Bidoun Bookshelf Launch
Sunday May 6th from 6-9pm
47 Orchard Street between Grand and Hester
Join us for the launch of the Bidoun Bookshelf, a micro-bookshop in our storefront space on the Lower East Side in which we present and sell unique, rare, or otherwise compelling books from across the Bidouniverse.
Negar Azimi speaking at the Global Art Forum, Dubai
Much of team Bidoun has spent the past week in the Gulf, with Negar Azimi and Tiffany Malakooti presenting at the March Meeting in Sharjah; Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Michael Vazquez, Alexander Provan, Yasmine El Rashidi, Sophia Al-Maria, and Negar Azimi participating in the Global Art Forum in Doha and at Art Dubai, curated by Shumon Basar; all in addition to our regular booth at the fair and screenings of two great archival documentaries on Ardeshir Mohasses and Parviz Tanavoli and his founding of the sculpture department at the University of Tehran.
Come say hello if you’re in Dubai, or follow us — or someone with superior social-networking skills — on Facebook and Twitter.
Ebrahim Goelstan, still from Yek Atash (A Fire), 1961
Revolution vs Revolution,
March 14, 26, 28
Beirut Art Center
In the context of Beirut Art Center’s exhibition “Revolution vs Revolution,” Bidoun’s Tiffany Malakooti presents two curated film programs around Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979 and Negar Azimi gives a talk entitled “Iran in Pictures: Social Suffering and Three Sets of Images.”
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 8pm
Ebrahim Golestan,_ Yek Atash (A Fire), 1961, 24’
Kamran Shirdel, _Tehran Is the Capital of Iran, 1966, 18’
Parviz Kimiavi, Ya Zamene Ahu (O Guardian of the Deer), 1970, 20’
Monday March 26, 2012 at 8pm
Kianoush Ayari,_ Tazeh Nafas-ha (The Newborns)_, 1979, 45’
Wednesday March 28, 2012 at 8pm
Iran in Pictures: Social Suffering and Three Sets of Images by Negar Azimi
http://beirutartcenter.org
Bidoun’s space at the Independent last year
The Independent
March 8-11th
548 West 22nd Street
New York
Bidoun is one of three publications invited to present at the Independent Art Fair this weekend. Visit our rooftop space to browse Bidoun past and present, talk to our staff and interns, and drink Persian tea.
http://www.independentnewyork.com
Kianoush Ayari, still from Tazeh Nafas-ha, 1979
Kianoush Ayari
Tazeh Nafas-ha (The Newborns)
1979
45 min
In Farsi with English subtitles
Kianoush Ayari’s documentary captures rare scenes of everyday life on the streets of Tehran in the months following the revolution of 1979 — that somewhat utopian period between revolutionary violence and the formation of a full fledged Islamic Republic when a bright future seemed possible, if not probable.
In this Tehran, we witness books carrying conflicting ideologies sold openly on the streets, laborers debating as to the wages they have been promised, and young men donning Arab garb to have their portrait taken with a Yasser Arafat backdrop. We also witness extended scenes from three different political plays, along with street theatre in a park where a performer imitates various iconic pop singers, political figures, and even the Shah himself.
Still, images from slums in the south of the city remind us of lurking problems in the background, and while the film ends on an optimistic note — with footage of youth energetically campaigning for upcoming elections — 33 years later and in light of current events, that optimism seems misplaced, if not bittersweet.
Kianoush Ayari’s Tazeh Nafas-ha on UbuWeb
This upload is part of the BubuWeb project — a partnership between Bidoun and UbuWeb which aims to make available rare audio and visual materials from the Middle East.
Bidoun’s Facebook page has been liberated from its state of limbo and is once again active. We have a lot of lost time to make up for; expect many photos and updates in the coming weeks.
Reza Abdoh, still from Bogeyman, 1991
We are very pleased to present eight rare videos from experimental theater director Reza Abdoh (b. 1963 Tehran, d. 1995 New York City) on UbuWeb. The videos include four show tapes used in theatrical performances: _ The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice_ (1990), _ Bogeyman_ (1991), _ The Law of Remains_ (1992), _ Tight Right White_ (1993) and four standalone experimental videos: _ My Face_ (1986), _ Sleeping with the Devil_ (1990), _ Daddy’s Girl_ (1991), _ The Weeping Song_ (1991).
Reza Abdoh was an Iranian-born director and playwright known for his large-scale, experimental theatrical productions that utilized multimedia elements and violent sexual imagery. Reza Abdoh died of AIDS on May 11, 1995 in New York City at the age of 32.
Reza Abdoh on UbuWeb
With special thanks to Adam Soch, Brenden Doyle, and Salar Abdoh.
This program is part of the BubuWeb project — a partnership between Bidoun and UbuWeb which aims to make available rare audio and visual materials from the Middle East.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 7pm
New Museum, 235 Bowery, New York
Transition: An International Review is an award-winning journal of Africa and its many diasporas — where a strikingly large number of Bidounis got their start. On December 8th, Bidoun’s Michael Vazquez and an all-star cast mark the 50th anniversary of Transition’s founding with performances, readings, and an editor’s roundtable, hosted by Kelefa Sanneh and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts.
Tickets and more information here.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 6pm
Theater 3, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building,
4 West 54th Street
On December 7th Bidoun’s Negar Azimi will join William Wells, Director of Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, and Glenn D. Lowry, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, in a sprawling conversation about the arts in the swiftly changing Middle East. Azimi will narrate the various and vexed issues related to the production of Bidoun #25, made in Cairo.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7pm
WORD bookstore, 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn
Albert Cossery in Cairo
On December 6th Bidoun joins forces with New Directions and The New York Review of Books for a panel discussion on the late Egyptian novelist, Albert Cossery, whose greatest subject was laziness, and whose characters — anarchists, revolutionaries, retired philosophers — seek happiness by doing as little as possible. A scene in Tahrir Square from The Colors of Infamy, recently published by ND, appeared in Bidoun #25. The panel includes Robyn Creswell, poetry editor of The Paris Review, Cossery’s translators Anna Moschovakis and Alyson Waters, and Bidoun’s Anna Della Subin.
Tuesday 11th October 2011
6 – 9 pm
Auction begins at 7:30pm
Christie’s
8 King Street, St. James’s
London SW1Y 6QT
Farhad Moshiri (B. 1963)
SCREAM
Hand embroidered beads and glaze on canvas on board, in four parts
Each: 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in. (100 x 100 cm.)
Overall: 78 ¾ x 78 ¾ in. (200 x 200 cm.)
Executed in 2011
£100,000 – £150,000
The evening will begin with a conversation between the Serpentine Gallery’s Hans-Ulrich Obrist and artist Etel Adnan.
Click here to browse the auction catalog.
Participating Artists:
Afsoon, Etel Adnan, Shirin Aliabadi, Lara Baladi, Yto Barrada, Trisha Donnelly, Fouad Elkoury, Armen Eloyan, Jeremy Deller, Elger Esser, Simone Fattal, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, Susan Hefuna, Pouran Jinchi, YZ Kami, Nate Lowman, Tala Madani, Haroon Mirza, Youssef Nabil, Timo Nasseri, Shirin Neshat, Paul Pfeiffer, Walid Raad, Hesam Rahmanian, Shirana Shahbazi, Slavs and Tatars, Lawrence Weiner, Andro Wekua, and Carey Young.
Auction Committee:
Alia Al-Senussi, Antonia Carver, Chelsea Clinton, Maryam Eisler, Farhad Farjam, Dana Farouki, Coco Ferguson, Tony Shafrazi, Saadi Soudavar and Zeina Durra, Jimmy Traboulsi, Burkhard Varnholt, Sheena Wagstaff
For more information:
Isabelle de La Bruyère
idelabruyere@christies.com
+971 4425 5647
Dubai
Julie Vial
jvial@christies.com
+44 207 389 2170
London
Dina Nasser-Khadivi
dnasser-khadivi@christiespartners.com
+44 207 389 2170
London
Wednesday, September 28 2011
Artists Space
38 Greene Street, 3rd Floor, New York
7:30 – 9:00pm
Featuring contributions from Gini Alhadeff, Sinan Antoon, Anand Balakrishnan, Hampton Fancher, Sophia Al-Maria, Fatima Al Qadiri, Lynne Tillman, and more.
The twenty-fifth issue of Bidoun responds to the Egyptian revolution that began on the 25th of January. In April and May, a group of Bidoun editors went to Cairo in order to better understand what happened, and what did not happen, during the eighteen days of revolt and since…. Bidoun 25 is the result – the product of over fifty unique interviews in Arabic and English, along with roundtable discussions, political party platforms, TV transcriptions, overheard dialogue, dreams, tweets, and email forwards. The result is a composite portrait, at once disjointed and revealing, partial but not trivial.
The launch of Bidoun #25 at Artists Space will bring together friends from the Bidounisphere to reveal, perform, show and tell some of the things discovered in Cairo.
After-party featuring Egyptian shaabi music by Rainstick and Azizaman
Santos Party House
96 Lafayette Street
9:30pm til late
Saturday, August
20
Ahdaf Soueif
Sackler Centre of Arts Education, 3pm
Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2
Ahdaf Soueif in Tahrir Square. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy.
Ahdaf Soueif comes from a family of activists and writers who have been some of the key protagonists in the recent revolution in Eygpt. She arrive in London having spent several months in Cairo reporting on the events as they unfolded. Soueif will be discussing her work and sharing her experiences of activism and writing over the past two decades, as well as connecting with colleagues in Cairo, in an exciting seminar on writings and the revolution.
Based between Cairo and London, Soueif writes in both English and Arabic, and her essays and reviews have been published in numerous publications, including: Akhbar al-Adab, al-Arabi, Cosmopolitan, Granta, al-Hilal, al-Katibah, The London Magazine, The London Review of Books, New Society, Nisf al-Dunya, The Observer, Sabah al-Kheir, The Sunday Telegraph, Times Literary Supplement, Washington Post and others. .
Saturday, August
13
Tales From the Bidoun Library Vol.1 Intercontinentalism: A Partial History of Magazine Diplomacy by Michael C. Vazquez
Sackler Centre of Arts Education, 3pm
Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2
Introduction and question time with Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
In the 1960s, an array of state-sponsored international magazines fought pitched battles — against imperialism or communism and/or their own governments — across the entire length of the first, second, and third worlds.
Michael Vazquez presents an illustrated lecture on pivotal moments in periodical diplomacy, with especial focus on Transition (Kampala / Accra), Tricontinental (Havana), and Lotus: Afro-Asian Writing (Cairo / Beirut / Tunis).
Michael C Vazquez is Senior Editor at Bidoun and a member of the Bidoun Library group. He was formerly Executive Editor of the revived Transition (Cambridge, MA). He writes often about music and magazines for Bidoun and other venues.
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts is a writer whose work has appeared in Transition, The New York Times, Harper’s, Bidoun, and Essence among others. Her book, Harlem is Nowhere, the first volume of a trilogy on black utopias, is just out in the UK from Granta Books.
Saturday, August
6
Slavs and Tatars: Molla Nasreddin, The Magazine That Woud’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
Sackler Centre of Arts Education, 3pm
Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2
Artist collective Slavs and Tatars present Molla Nasreddin: The Magazine that Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve, a new book examining the history of that legendary Azeribaijani periodical, arguably the most important Muslim satirical political magazine of the 20th century. For the book’s UK launch, Slavs and Tatars will present Molla Nasreddin: Embrace Your Antithesis, including: a discussion of the book’s historical context; a case study of the complex Caucasus region; and an exploration of the issue of self-censorship, then and now. Guests will be offered their choice of red or white tea, alluding to Communism and Islam, the two major geopolitical narratives between which Molla Nasreddin — and Slavs and Tatars — navigate.
Saturday, July 30
Samandal Comics
Sackler Centre of Arts Education, 3pm
Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2
Hatem Imam, co-founder of Samandal Comics, will host this week’s Saturday Seminar about this tri-lingual quarterly comic magazine.
Hatem Imam is a visual artist and designer whose work includes print media, installation, photography, video, and painting. In 2007, he co-founded Samandal comics magazine. He is board member of the 98weeks research project, the artistic director of the Annihaya record label, and a founding member of the art collective Atfal Ahdath. Since 2007, he has been teaching at the Department of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut.
Samandal Comics is a Beirut-based magazine dedicated to comics, with contributors from all over the world. The goal of Samandal is to provide a platform on which graphic artists may experiment and display their work, generating contemporary reading material for comics fans.
www.samandal.org
The Bidoun Library Project is up at the Serpentine from 12 July – 17 September. Click here for a complete schedule of Saturday Seminars.
Friday 22 July 2011
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Kensington Gardens, London, W2
8pm
Image courtesy Sarah Carr
Featuring music by Sadat, Figo, and Amr 7a7a
Tickets £5/£4
Available from the Gallery Lobby Desk or Ticketweb.
The Shaabi-Music-Wedding-Dance-Party is part of the Bidoun Library Project, up at the Serpentine Gallery until September 17th.
