Naima Morelli

Published! Contemporary Istanbul and the Biennale for Qantara

01-11-2025

English, Essay, Interview, Middle East, News, Published, Reportage, Research

Zwei Personen stehen in einem Korridor, mit dem Rücken zueinander, und betrachten Gemälde, die an den Wänden hängen.

The art world came to Turkey in September for two high-profile events: Contemporary Istanbul and the 18th Istanbul Biennial. Against a backdrop of political crisis and growing censorship, organisers and artists found creative ways to stay relevant. I wrote the article for Qantara.

Published! Contemporary Art in the Baltics for Observer

13-10-2025

Collection, English, Europe, Europe, Interview, News, Published, Reportage

An installation in a raw concrete industrial space displays several large video screens showing people lying in bed, arranged down a long, dimly lit corridor.

In regions like Latvia, where audiences aren’t saturated with contemporary art, you don’t need cynicism or irony,” says Payam of artist collective Slavs and Tatars. “That makes it possible to present pieces that are both aesthetically strong and politically charged, and the audience receives them without the defensive distance you might find elsewhere.

I wrote the article for Observer

Published! Interview with Tanya Trabulsi for Hadara

Here is the link to the interview

07-10-2025

English, Interview, Middle East, Published, Research

Themes of memory, belonging, and identity are recurring motifs in Traboulsi’s work. Born in 1976, a year after the start of Lebanon’s civil war, her family fled the country in 1983 to the safety of Austria, her mother’s home country. But a longing for Lebanon remained.

“When my family left Beirut, we left by ferry. I watched the city slowly disappear, a thin stretch of buildings retreating on the horizon getting farther and farther across the sea.”

That image stayed with her for 13 years, inspiring the title of her photo series, Beirut, Recurring Dream. “Years later, I took that photo. It’s in my book,” she says. “It was exactly how I remembered it.”

I have interviewed the artist for Hadara.

Published! Almaty’s Contemporary Art Museum for Times of Central Asia

07-10-2025

Central Asia, English, Essay, News, Published

An exterior view of the Almaty Museum of Arts shows its angular limestone facade with rust-colored accents against a blue sky.

Private collections and individual visionaries are driving Kazakhstan’s cultural renaissance in the absence of major state investment. I wrote the story for the Observer.

Published! Almaty Museum of Arts on Times of Central Asia

Here is the link to the article

18-09-2025

Central Asia, English, Essay, Interview, News, Published

My latest story for Times of Central Asia, is about the inauguration of the Almaty Museum of Arts, which represents a decisive step in shaping Kazakhstan’s art system.

As the country’s first large-scale contemporary art museum, it houses over 700 works collected across three decades, offering a panoramic view of modern Kazakh art while opening pathways to Central Asian and international dialogues.

Published! 24 ore a Marsiglia on IFDM

18-09-2025

English, Europe, France, Italiano, News, Published, Visit

Centro storico, porto di Marsiglia e Basilica di Notre-Dame de la Garde - Photo © Iurii Dzivinskyi

Interior Forniture and Design Magazine has published my latest article (in Italian with an English translation), a guide to my favourite city, Marseille.

Published! Singapore’s Utopia of Rules on Mekong Review

05-08-2025

English, Published, Reportage, Review, Singapore

My review of the show “The Utopia of Rules”, which I saw at the Singapore Art Week at the beginning of the year, has been published in the latest issue of Mekong Review.

Published! Cleopatra at the Paris Arab World Institute exhibition for The New Arab

14-07-2025

English, Interview, Middle East, News, North Africa, Published

There are historical characters that are no longer themselves. They become archetypes and symbols for us to project upon. Cleopatra is one such character.

The Mystery of Cleopatra, a newly opened exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, investigates this very aspect of the Egyptian queen.

Drawing on historical sources that retrace who Cleopatra was, the exhibition examines what she has been made to represent — and how her story might now be told differently.

I interviewed the exhibition’s curator for The New Arab.

Published! Helsinki Biennial on the Observer

27-06-2025

Collection, English, Europe, Published, Reportage, Visit

An outdoor sculpture by Gunzi Holmström shows a mushroom-shaped form with a dome-like cap painted with orange geometric patterns and four curved tentacle-like legs, installed on a grassy clearing among trees at the 2025 Helsinki Biennial on Vallisaari Island.

The 2025 Helsinki Biennial delivers in the sense that it unfolds in the moment and strives for harmony, but do we really want art to affect us so imperceptibly that it’s ultimately like nothing ever happened?

I wrote my review of the Biennial for the Observer.

Published! Review of Bagus Pandega and Kei Imazu’s Artificial Green on Artforum

Here is the link to the review

02-05-2025

English, Indonesia, News, Published, Review

A painted green and blue wall with dripping effects, depicting tropical plants and foliage, intersected by a metal structural frame on the right.

Very proud to have my first review in Artforum. This is a review of the installation Artificial Green by Nature Green 4.0 at the 2024 Bangkok Art Biennale by artists Bagus Pandega and Kei Imazu’s.

The work cyclically generated and erased images of a lush Indonesian rainforest, like Penelope repeatedly weaving and unraveling her shroud.

Published! Simurgh Self-Help by Slavs and Tatars’ on Times of Central Asia