The Mosaic Rooms presented this first UK solo exhibition. The three-part installation was developed in different periods during the research. The simultaneous presentation of artistic forms developed within a temporal shift attempts to examine the interrelation between aesthetic formats and research by addressing how the gained and transformed knowledge interacts with the artistic presentation.
This work invites the viewer to rethink and reimagine the archive, the library and its future, to challenge the parameters of institutional archiving, and to enquire into the role of analogue publishing and translating both historically and in the present.
publication's archive collected by Fehras Publishing Practices 2018-2021, THE Mosaic Rooms, London, UK 2021
publication's archive collected by Fehras Publishing Practices 2018-2021, THE Mosaic Rooms, London, UK 2021
Digital Archive of publication and intellectuals during the cold war era
Digital Archive of publication and intellectuals during the cold war era
Digital Archive of publication and intellectuals during the cold war era
Digital Archive of publication and intellectuals during the cold war era
In the wake of the digitization of archives and libraries, the collective looks into new tendencies of how institutions and universities make specific inventories accessible to research aims. This movement raises questions about the ownership of the archive and new ways of writing history.
In this regard, This work make the private owned archive t accessible digitally to the public. The digital archive presented as a part of this installation gathers the archive of Borrowed Faces, which was collected and commented on since 2018. The visitors are invited to browse various entities such as publishers, magazines, institutions, etc., and read commented documents. The digital archive also offers the possibility of exploring possible connections between these entities. These connections aim to graphically present the complexity of cultural production and the interrelation between politics, culture, and funding on a global level.
The digital archive highlights “tagging” as a system for giving new meanings and as a possibility for re-curating archival materials. Therefore, the visitors are invited to add their own tags, which they associate with the documents they browse and to follow the chain of unfolding topics through the variety of added tags. One of the issues the digital archive is addressing is blending the hierarchies between the resource and the archival object. This visualization is proposing the resource as a part of the archive. The collectors, such as university libraries and individuals who played a crucial role in the collective’s investigation, become equivalent to the historical entity, as both are equally having an impact on creating the historical narrative.
In this regard, This work make the private owned archive t accessible digitally to the public. The digital archive presented as a part of this installation gathers the archive of Borrowed Faces, which was collected and commented on since 2018. The visitors are invited to browse various entities such as publishers, magazines, institutions, etc., and read commented documents. The digital archive also offers the possibility of exploring possible connections between these entities. These connections aim to graphically present the complexity of cultural production and the interrelation between politics, culture, and funding on a global level.
The digital archive highlights “tagging” as a system for giving new meanings and as a possibility for re-curating archival materials. Therefore, the visitors are invited to add their own tags, which they associate with the documents they browse and to follow the chain of unfolding topics through the variety of added tags. One of the issues the digital archive is addressing is blending the hierarchies between the resource and the archival object. This visualization is proposing the resource as a part of the archive. The collectors, such as university libraries and individuals who played a crucial role in the collective’s investigation, become equivalent to the historical entity, as both are equally having an impact on creating the historical narrative.
The Photo Novel, Borrowed Faces No. 1. A photo novel on Publishing Culture during the Cold War, The Mosaic Rooms. London, UK
Installation, abstract from the Photo Novel, Printed pages pasted on Wooden object
Installation, abstract from the Photo Novel, Printed pages pasted on Wooden object
Installation, abstract from the Photo Novel, Printed pages pasted on Wooden object
This part of the work connects fiction with the historical narrative in the form of photo novels, which the collective has been writing since 2019. As a part of this installation, The first issue of Borrowed Faces was displayed, a photo novel that tells stories on publishing cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa during the Cold War era. The story presents the fictional characters of three women: Hala Haddad, Huda Al-Wadi, and Afaf Samra, who met together in Beirut in the 1960s and worked together for local and international institutions, interacted with historical figures, and became friends.
The decision to play the role of the three women is based on the awareness that the historical narrative in general, but also in the cultural field, is dominated by masculinity. In playing these roles, the collective members aim to transport their queerness from the present to the past to tell a side of a story that has been hidden or untold.
This installation presents four scenes from their novel in 21 pages. These photographic works aim to perform the archive as an imagined space, blurring fact and fiction as imagined characters meet with real ones. This imagined history is situated in Beirut and other locations to highlight the role these places have played in disseminating knowledge and gathering intellectuals. Therefore, the four scenes focus on recreating the following places: The editorial staff in the Beirut-office of the Soviet Union Magazine, Dar Al-Farabi (Al-Farabi Publisher), The Beirut-office of the Franklin Book Programs, and Al-Sharq Bookstore.
The decision to play the role of the three women is based on the awareness that the historical narrative in general, but also in the cultural field, is dominated by masculinity. In playing these roles, the collective members aim to transport their queerness from the present to the past to tell a side of a story that has been hidden or untold.
This installation presents four scenes from their novel in 21 pages. These photographic works aim to perform the archive as an imagined space, blurring fact and fiction as imagined characters meet with real ones. This imagined history is situated in Beirut and other locations to highlight the role these places have played in disseminating knowledge and gathering intellectuals. Therefore, the four scenes focus on recreating the following places: The editorial staff in the Beirut-office of the Soviet Union Magazine, Dar Al-Farabi (Al-Farabi Publisher), The Beirut-office of the Franklin Book Programs, and Al-Sharq Bookstore.
Fehras Publishing Practices, Borrowed Faces: Future Recall, 2021. Photograph, colour, Chromaluxe print, 33 x 59 inches. Courtesy The Mosaic Rooms, London.
Fehras Publishing Practices, Borrowed Faces: Future Recall, 2021. Photograph, colour, Chromaluxe print, 33 x 59 inches. Courtesy The Mosaic Rooms, London.
The third part of the installation is dedicated to a fictional journey into the future by our three protagonists Hala, Huda and Afaf to an institutional archive.
The new chapter of this project intertwines with an investigation into the archive of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) that had been preserved after its demise and acquired by The University of Chicago Library. The Congress for Cultural Freedom was a globally active American organization, born after a large conference held in West Berlin in 1950. The conference brought together Western and American intellectuals in defense of freedom of culture against communism. The CCF has spread around the world through its offices, planning conferences, offering scholarships and issuing cultural magazines such as Encounter in England, Preuves in France, Der Monat in Germany, Tempo Presente in Italy, Mundo Novo in Uruguay, Black Orpheus in Nigeria, Quest in India, and Hiwar in Beirut.
This Part of the installation presents a photo series where the archive deposit of the CCF was imagined. The Archive is held at The University of Chicago Library. The collective embarks on a future imagined journey to the archive. In this fictional Journey, Hala, Huda and Afaf enter into the archive deposit of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Ignoring the risk of being caught, the three protagonists sneak into the deposit of the CCF Archive. They glance at the files and steal some of what they find. After this adventure, they leave crossing continents to seek a safe place to examine their spoils. Imagining sneaking into this deposit creates an interplay between fiction, materiality and image. In this part, Fehras share with visitors their inner monologue about the fantasy and the fetish of owning the archive. The collective reflects on their emotional ongoing experience with the archival material and explores the dynamics inherent in such a research practice.
The new chapter of this project intertwines with an investigation into the archive of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) that had been preserved after its demise and acquired by The University of Chicago Library. The Congress for Cultural Freedom was a globally active American organization, born after a large conference held in West Berlin in 1950. The conference brought together Western and American intellectuals in defense of freedom of culture against communism. The CCF has spread around the world through its offices, planning conferences, offering scholarships and issuing cultural magazines such as Encounter in England, Preuves in France, Der Monat in Germany, Tempo Presente in Italy, Mundo Novo in Uruguay, Black Orpheus in Nigeria, Quest in India, and Hiwar in Beirut.
This Part of the installation presents a photo series where the archive deposit of the CCF was imagined. The Archive is held at The University of Chicago Library. The collective embarks on a future imagined journey to the archive. In this fictional Journey, Hala, Huda and Afaf enter into the archive deposit of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Ignoring the risk of being caught, the three protagonists sneak into the deposit of the CCF Archive. They glance at the files and steal some of what they find. After this adventure, they leave crossing continents to seek a safe place to examine their spoils. Imagining sneaking into this deposit creates an interplay between fiction, materiality and image. In this part, Fehras share with visitors their inner monologue about the fantasy and the fetish of owning the archive. The collective reflects on their emotional ongoing experience with the archival material and explores the dynamics inherent in such a research practice.
