Borrowed Faces: A Prologue

Group Exhibition »There Is Fiction in the Space Between« Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Berlin Curated by Eva-Maria Gillich & Misal Adnan Yıldız

Installation view, Borrowed Faces: Protagonists, hand drawing printed on flat non-woben Wallpaper (269 x 424 cm), n.b.k., Berlin, 2019

Installation view, Borrowed Faces: Protagonists, Archive boxes of 21 unites, Research between Beirut, Damascus, n.b.k., Berlin, 2019

»Borrowed Faces« concerns with the Cold War era that was among the most fertile and critical periods in the history of Arab culture and publishing because it entangled and intertwined politics with culture. The rivals in the bipolar world order, the United States and the Soviet Union, both pursued a policy of cultural and intellectual hegemony, thereby implicating cultural and publishing practices in a new international politics. In such a bipolar order, each superpower established institutions and foundations to fund international networks and projects. Thus, the Eastern Mediterranean became integral to the cultural Cold War.
As these changes unfurled, Arab culture and publishing was transforming radically from within: new literary styles and ideas emerged during this period. At the core of these movements were publishers, writers, poets, and translators, some of whom established collectives and seminars or whom launched initiatives, publications, publishing houses, and institutions.

The work is looking into this period by observing the common denominators between cultural practices then and today. These commonalities are particularly striking if we consider how this era witnessed the dawn of the globalization of culture in the Arab region, which had become entwined in international networks, and how political funding –personal, public, local, global – began to support culture. The work is questioning the movements of intellectuals from country to country, across context, and their autonomy, their independence, from the rival forces pushing for cultural hegemony. It also attempt to understand how intellectuals shifted between the centers of a bipolar world order, and what “alignment,” with the Arab left or right, actually meant.

Installation view, Borrowed Faces: Protagonists, hand drawing printed on flat non-woben Wallpaper (269 x 424 cm), n.b.k., Berlin, 2019

In the context of the exhibition »There Is Fiction in the Space Between« at the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) in Berlin, March 2019, the first part of Borrowed Faces was presented. The exhibition features a mural with drawings of publishers, writers, translators, international and local institutions, conferences, infographics mapping professional relationships, funding, and friendship. Also on display are archive boxes, acquired by FEHRAS PUBLISHING Practices (OMAR NICOLAS, Sami Rustom, Kenan Darwich), of these very individuals, and the materials include newspapers, book covers, letters, memoirs, documents, and photographs.

Installation view, vitrine presents the archive of three fictional Characters, Borrowed Faces: A Prologue, n.b.K, Berlin, 2019

Installation view, vitrine presents the archive of three fictional Characters Hala HADAD, HUDA AL WADI, AFAF SAMRA,
Borrowed Faces: A Prologue, n.b.K, Berlin, 2019

Installation view, vitrine presents the archive of three fictional Character HALA HADAD, Borrowed Faces: A Prologue, n.b.K, Berlin, 2019

Installation view, vitrine presents the archive of three fictional Character HUDA AL-WADI, Borrowed Faces: A Prologue, n.b.K, Berlin, 2019

collected archive of 21 unites (arabic Magazines, Publishers, Books, poets and writers fro, 1960s)

Installation view, Borrowed Faces: Protagonists, hand drawing printed on flat non-woben Wallpaper (269 x 424 cm), n.b.k., Berlin, 2019

Installation view, Borrowed Faces: Protagonists, hand drawing printed on flat non-woben Wallpaper (269 x 424 cm), n.b.k., Berlin, 2019

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