Literary and Other Cultural Events
To accompany the Iraq: How, Where, For Whom? exhibition, we held a programme of current affairs talks entitled, ‘What purpose free speech when no one listens?’ These included: Nadje al-Ali and Laleh Khalili speaking on A Continuum of Violence: Resistance and the Targeting of Women in Iraq; Dr Ziad Bahaa Eldin discussing Egypt’s Difficult Path to Democracy; and Youssef Courbage on The Arab World: From the Demographic to the Democratic Revolution. For the Last of the Dictionary Men exhibition, Khaled Fattah discussed Tribal Relations in Yemen, and Noel Brehony gave a talk on his book, Yemen Divided. Other current affairs talks included the New Statesman panel discussion on Israel, What Comes Next?, while Ark, UCL, and Alan Ingram presented a day of talks on Art, War and Peace: Responses to Iraq.
Literary events included: Rasha Al-Ameer’s launch of the English translation of her novel, Judgement Day; a Persian poetry evening in collaboration with the Poetry Translation Centre; Stefan Szepesi on his travel guide, Walking Palestine; the launch of Bidisha‘s new book on Palestine; Eyal Weizman on his latest book, The Least of All Possible Evils; Fathieh Saudi reading from her latest collection of poetry; Richard Seymour discussing his book, The Liberal Defense of Murder; Pankaj Mishra on his latest acclaimed book, From the Ruins of Empire: the Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia, and in conversation with author Kamila Shamsie; and Samar Yazbek on A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution. We also ventured into our first reading of a play with Etel Adnan’s Crime of Honour, directed by Caitlin McLeod, and performed in the author’s presence with four young actors.
Later in the year, Matt Kennard and Daniel Trilling held a joint launch of their books Irregular Army and Bloody Nasty People; Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi hosted an evening with the Poetry Translation Centre; Guy Mannes-Abbott launched In Ramallah, Running with a panel discussion; Ghassan Zaqtan launched the English translation of his latest collection of poetry with his award-winning translator Fadi Joudeh; a panel discussion in collaboration with Brunel Institute for Contemporary Middle Eastern Music focused on the future of composers in the Middle East; best-selling novelist Ibrahim Nasrallah launched the English translation of Time of White Horses; American poet Norbert Hirschhorn read from his third collection of poetry, Monastery of the Moon; Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim discussed his latest book, The Iraqi Christ; James Marriott and Mika Minio-Paluello, authors of The Oil Road, discussed the issues raised in their book; and Banipal hosted an evening of poetry and discussion with young Palestinian poets Asma’a Azaizeh and Marwan Makhoul.
As well, a fundraising event was held to celebrate the launch of 99 Words for Peace on behalf of Peace Direct.
We also hosted the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize Award Reception; the launch of Anwar Hamed’s IPAF nominated Jaffa Prepares Morning Coffee; Moroccan poet Abdellatif Laabi attended the launch of the English translation of The Bottom of the Jar with translator Andre Naffis-Sahley; and Hana Hibri talked about her book, A Million Steps: Discovering the Lebanon Mountain Trail.
Music events included the Choir of London’s recital with young Palestinian musicians; a Gaza Music School fundraiser with Youssef Hbeisch and Ahmad Al Khatib, in concert with world-famous guitarist John Williams at Cadogan Hall; Hassan K performed a DJ set; Tara Jaff presented a concert of harp and percussion; and Chris Menist played rare Yemeni vinyl singles from the ‘60s and ‘70s to a packed house.
Film screenings included Parts 1 and 2 of our Naguib Mahfouz Season, which showcased six film adaptions to celebrate the life and work of this Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist at the centenary of his birth; new and recent short films from Kuwait; Over the Wall: Football Beyond Borders, a film about the journey of a British University team who are transformed by the events they bear witness to in the Middle East; A Reluctant Revolutionary, an intimate portrait of Yemen as the revolution unfolds, directed by Sean McAllister; A New Day in Old Sanaa, the first feature film ever to come out of Yemen, and the first Yemeni film to be shown at Cannes, directed byBader Ben Hirsi’.
The 2012 Edward W. Said London Lecture, entitled, Mina’s Banner: Edward Said and the Egyptian Revolution, was given by author Ahdaf Soueif at the British Museum, while the 2013 Lecture packed the Friends House Hall and was given by Professor Noam Chomsky in March, attracting over 1,100 people. Professor Chomsky spoke on Violence and Dignity: Reflections on the Middle East, and was introduced by Omar Al-Qattan and Mariam C. Said.
Food for Thought: The Mosaic Rooms supper clubs
We also launched a series of extremely popular supper clubs celebrating Arabic cooking and the stories that surround food in Arab culture. These were given by Sarah al-Hamad, who hosted a Cardamom and Lime-themed supper and an Arabian High Chai; and by Lamees Ibrahim who held a lunch and dinner celebrating and demonstrating Iraqi cuisine.
Residencies
During this reporting period there were the following residencies at our studio flat: Jeremie Bennequin, exhibiting artist showing at the Selma Feriani gallery; Jonathan Wright, translator; Heidi Paredes, Beit El Musiqa; Shahira Fawmy, one of the exhibiting architects from our architecture showcase; Samar Yazbek, during her UK book tour; Lucien Bourjelly, Lebanese theatre producer working with Index on Censorship and the Young Vic Theatre; exhibiting artist Abderrahim Yamou; Youssef Hbeisch, musician; Ghassan Zaqtan, poet; filmmaker Deema Shahin; poet Asma’a Azaizeh; author Fadia Faqir for her writing workshop; Mr and Mrs Abdelattif Laabi; and artist Hazem Harb who was participating in Art13, a new local art fair held at Olympia.
Education
Our learning and engagement officer Natasha Freedman has been helping us to develop a new and more ambitious programme based on one of our annual themes. Inspired by the exhibition programme, this approach enables projects to extend beyond the exhibition timetable and allows sustained relationships to evolve with artists, audiences, and partner organisations. 2012/13 takes the notion of ‘home’ as one of its themes, inspired by the architecture exhibition. The outcomes from this trial year, in collaboration with the Chelsea College of Art, will be showcased in September 2013 at the Mosaic Rooms. These will also include the outcomes from the oral history workshops performed with the Yemeni community in London, and inspired by the Last of the Dictionary Men exhibition.
In addition to this programme, the exhibiting artists from Iraq: How, Where for Whom? delivered a workshop to Index on Censorship’s Trip Wires youth group. Bidisha also gave a creative writing workshop at The Mosaic Rooms. During the architecture exhibition Dia Batal and Natasha Freedman hosted a making workshop for families as part of Junior Open House weekend. Peter Kennard gave a talk on Making Art About the World We Live In as part of Exhibition Road/V&A’s Creative Quarter. Fadia Faqir also delivered a workshop, Fiction From Art, using art to inspire creative writing.
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| Lamees Ibrahim hosting a dinner celebrating and demonstrating Iraqi cuisine |
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| From the Edward W. Said London Lecture given by Professor Noam Chomsky |
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“The films appeal to all generations and nationalities… very well received… one of the most popular screening seasons The Mosaic Rooms has held so far.” Celia Topping, Brown Book (Naguib Mahfouz film season)
“A delightful host, Lamees inaugurated her bunch of foodies with cups of Turkish coffee and a home-made watermelon jam… Lamees provided stories and anecdotes about the food we were eating and the history behind the cultural practices associated with it.” Emanuelle Degli Esposti, The Arab Review (Iraqi Supper Club)
“Food draws people together, it is a universal language which transcends national boundaries, cultures and even divisions. Sarah Hamad knows this… This is fundamentally, a book about connecting, and discovering bridges built…” Funoon (Sarah Al-Hamad’s Supper Club) |