What if no painting were flat? What if artists developed works around formlessness as well as form? How could Syria’s images be used, and by whom? This talk, which is based on research Anneka Lenssen conducted for her recent book, Beautiful Agitation: Modern Painting and Politics in Syria (UC Press, 2020), explores the multidimensional models of painting active in Syrian art throughout the twentieth century. The talk highlights examples of dissident theories of the image that emphasize distributed presence, including “unformed” paintings by Syrian modernist Fateh al-Moudarres (1922-1999) and their critique of the European academy’s self-centered narratives of innovation. It explores as well recent work by the film collective Abounaddara on “artisanal” cinema, a notion defining a filmmaker’s practice not by its format (projections and screens) so much as its reflexive relationship between formal skills and social needs.