When the region is variously clumped together as the "Middle East", "MENA" (Middle East and North Africa), the "Arab world", "Mediterranean rim" - either for practical purposes or for ideological reasons not completely devoid of neo-orientalist premises - the question arises as to how one is to map the state of affairs in a region that defies rigid geographical, religious, ethnic and cultural categorisation. Moreover, how can meaningful and horizontal artistic exchange on equal footing take place when scars from colonial pasts still mark the political and emotional landscape.

The last 15 years have offered new possibilities to Arab cultural operators, in artistic tools, legal incorporation, funding sources, international co-productions, etc. However, a constant phenomenon is the relative small sizes and uniform sociological make up of their consumers/audience: Members of the shrinking secular middle classes and/or of the Westernized elites.