Keep Alive the Spirit of Al-Mutanabbi Street!
Welcome to the al-Mutanabbi Street Project, a lament and a commemoration of the singular power of words, seeking to make visible the literary bridge that connects us all across continents, across cultures and the passage of time. We ask what it means when any powerful group tries to erase culture, attack writers and artists, and control the free exchange of ideas.
On March 5, 2007, a car bomb exploded in Baghdad's historic literary and intellectual community, named for the famed tenth century Arab poet Al-Mutanabbi. Thirty people were killed; more than a hundred were wounded.
Along with the deeply felt human loss, Baghdad also grieved the attack on its cultural center, a place of lively cafes and thoughtful bookstores, of conversations in tea and tobacco shops. The inventory of al-Mutanabbi Street was as diverse as the Iraqi population, including literature of Iraq and the Middle East, history, political theory, popular novels, scholarly works, religious tracts, technical books, poetry, and mysteries; stationery and blank school notebooks could be purchased on this street, along with children’s books, comics, and magazines. While Arabic was the predominate language, books in Persian, French, German, and English were also represented.
In response to the bombing, Beau Beausoleil, a poet and bookseller in San Francisco, put out a worldwide call to artists to respond to this human tragedy and attack on culture. Two hundred and sixty artists from twenty-four countries answered the call, creating original books, some of which you can see in our video: works that reflect both the strength and fragility of printed matter and show the endurance of the ideas within them.
We, artists and friends of the project, now need to raise $12,000 in order to:
- Ship these artists’ books to destinations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East to hold simultaneous exhibitions from 2013 through 2014.
- Send 260 Artists’ Books and 130 Letterpress Broadsides to the National Library of Baghdad to be part of their permanent collection.
Please contribute and help affirm the commonality of al-Mutanabbi Street with any street, anywhere, that holds a bookstore or cultural institution, a place where ideas are disseminated, debated and discussed. Even a small amount will help affirm a connection between this small street in Baghdad and our own cultural centers, and denounce this attack that was an attack on us all.
If you would like to more information about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition Project, visit
http://www.al-mutanabbistreetstartshere-boston.com/.
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here! And you are a part of it!
Exhibition Schedule for Artists‚ Books 2012-2014
2012
The Westminster Reference Library, Westminster, U.K. - February 27 - March 17, 2012*
The Powell Library Rotunda, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, March 5 - April 30, 2012 *
Salt & Cedar Letterpress Studio, Detroit, Michigan - August 8 -October 1, 2012
2013
The Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, Massachusetts, February - July 2013****
The Santa Fe University of Art and Design, New Mexico -January 25 - March 30, 2013 ***
The John Rylands Library, Manchester, UK.- February 6 - July 29, 2013 ****
The San Francisco Center for the Book, SF, California - February 1 - April 26, 2013 *
Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, California, March 15 - April 21, 2013 *
Grafisch Museum, Gorningen, The Netherlands - October 2013- January 2014 *
Center for Book Arts, New York City, in collaboration with Poets House, New York City - July 10 - September 14, 2013 ****
Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington - August 19 - October 31, 2013
Newark Public Library, Newark, New Jersey, October - December 2013 **
Newark Public Library, Newark, New Jersey, October - December 2013 **
2014
The Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon- January - March 2014**
The Museum of Contemporary Craft - Portland, Oregon - January - March 2014**
Kate Chappell '83 Center for Book Arts at the University Of Southern Maine -Jan 27 - May 1, 2014**
American University in Cairo, Egypt - March 5, 2014 - (ending date to be determined)
Central Library of Rochester, and Monroe County, New York- June-September 2014
Jaffe Center For the Books Arts, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida - October 2014- January 2015
* designates exhibits of 50 or fewer artists‚ books
** designates exhibits of between 100 and 50 artists‚ books
*** designates exhibits of between 100 and 200 artists‚ books
**** designates exhibits of the complete collection (approximately 260 artists‚ books) of an Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street
Great thanks for their willing assistance to:
Claudine Jordan, video filming
Jacquelene Ambrose, video editing and original music
Jesseca Ferguson, Mary Laird, Mike Mandel, Lisa Olson, Greg Shattenberg, Elly Simmons, Stephanie Stigliano, Renee Ugrin, Dan Wood, Amanda Williams, Chantal Zakari, artist donations