The Arabic Design Library: Series on Arab Design Pioneers

Presentations, Panel Discussion, and Book launches of 4 titles from Khatt Books' "Arabic Design Library"
In English and Arabic, Free Admission

Join us for a presentation and panel discussion, followed by the launch of  the fourbooks of the series:
Yasmine Nachabe Taan’s, Hilmi al-Tuni: Evoking Popular Arab Culture (Arabic Design Library 1), &  Abdulkader Arnaout: Designing as Visual Poetry, (Arabic Design Library 3), Yara Khoury Nammour's, Nasri Khattar: A Modernist Typotecht (Arabic Design Library 2), and Lina Hakim’s Dia al-Azzawi. Taking a Stand: Activism Through Graphic Design (Arabic Design Library 4).

Moderated by publisher and editor Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, the panel will feature presentations by authors Yasmine Nachabe Taan and Lina Hakim.

The panel discussion will be followed by a book signing and refreshments.

Each book presents the works and the pioneering role of the respective designer in the propagation of a modern Arab visual culture. The books presents unpublished new research and rich historical facts and critical analysis of cultural production in the late 1960s to late 1980s. Both the Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi and the Syrian designer Abdulkader Arnaout are renown but their graphic design work is largely undocumented. The Arabic Design Library series of concise monographs on inspiring design achievements from the Arab region, highlights the work of prominent Arab typographers, graphic designers and illustrators. This series establishes a visual record of Arab design history of the 20th century, and paves the way for critical writing, by Arab authors, on design from the region.

Program

5:00—7:00: presentations and panel discussion at the lecture hall of Pages Bookstore Cafe (2nd Fl).
7:00—9:00: book signing and refreshments at Pages Bookstore Cafe.

The speakers

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is the Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation and Khatt Books. Based in Amsterdam, her professional, cultural, and educational activities extend from the US, to Europe and the Arab World. She holds a PhD from Leiden University, an MFA from Yale University, and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She is a member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale). She specializes in multilingual typographic research and design, and has published several books on this topic. She is author of Arabic Typography: a comprehensive sourcebook (Saqi Books, London, 2001), Experimental Arabic Type (Saatchi & Saatchi, Dubai, 2002), Typographic Matchmaking (BIS Publishers, Amsterdam 2007), Typographic Matchmaking in the City (Khatt Books, Amsterdam 2011), and Arabic Type Design for Beginners (Khatt Books, Amsterdam 2013), and a number of book chapters and essays on multilingual communication and contemporary design in the Middle East. She contributes articles on design in the Middle East to academic journals and industry magazines like Baseline, Bidoun, Design Issues, and others. She specializes in bilingual typographic research and design. She curates exhibitions, organizes collaborative design research projects between Europe and the Middle East, and is editor of the Khatt Foundation online network of Arab/Middle Eastern designers (www.khtt.net). She has worked as a designer for a number of years, in the US, Europe and the Arab World. She has taught typography and graphic design at the American University of Beirut. She was the Chair of the Visual Communication Department for three years at the American University in Dubai. She currently supervises research of PhD candidates at Leiden University’s Arts Program and works as a design curator, writer, designer, and publisher.

Yasmine Nachabe Taan is associate professor and chair of the department of art and design at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. She holds a PhD in Art History and Communications Studies from McGill University. Her research focuses on gender representation, design, media, photography and visual culture in the Middle East and North Africa. She publishes on visual culture in a number of international journals. She has illustrated more than 20 children’s books and has participated in a number of residencies in Berlin, Cairo, Beirut and Bratislava. Her artwork has been exhibited in New York, Berlin and Beirut. She is the author of Hilmi al-Tuni, Evoking Popular Arab Culture (Khatt Books, 2014) and Adbelkader Arnaout: Designing as Visual Poetry (Khatt Books, 2017).

Lina Hakim (b. 1979 in Beirut) is a London-based researcher, designer and artist. She is currently lecturer in Visual and Material Culture at Kingston University, London and has recently held an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Lina holds a BA in Graphic Design (American University of Beirut, 2001), an MA in Book Arts (Camberwell College of Arts, 2004) and an MRes and PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies (London Consortium, Birkbeck, University of London 2009; 2013). Her doctoral thesis was titled ‘Scientific Playthings: Artefacts, Affordance, History’. She is the author of Dia al-Azzawi. Taking a Stand: Activism Through Graphic Design (Khatt Books, 2017).

Books that have appeared so far in the Arabic Design Library series

Abdulkader Arnaout: Designing as Visual Poetry
Author: Yasmine Nachabe Taan
Publisher: Khatt Books, Amsterdam
Series: Arabic Design Library 1
ISBN 978-94-90939-05-2
176 p, ills colour, 17 x 24 cm, Hardback, English & Arabic
€ 29,50

Nasri Khattar: A Modernist Typotect
Author: Yara Khoury Nammour
Publisher: Khatt Books, Amsterdam
Series: Arabic Design Library 2
ISBN 978-94-90939-06-9
176 p, ills colour, 17 x 24 cm, Hardback, English & Arabic
€ 29,50

Abdulkader Arnaout: Designing as Visual Poetry
Author: Yasmine Nachabe Taan
Publisher: Khatt Books, Amsterdam
Series: Arabic Design Library 3
ISBN 978-94-90939-11-3
176 p, ills colour, 17 x 24 cm, Hardback, English & Arabic
€ 29,50

Dia al-Azzawi. Taking a Stand: Activism Through Graphic Design
Author: Lina Hakim
Publisher: Khatt Books, Amsterdam
Series: Arabic Design Library 4
ISBN 978-94-90939-12-0
176 p, ills colour, 17 x 24 cm, Hardback, English & Arabic
€ 29,50

For more information please visit the official site of Khatt Books at:
www.khattbooks.com