AZADE
Opening reception 28/08
Architecture from the Arab World 1914-2014 (a selection)
Ministry of Culture, Manama-Kingdom of Bahrain 2014
Exhibition catalogue
Softcover, np
33,5 × 24,5 x 1,5 cm
Texts in Arab, English
Edited by George Arbid
Catalogue of the exhibition Fundamentalists and Other Arab Modernisms presented by Bahrain at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale – Arsenale (7 June–27 November 2014) published by Ministry of Culture Manama-Kingdom of Bahrain.
In Bahrain's pavilion for the 2014 Venice Biennale, the country uses its position on the eastern edge of the pan-Arabic region to investigate modernity's impact on the Arab world: first as a colonial imposition, then as a local attempt to reconcile global and Arabic culture, then finally as an acceptance of neoliberal ideals.
The exhibition collects 100 projects from across the Arabic states, with the intention of consolidating and preserving knowledge of this critical period. The installation itself, a giant bookcase, is the manifestation of this research, and will later be made available at the Arab Center for Architecture.
It contains a selection of one hundred buildings signifying committed modernity in the Arab world. The format of the small tome certainly has a representative air. These few, finely nuanced contrasts are sufficient for the book designer to add spin to the relationship between the depicted architectures of the north-western world and Arab culture—at least as far as visual experience goes.
This second-hand publication bears small traces of its previous life but is still in good condition.
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