Too Early, Too Late: Middle East and Modernity

Texts by Marco Scotini, Hamadi Redissi. Also features an interview with Jean-Marie Straub by Céline Condorelli

Showcasing 60 artists and more than 100 works from major Italian private collections, the exhibition “Too Early, Too Late: Middle East and Modernity” examines the relationship between the East and Western modernity. Starting from 1798, when Bonaparte and his army landed in Egypt, the project focuses on the contemporary artistic scene, alternating original documents and archive material with art installations, photographs and films to mark key cultural, political and societal events in the progressive westernization of the East – from the introduction of the “nation-state” to the spectacular museums created in the Arab Emirates. This publication accompanies the exhibition, presenting an interview with Jean-Marie Straub by artist Céline Condorelli about the film from which the show takes its name, together with a text by exhibition curator Marco Scotini, an essay by political scholar Hamadi Redissi, and myriad contributions from artists that explore different views of the relationship to Modernity.