East, academic, writer, and editor Anthony Downey presents the writings, interviews, and original artwork of acclaimed academics, curators, activists, filmmakers, and artists. By turns clever and at all points wise, these practitioners have produced work that not only creatively engages the heterogeneity of archived cultural production across the Arab world, but also astutely posits important questions for archival science…”  Link to Book. Alan Cruickshank, Interview: Di’van Journal, December 2016, Future Imperfect: Interview with Anthony Downey.
“Over the course of the last five years or so, which have witnessed unprecedented turmoil in the region, it is all the more notable, moreover, how state agencies have become more emboldened in their outright distrust of cultural producers and the institutions they represent…” Ingrid Perbal, Interview: Qantara Journal, Paris, 20 July 2016, Interview with Anthony Downey.
“Les nouvelles technologies ont offert des opportunités de développement étonnantes aux artistes du monde arabe. Anthony Downey revient sur la plate-forme de réflexion en ligne Ibraaz lancée il y a cinq ans et dont il est le rédacteur en chef.” Interview by Daniel Ingrid Perbal (translated byJeanne Bouniort), p.15-16. Akomfrah, John, “John Akomfrah in Conversation with Anthony Downey”, Arnolfini Arts, Bristol.16 January 2016. To coincide with the UK premiere of John Akomfrah’s acclaimed video installation Vertigo Sea, the artist will be in conversation with academic, editor and writer, Anthony Downey. Daniel Lippitsch, Interview: Keen On Magazine, 18 July 2016, Interview with Anthony Downey.
“Daniel Lippitsch discussed with academic and critic Anthony Downey the current relationship between art and politics and how this relationship claims its validity in this extraordinarily fast-paced and globally connected world, without losing its significance…” Review: The Society for Contemporary Thought and the Islamicate World, 03 May 2016. Review of Anthony Downey, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East. “Uncommon Grounds is ultimately not only an engaging read but also a powerful plea to relevant academic disciplines to expand the lens through which we read the intellectual, political, and social histories of the Middle East. The book is a must read for students of the region and of media and visual cultures…” Review by Hanan Toukan, 2016. Link to book. Review: Anthony Downey, ed., Slavs and Tatars in Art Asia Pacific, Almanac 2016.
“Quotes from Kutadgu Bilig in Uighur line the edge of pages along with their Arabic, German, Polish, Turkish and English translations. Elsewhere are images of Slavs and Tatars’s pun-fueled interactive exhibitions, along with essays from academics and curators.”  Review by Simon Frank, p. 236. Link to book. Review: Anthony Downey, ed., Dissonant Archives in Art Asia Pacific, Almanac 2016.
“How should the relationship between contemporary art and the archive be defined and negotiated? What purpose does the archive serve? These and other questions are probed through writings and artworks by filmmakers, artists, curators and writers in Dissonant Archives…” Review by Denise Tsui, p. 237. Link to Book. Review: Anthony Downey, Art and Politics Now in E-International Relations, 22 February 2016.
“Anthony Downey’s Art and Politics Now is an immediately visually attractive book from the shelf. Its richly illustrated content provides a survey of contemporary art practices which address ‘the political’ and the real world as a frontier in the expanding sphere of contemporary art.” Link to book. Eric Baudelaire. “Event Horizon: Eric Baudelaire in conversation with Anthony Downey.” Interview by Anthony Downey. Ibraaz. Ibraaz, 29 October, 2015.  Visual artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire talks to Anthony Downey about the themes of disjunction, the real, and the representation of the ‘event’ in his work. Tracing the development of his career from the social sciences to the field of art, as inspired by his time in the de facto state of Abkhazia, Baudelaire describes the convergence of his different interests in sound, image, oral history, and the unpacking and problematizing of historical narratives. Performative Resonances: Hiwa K in conversation with Anthony Downey and Amal Khalaf, 30 July 2015. Hiwa K’s work fundamentally interrogates the position of the artist, formal education systems and the resonances, both literally and aurally, of historical events. In this far ranging conversation, Hiwa reflects upon his most recent work The Bell (2007–2015) and previous performances.  Highlighting how his use of sound – a primal, organic medium of direct engagement and influence – produces performative acts and explaining how he utilizes humour to reinvigorate the friction of reality; and how, as an ‘extellectual’, he is challenging the standardized notions of artistic knowledge production. Link to interview. Review: A Necessary Dialogue: JAOU Tunis 2015 in Kalimat Magazine, 14 June 2015.
Review of the JAOU Tunis 2015 conference at the Musée du Bardo, hosted by Anthony Downey. “‘Art should bring people together’, he [Sultan Al-Qassemi] noted, and it is in articulation of this simple yet profound aspiration where JAOU 2015 has arguably most succeeded.” Review: JAOU Tunis uses art and culture as a retort to extremism, 1 June 2015.
Review of the JAOU Tunis 2015 conference at the Musée du Bardo, hosted by Anthony Downey. “Earlier this year, the third edition of Jaou Tunis – an annual arts symposium held in the Tunisian capital – was set to take place at The National Bardo Museum as a fairly low-key affair. But when gunmen stormed the building on March 18 and killed 21 people, festival organisers decided to fight back with their strongest weapon: arts and culture.” Review: Anthony Downey, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa H-AMCA, H-Net Reviews, May 2015.Sascha Crasnow. Review of Downey, Anthony, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. H-AMCA, H-Net Reviews. May, 2015. Link to book. Review: Anthony Downey, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Afric in The Art Newspaper, 1 May 2015. The essays, based on experiences of the revolutionary changes, are varied in their levels of objectivity and clarity, but they have been well edited by an experienced academic, Anthony Downey. Link to book. Slavs and Tatars. “Mirrors for Princes: Anthony Downey and Beatrix Ruf in conversation with Slavs and Tatars” Interview by Anthony Downey and Beatrix Ruf. Ibraaz. 11 March 2015. Anthony Downey: If I understand correctly, the genre of ‘Mirrors for Princes’ involves a form of political writing or advisory literature for future rulers on matters both secular and spiritual. Review: Anthony Downey, Art and Politics Now in Art Review Asia, Spring 2015.
Anthony Downey’s illustrated, themed analysis of political artworks from the past 15 years provides an accessible snapshot of the different ways in which artist are currently engaging with and responding to socioeconomic issues… Downey’s ability to contextualise a range of artistic approaches within such a pacey format makes this both a useful reference and an enjoyable read. p.111. Review: Transnational Cinema Review of Anthony Downey, ed.,Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, 10 April 2015.
“…it [Uncommon Grounds] not only sheds light on a complex moment of aesthetic, social and political post- Arab Spring transition, but also provides leads as to how this rugged laboratory’s results can illumine the struggles and semiotic tangles of other politics of location far from its own.” Review by Jay Murphy, 2015. Link to book. New Texts Out Now: Anthony Downey, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa in Jadaliyya, 4 March 2015.
In an interview with Jadaliyya Anthony Downey (Ed.) speaks about the motivations behind, the content of, and aims of the recently published essay collection Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East. Link to book. Oscar Guardiola-Rivera in conversation with Anthony Downey, 28 May 2014. In March 2014, Ibraaz and the Kamel Lazaar Foundation launched an online media partnership with Art Dubai 2014 for the eighth iteration of the Global Art Forum. In this exclusive interview from Art Dubai, Ibraaz Editor-in-Chief Anthony Downey speaks to Oscar Guardiola-Rivera about governments and the processes behind revising historical timelines. Link to interview.  Best of 2014: Our Top 10 Art Books, Hyperallergic, 31 December 2014.
Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East, edited by Anthony Downey, acclaimed as the best art book of 2014. Link to book. Review: Anthony Downey, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa on LSE Blog, 7 December 2014.
Arek Dakessian reviews the essay collection Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East, edited by Anthony Downey. Link to book. Review: Anthony Downey, ed., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa in Kalimat, 5 November 2014.
Wided Khadraoui reviews the essay collection Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East, edited by Anthony Downey. Link to book. The Monocle Weekly, Monocle Radio, 2 November 2014.
Anthony Downey speaks to Monocle Radio about his recently published book, Art and Politics now.  7 questions for Ibraaz’s Anthony Downey, I.B.Tauris Blog, 10 October 2014.
I.B.Tauris, publishers of Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in the Middle East and North Africa spoke with Anthony Downey (Ed.) about the origins of Ibraaz, the forum’s mission and what can be expected from the future volumes in the series.