Daily from 3pm – 7pm except on Sundays
Opening: Saturday April 17, 5pm, with readings by Bidoun
contributing editors and writers Shumon Basar, Wael Lazkani and more, plus a conversation with the comics’ collective Samandal.
Debate: Saturday May 8, 5pm, with a panel including Abboudi Abou Jaoude of Al-Furat Publishers.
The Bidoun Library & Project Space is a collection of artists’books, magazines, journals, monographs, exhibition catalogues, rare books and related ephemera mapping contemporary art practices and the evolution of various arts scenes in and around the Middle East.
Created by Bidoun Projects, the library is an itinerant resource that gathers as it travels. The point of the library is not to be comprehensive but rather curatorial. For each iteration of the library, Bidoun asks artists, collectives, arts organizations and independent publishers to add carefully selected materials to the library that reflect their interests, histories and,on occasion,obsessions. The result is an idiosyncratic archive of printed matter that is constantly evolving and ever changing. The dynamic of the library is such that along the way it also raises key questions about collecting, archiving and the fetishizing of certain practices and materials.
In addition to core materials collected by Bidoun over the past five years, the library to date includes curated selections by Ashkal Alwan and the Arab Image Foundation, alongside a treasure trove of influential comic books and magazines selected by the comics’collective Samandal, and a wonderful cache of artists’ books chosen by the artist Banu Cennetoglu, founder of the Istanbul-based independent publisher BAS.
Beyond printed matter, the library also includes programs of music and sound projects, curated by Hassan Khan and Tiffany Malakooti and presented on dedicated iPod listening stations.
The Bidoun Library & Project Space debuted at Abu Dhabi Art in November 2009, in a pop-up space designed by the UAE-based design firm traffic. In March 2010, it traveled to Art Dubai, where Bidoun Projects was the fair’s curatorial partner. Now the library has arrived in Beirut, where it is being hosted by the 98 Weeks Project Space in Mar Mikhael from April 17 through May 15, 2010.
The third appearance of the library coincides with the launch of 98 Weeks’ new research project on avant-garde journals and popular magazines stemming from moments of modernity in the Arab world. 98 Weeks’ collection of publications will be on permanent display at the 98 Weeks Project Space. As an ongoing research project, it will develop thematic approaches over time, and involve workshops,readings and discussions on the gathered material.
The library is presented in partnership with Abu Dhabi Art. Bidoun would also like to acknowledge the support of the Emirates Foundation, the Bohen Foundation and the Foundation for Arts Initiatives.
Special thanks to 961 for providing refreshments for the opening.
The 98 Weeks Project Space is open daily from 3pm to 7pm, except on Sundays.
For more information on the Beirut leg of the library, please contact Marwa Arsanios (+961 3 417 321), Mirene Arsanios (+961 70 802 522) or Antonia Carver (+971 50 454 6051)
//For a PDF of the catalogue listing all of the materials in the Bidoun Library to date, please visit www.bidoun.com//
