This course has been created in response to the growing demand for a critical engagement with major historical, conceptual, theoretical, and aesthetic issues that inform the region’s contemporary visual culture. Arranged thematically, the course begins by addressing key points of terminology, i.e., the problematic use of such terms as “the Middle East”, “Arab Culture” or “Contemporary Islamic Art”, and ends by introducing the students to the most recent phenomena within the regional art scene and visual culture such as post-Arab Spring and the globalization of the art world. Reflecting on recent exhibitions and curatorial projects, both in the region and outside of it, the course also considers issues surrounding the politics of representation and the production of knowledge. The course explores how the questions of tradition and modernity, local and global, political and personal are navigated within the visual culture and art through the choice of subject matter and media. The proposed themes and concepts are examined by means of visual analysis and close interrogation of visual cultural artefacts and exhibitions selected by both teachers and students.