Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents

 

 

Print version can be ordered from Libraries

Final Publication of the project Reloading Images: Damascus / Work in Progress 2008
published by The Green Box in collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund Library. The book is available in colour, 244 pages, from the publisher and through selected distributors in Damascus. ISBN 978-3-941644-12-0.

Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents” is a pseudo-fictitious encounter of artists, dancers, secret agents, speculative writers, lovers, film-makers and photographers who come together to unravel the rumours, questions and traces of the mysterious disappearances that happen in the subconscious urban setting of one of the world’s oldest cities.

The narrative takes place in Damascus in 2008. Three people suddenly disappear: Zaat al-Abed, a presumed secret agent, Leena Kilkka, curator of the Damascus Biennial, an event that never happens, and a flâneur, whose diary is accidentally lost and found… It is a textual and visual narrative, that emerged out of the collaboration of more than thirty international artists and writers.

“Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents” concludes an artistic research project which took place in Damascus in October 2008 and through an online platform in the months before and after. The project “Reloading Images: Damascus / Work in Progress 2008” brought together cultural practitioners from Syria, Germany, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Turkey, USA, Egypt and Slovakia to discuss forms of artistic agency and work together on artistic projects taking the city of Damascus as a starting point.

A series of public lectures and workshops invited 98 Weeks & Akram Zaatari (Lebanon), Interruptions Magazine (Jordan), Raqs Media Collective (India), Ubermorgen.com (Austria), Marie Elias & Orwa Nyrabia (Syria), Wu Ming (Italy), and We Insist (France/Norway).

“Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents” is edited by Kaya Behkalam, Paula Bugni, Beatrice Catanzaro, Roberto Cavallini, Azin Feizabadi, Carla Esperanza Tommasini, Sarah Rifky, Ashkan Sepahvand / Reloading Images

With contributions by Salina Abaza, Jan Ackenhausen, Woroud Ahdali, Isa Andreu, Kaya Behkalam, Omar Berakdar, Paula Bugni, Beatrice Catanzaro, Roberto Cavallini, Mikala Hyldig Dal, Azin Feizabadi, Soudade Kaadan, Sophia Krey-Kolios, Gabriel Martinez, Gabriella Micale, Sanna Miericke, Raqs Media Collective, Rania Mleihi, Ersan Ocak, Juergen Rendl, Sarah Rifky, Adel Samara, Manuela Scebba, Ashkan Sepahvand, Carla Esperanza Tommasini, Hanadi Traifeh, Kianoosh Vahabi and Wu Ming 4

Graphic Design / Art Direction by Azin Feizabadi & Anja Lutz

Project Management by Jan Ackenhausen & Kaya Behkalam

The publication has been funded by the European Delegation, the European Cultural Foundation, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung and the Prince Claus Fund.

To order the book online, please follow this link.

Product details
Date of Publication
2010
Publisher
The Green Box in collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund Library
Licence
All rights reserved
Language of publication
English