Hamid Keshmirshekan is an art historian, art critic and Senior Teaching Fellow at the Department of History of Art and Archaeology, School of Arts, SOAS, University of London and Research Associate/Barakat Senior Scholar at the Khalili Research Centre, Oxford University. His interests are twentieth and twentieth-first century art from the MENA, revisiting existing historiographical questions pertaining to modern and contemporary art from the region, and in particular the association of this art with “global” art history. Of particular relevance are the recent developments in art practice and its relationship to context, the impact of globalisation and transnational cultural and social links.
He was previously Senior Lecturer and head of History of Art department at the Advanced Research Institute of Art (ARIA), Iranian Academy of Arts (2013-17), Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute (2013-2019), Associate Fellow at the Faculty of Oriental Studies and History of Art Department at Oxford University (2004-12) and Chief Editor of the quarterly Art Tomorrow – the bilingual (English-Persian) journal on modern and contemporary art of the Middle East and its diaspora (2009-13). He received his PhD in History of Art from SOAS, University of London in 2004 and was post-doctoral fellow at KRC, Oxford University supported by the Barakat Trust (2004-5, 2011-13) and the British Academy, AHRC and ESRC (2008-9).
Since 1994 Dr Keshmirshekan has taught art history and theory in British and Iranian universities, has organised several international conferences and events on aspects of modern and contemporary art of Iran and the Middle East, has acted as a keynote speaker in museums and academic conferences, has curated a number of contemporary art exhibitions and has contributed extensively to various publications. His latest publications include “Humorous Art Practices in the Contemporary Middle East: Reacting to Cultural Stereotyping”, (forthcoming-2021),”Cultural Essentialism in the Context of Neo-Orientalism: The Exposure of Contemporary Art Practices from the Middle East” (2019), Kankashi dar Hunar-i mu’asir-i iran (Contemporary Iranian Art), 2nd edition (2017), Contemporary Art from the Middle East: Regional Interactions with Global Art Discourses (ed.) (2015).
