About the conference

Our current era is characterised by the abundance of documentation methods for people’s daily life, and equally so the rapid transmission and circulation of this information. Eleven years ago, Syrians raised up and moved to change the regime in order to make a better society and life in the country. From the very onset, the Syrian revolution was distinguished by the fact that images and information were abundantly received daily and from different places across the country, as Syrians were using everything available to document every moment of the revolution and the conflict that followed its beginning. With the regime’s defeat of the revolution inside Syria, it is adamant that we continue to reflect on the stakes of Syria’s future. Today, Syrians are thinking about the future of Syria, and address this pertinent issue in art, literature and documentation. Important questions to engage are: how does the future of Syria register in different forms of expression? What kinds of futures are realistic and to be aspired for, and how does the variegated conversation on Syria allow for keeping hold of what happened in building towards a new future? How can we benefit from these images and documents to build the future, and how can artists, writers, and those involved in documenting people’s daily moments contribute to this conversation?