Looking east

Rodchenko & Popova, Defining Constructivism at the Tate Modern Shah 'Abbas, The remaking of Iran and Babylon, Mith and Reality at the British Museum, About Byzantium 330–1453 at the Royal Academy of Arts and Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East at the Saatchi Gallery.

Five exhibitions on now in London offer an insight into Asian cultures.

Probably it is just a coincidence, but it is still a good opportunity to better understand or discover cultures apparently so far from us.

I wonder how people would have been positive about engaging a war against a country if they only had known a bit more about it.

This makes me think of Abidin Travels, installation made by Iraqi artist Adel Abidin for the Venice Biennale 2007, and about how much of the great cultural history of Iraq remains now.