This March, Ibraaz launched its public programme in partnership with Art Dubai. Dubbed Ibraaz Talks, this is a series of specially curated conversations with artists, curators and writers at Art Dubai. Each participant was invited to respond to a particular issue or keyword that they felt in some way addressed formal and conceptual issues affecting contemporary visual culture. In this discussion artist Shuruq Harb discusses the notion of agency. How can artists function as agents – how do they negotiate commitments, spaces, and ideologies? Do artists in the region boast a unique form of independence that allows for more complicated institutional structures to develop? Harb addresses the complicate territory that artists must occupy in an increasingly evolving artistic sphere.

Shuruq Harb is a visual artist and writer based in Ramallah, Palestine. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally. A Book of Signatures, a mixed media installation collected 250 signatures from different individuals named Mohammad in Palestine and was exhibited at Ikon Gallery, 2010, and Istanbul Biennial, 2011; All The Names, a public installation about Ramallah's street names was part of 'Wein ala Ramallah' Festival, 2011. She was a contributing editor to A Prior Magazine's latest issue 'Picasso in Palestine', she is also co-founder of ArtTerritories, an online publishing platform.