Mophradat

The name Mophradat is an (eccentric) transliteration of the Arabic word meaning vocabulary. Our name speaks to the uniqueness of individual elements in a collective, but also to the way in which brought together they generate shared meanings and understandings. *We recognize the Arab world as a loosely-defined geography that is called home by people of diverse ethnicities, gender identities, religions, ideologies, and languages. We think art is a place where confrontation with normativity and injustice can happen. We amplify outstanding stories and narratives coming from the Arab world to reach new audiences. We work with partners around the world to shift the language used to talk about art from the Arab world. We want it to be thoughtful and informative rather than tokenistic and promotional. We invite artists and publics to have meaningful encounters with art through experiments with different formats and sites of presentation. We work alongside the post-Arab Spring generation of artists, who carry forward its idealistic tenets, to make sure they can develop their practices and communities on their own terms. We make sure important collective conversations take place that might otherwise not happen. In all we do, we appreciate the disruptive potential of art from the Arab world, and aspire to interrupt the cycles of discrimination and privilege that slow it down.