New Museum (5th Floor)
August 4 — September 26, 2010
235 Bowery
New York, NY
The Bidoun Library Project at the New Museum is a highly partial account of five decades of printed matter in, near, about, and around the Middle East. Arrayed along these shelves are pulp fictions and propaganda, monographs and guidebooks, and pamphlets and periodicals, on subjects ranging from the oil boom to the Dubai bust, the Cold War to the hot pant, Pan-Arabs to Black Muslims, revolutionaries to royals, and Orientalism to its opposites.
Most of the 700-odd titles on display were acquired specifically for this exhibition. The shape of the collection was dictated primarily by search terms on the World Wide Web rather than any intrinsic notion of aptness or excellence. Searching for “Arab,” “paperback,” “1970s,” and “<$3,” we acquired dozens of books about the Oil Crisis, the cruel love of the Sheikh, and the lifestyles of the nouveau riche. A similar search for “Iran” produced its own set of types and stereotypes. We did not set out to find the best books about, say, the Iranian revolution; in a sense, we looked for the worst. Or, rather, we tried to look at what was there.
The result is less a coherent group of titles or texts than an assortment of books as things, sorted roughly into four themes or units. Catalogues hang from the ceiling in front of each shelf cluster. Inside is a documentation of a selection of books from that shelf, in dialogue with excerpted texts and images from the library as a whole.
The Bidoun Library includes a program of Iranian film, video, and television culled from low-fidelity DVDs and VHS tapes that circulate among Iranians in the Diaspora. The selection includes post-revolutionary variety shows, music videos, and other totems of middlebrow—unibrow?—culture. This is an Iranian cinema unlikely to be shown at Lincoln Center.
New Museum (5th Floor)
August 4 — September 26, 2010
235 Bowery
New York, NY
The Bidoun Library Project at the New Museum is a highly partial account of five decades of printed matter in, near, about, and around the Middle East. Arrayed along these shelves are pulp fictions and propaganda, monographs and guidebooks, and pamphlets and periodicals, on subjects ranging from the oil boom to the Dubai bust, the Cold War to the hot pant, Pan-Arabs to Black Muslims, revolutionaries to royals, and Orientalism to its opposites.
Most of the 700-odd titles on display were acquired specifically for this exhibition. The shape of the collection was dictated primarily by search terms on the World Wide Web rather than any intrinsic notion of aptness or excellence. Searching for “Arab,” “paperback,” “1970s,” and “<$3,” we acquired dozens of books about the Oil Crisis, the cruel love of the Sheikh, and the lifestyles of the nouveau riche. A similar search for “Iran” produced its own set of types and stereotypes. We did not set out to find the best books about, say, the Iranian revolution; in a sense, we looked for the worst. Or, rather, we tried to look at what was there.
The result is less a coherent group of titles or texts than an assortment of books as things, sorted roughly into four themes or units. Catalogues hang from the ceiling in front of each shelf cluster. Inside is a documentation of a selection of books from that shelf, in dialogue with excerpted texts and images from the library as a whole.
The Bidoun Library includes a program of Iranian film, video, and television culled from low-fidelity DVDs and VHS tapes that circulate among Iranians in the Diaspora. The selection includes post-revolutionary variety shows, music videos, and other totems of middlebrow—unibrow?—culture. This is an Iranian cinema unlikely to be shown at Lincoln Center.
July 27, 2010
Provisions II is the second volume of the catalog for Sharjah Biennial 9 co-published by Sharjah Art Foundation and Bidoun. The book features contributions in the form of artist’s projects and diaries from Yazan Khalili, Doug Henders, Lawrence Weiner, Ana Vidigal, Sophia Al-Maria, Ziad Antar, Nika Oblak & Primoz Novak, Sherene Seikaly, Sophie Ernst, Shumon Basar, Fernando Jose Pereira, Kaelin Wilson-Goldie, Liliana Porter, Nida Sinnokrot, Mahmoud Abu Hashhash, Basma Al Sharif, Mona El-Mousfy, Clare Davies, Ayşe Erkmen and Isabel Carlos.
Buy now for $40 or as a set with Provisions I for $60.
July 21, 2010
Bidoun Magazine and The Delfina Foundation, with the support of the British Council, are pleased to announce the launch of a unique residency opportunity in London to support new writing from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories.
Click here for more information
June 28, 2010
Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art
Invisible Publics
May 23 – June 20 2010
10 Nabrawy Street off Champollion Street
Downtown Cairo, Egypt
The show will feature works and acts by Dora Garcia, Sharon Hayes, Johanna Billing, Johan Svensson, Nikos Arvanitis, Sarah Pierce, Miklos Erhardt + Little Warsaw, the Complaints Choir in addition to Bidoun Video 2010 with programmes curated by Bidoun and guest curators Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Aram Moshayedi, and the duo of Özge Ersoy and Sohrab Mohebbi.
More information at Art Agenda
June 14, 2010
Saturday May 8th, 5:30pm
Bidoun Library & Project Space @ 98 Weeks
Jisr el Hadid, facing spoiler center, Chalhoub building, Ground floor, Beirut
Publisher (Al Furat Publishing) and collector Abboudi Abou Jaoude will present his collection of Lebanese and regional historical art and cultural magazines from the 30s to today. Examples of the discussed magazines will be available for consultation at 98weeks project space.
This event is part of 98weeks’ research, On publications, and coincides with the Bidoun Library on display at 98weeks until May 15.
May 7, 2010
Bidoun Library & Project Space @ 98 Weeks
On display until May 15, 2010!
98 Weeks Project Space, Ground Floor, Chalhoub Building, Off Nahr Street, Facing Spoiler Center, Before Jisr Hadid, Mar Mikhael
The 98 Weeks Project Space is open daily from 3pm to 7pm, except on Sundays.
April 30, 2010
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