Sharjah, Wednesday, October 19, 2011-- Several professors at the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) have recently had their work exhibited worldwide in a series of exhibitions.

Amir Berbic and George Katodrytis, associate professors at CAAD, along with AUS graduate Lamya Gargash, participated in Changing Stakes: Contemporary Art Dialogues with Dubai September 9-29 in Toronto, Canada. The exhibition featured works by eight international artists, examining Dubai's consumerism, urbanization and cultural history through art.

"The exhibition shows, for the first time, a fresh and innovative point of view of Dubai's development, away from the iconic imagery and through multiple and critical narratives relating to culture and history in the form of visual production," said Katodrytis.

According to curator Srimoyee Mitra, "The exhibition brings together eight artists from different parts of the world, whose work present new and innovative ways of understanding Dubai's meteoric rise over the last decade. They challenge fixed and stereotypical notions and develop a broader understanding of the region as one that is intrinsically connected to the processes of globalization and migration."

The exhibition measures the shifts in worldviews and subjectivities represented by the rise of Dubai and the Gulf region. Moving beyond polarizing clichés of Dubai's iconic architecture, the exhibition is a search for complex language to closely examine the city's urbanization, hyper-consumerism, massive immigration and the multiple narratives of social and cultural histories through artistic production. 

Another CAAD professor, Mark Pilkington, currently has his work "Roaming Images" exhibited at the Third Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art in Greece, which will run from September 18, 2011 until January 8, 2012.

"In my photographs I use myself as a protagonist who, in this latest work, confronts a number of landscape scenarios," said Pilkington. "The photographs are made as panoramas or as surreal mirrored images. The actions of the protagonist in the photographs could be read as heroic/stoic/romantic or futile in his endeavor to relate to the environment," he added.

The Christinex Art Gallery in Malta will also feature Pilkington's creations in a solo exhibition opening on November 10, where he will exhibit 20 examples of work made during his sabbatical from AUS. This will be followed by another solo exhibition on December 12 at the Tashkeel Gallery in Dubai.

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About AUS
American University of Sharjah (AUS) was founded in 1997 by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. The university was envisaged by His Highness as a leading educational institution in the Gulf region. Located in University City, Sharjah, AUS is a not-for-profit, independent, institution of higher education formed on the American model.

It offers 25 majors and 48 minors at the undergraduate level, and 13 master's degrees through the College of Architecture, Art and Design; College of Arts and Sciences; College of Engineering; and  School of Business and Management. These programs are designed to meet the challenges of a competitive and dynamic business and industrial environment.

As a provider of quality higher education in the Gulf, AUS has full approval in the United States by the Department of Education of the State of Delaware. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. AUS is also accredited by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and all undergraduate and graduate programs are recognized by the ministry. All six of the bachelor's degree programs in the AUS College of Engineering are accredited by ABET, Inc. of the United States. The Bachelor of Architecture program of the College of Architecture, Art and Design is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) of the United States. The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) as well as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degrees offered by the School of Business and Management are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

For more information, please contact:
Miriam Kiwan
Director of Strategic Communications and Media
+971 6 515 2212
mkiwan@aus.edu 

© Press Release 2011