Arabpop / 2

In this panorama of transformation, the question of the future - understood both as a space and time to be inhabited and as a horizon under construction - emerges in all its urgency.

Although with different intensities, at any latitude the present is marked by violence and global crises that make everyday life suffocating in a seemingly unavoidable way. Conflicts, pandemics and environmental crises are just some of the elements which, with their pervasiveness, force us to deal with the prospect of global collapse, aggravated in the Arab region by precarious political contexts, repression and inequalities.

Thinking about the future, however, can create a space for escape and emancipation from the present, in which to trace alternative possibilities and imagine new forms of life in common. What ideas of the future emerge in the works of intellectuals, artists and artists from Arab countries and in diaspora? How do art and culture become tools to oppose the frustration of a future dreamed of and then denied? From dark dystopias to crazy utopianisms, from science fiction futures or metaphorical reconstructions to concrete practices of emancipation from the legacies of the past, for this issue we are looking for contributions that tell how Arab art and culture are trying today to articulate the tension between apocalyptic realities and desire for the future through new narratives capable of dragging humanity beyond a suffocating and alienating present.

 

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Arabpop is a magazine focused on contemporary arts and literature in Arab countries, reflecting on the cultural shifts following the Arab uprisings in 2011. It showcases original works by Arab artists and writers, aiming to engage a diverse audience through clear and accessible language, covering a wide range of cultural topics.