“Creative Dialogues” Connecting UOB Students and Elite Global Artists & Designers

‘University of Bahrain students collaborated with artists and designers to create online creative dialogues.

Launched in 2017, the “Creative Dialogues” lecture series is a core component of the “Graphic Design Seminar” and “Issues in Contemporary Art” courses. It serves as a unique dialogue platform, enabling students to interact directly with prominent artists and designers from across the Arab world and internationally.

These sessions are held either in person at leading art spaces in the Kingdom, such as “Al-Riwaq,” “Akkas Gallery,” ” Link Atelier,” “Mashq Art Space” and the “Contemporary Art Association,” or virtually when the artist resides outside of Bahrain. The students themselves are responsible for organizing and managing these meetings. Every session is documented on a dedicated YouTube channel to preserve its intellectual legacy and ensure it reaches the widest possible audience.

To date, over 200 dialogue sessions have been held with 200 artists and designers. These encounters have provided rich material for academic work. Following each session, students transform the valuable content into written chapters. These have been compiled into a forthcoming book that features the students’ contributions alongside the insights and experiences of the featured artists and designers. This publication is set to be a new addition to Arab art libraries.

This initiative represents a unique model of applied education. It goes beyond merely transferring knowledge; it creates a space for constructive dialogue and the exchange of experiences, helps students build professional networks, and contributes to the documentation of the contemporary art movement both locally and within the Arab world.

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