The Authoritarian Turn: On The State of the Egyptian Intelligentsia


Tuesday, September 9, 2014 at 7pm
NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
19 Washington Square North, New York

On the occasion of New Directions' publication of the writer Sonallah Ibrahim's Stealth (Al Talassus), Bidoun and the legendary publishing house bring together a distinguished group of writers and scholars to reflect upon the predicament of the Egyptian intellectual in the year since President Mohamed Morsi's dramatic fall. From Ibrahim himself to the bestselling author Alaa Al Aswany, countless writers and artists–many of them of historically contrarian bent–have expressed their support for a military-backed government whose abuses and excesses have on occasion surpassed those of the Mubarak era. How to begin to understand the role of the public intellectual in such times? Khaled Fahmy (American University in Cairo), Mona El Ghobashy (independent scholar), and Robyn Creswell (Yale University and poetry editor at The Paris Review) reflect on a year in which moral compasses have been cast hopelessly askew. To be moderated by Negar Azimi.

September 3, 2014

Tehran vs. Tehrangeles: A Special Screening of Maxx




Wednesday August 27, 2014 at 8pm
Ooga Booga 2
356 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles

The cultural wars between Iran and its left coast diaspora have long been played out in the realms of cinema, television, and music—from pre-revolutionary films such as Mamal Amrikai to the lyrics of pop songs such as Sandy’s Talagh. State television vs. satellite; aging divas vs. youthful rappers; parkour vs. the Shahs of Sunset: the Tehranis have historically portrayed the diasporic Iranian as effeminate, gaudy and morally loose, while the Tehrangelenos see the the Iranians as illiterate, perverted, obscurist bumpkins—that is, if they even acknowledge them at all! Maxx (Saman Moghadam, 2005) is an artifact from the Khatami-era of cross-cultural dialogue, where old stereotypes get some new clothes. The film was a domestic success in Iran, and one of the earlier instances of a non art-house film finding an audience within the diaspora. Can Tehran and Tehrangeles learn to love each other?

Post-screening discussion will be led Bidoun editors and accompanied by Armenian arak and ice cream generously provided by MILK.

Maxx, Saman Moghadam, 2005, 110min, in Persian with English subtitles

August 25, 2014

New in shop: Hojaboros 10 Year Anniversary Tote Bag

Visit the Bidoun shop to purchase our special 10 year anniversary tote bags featuring ten little Molla Nasreddins riding the بدون ouroboros donkey, backwards, into the eternal return.

June 6, 2014

Bidoun at Frieze New York

Bidoun at Frieze New York
May 9–12, 2014
Randall’s Island, New York

Stop by our booth this week at Frieze New York to peruse our eclectic printed matter selection, chat with Bidounis, and pick up our brand new 10th anniversary Donkey-Ouroboros-Nasreddin tote bag!

May 7, 2014

LA Art Book Fair + Etel Adnan Readings + Screening

Bidoun at the Los Angeles Art Book Fair
January 31–February 2, 2014
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Bidoun presents Etel Adnan: To look at the sea is to become what one is
Sunday, February 2, 2014, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum
Across the courtyard from the Geffen Contemporary

Stop by our booth this week at the Los Angeles Art Book Fair and join us Sunday morning for a special screening and reading event to celebrate the forthcoming anthology To look at the sea is to become what one is: An Etel Adnan Reader (Nightboat Books, 2014) starring Bruce Hainley, Hedi El Kholti, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rijin Sahakian, and Noura Wedell.

The Otolith Group's film I See Infinite Distance Between Any Point and Another (2012), shot largely in Adnan's Paris apartment, centers on a reading of the first chapter of the renowned Lebanese-American artist’s poem, Sea and Fog. The sound of Adnan's gentle voice, and the quiet but ever present ambient noise in her apartment, create a powerful, meditative atmosphere. If poetry can be understood as a study in constraint, the film, I See Infinite Distance Between Any Point and Another, can be understood as an experiment in concentration and a study of gestures, that speaks of the mobility of language and the movement of the ocean.

January 31, 2014

Bidoun at the Frieze Art Fair, London

Frieze Art Fair
October 17-20, 2013
Regent’s Park, London

Bidoun is back in London for the Frieze Art Fair. Come by the booth, buy rare back issues, say hello to any one of our editors in town, and learn about our exciting plans for the future!

October 16, 2013

The Bidoun Library at the 2013 Carnegie International

The Bidoun Library at the 2013 Carnegie International
October 5, 2013–March 16, 2014
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

The Bidoun Library is a presentation of printed matter, carefully selected with no regard for taste or quality, that attempts to document the innumerable ways that people have depicted and defined—slandered, celebrated, obfuscated, hyperbolized, ventriloquized, photographed, surveyed, and/or exhumed—that vast, vexed, nefarious construct known as "the Middle East." The result is banal and offensive, a parade of stereotypes, caricatures, and misunderstandings, all the trappings of the Middle East as fetish: veils, oil, fashion victims; sexy sheikhs, sex with sheikhs, Sufis, stonings; calligraphy, the caliphate, terrorism; Palestinians. We wanted to see what would happen if we put together a library without regard to aptness or excellence; to choose books not for their subjects, but their contexts; not for their authors, but their publishers; not for their qualities, but in their quantities.

THE NATURAL ORDER

“Water was the first type of drilling fluid to be used, but when it became evident that superior drilling fluids could be made when certain clays were added, the art of mud control began.”

Kuwait Oil Company, Crude to Carrier, The Epic of Oil. Kuwait City: Information Department, 1967.

MARGIN OF ERROR

“The life of an immigrant family of three. Having been a violinist, the man is used to play violin when he is alone. The woman is working in an office and the eight-year-old child attends school. The man has problems with his wife. Being in a bad situation the couple can not help each other. But the child is aware of the problems.”

Mohammad Aghili, Hossein Mahini, A Prospect of Iran's Film in Exile. Gothenburg: FRI Fil, 1993.

HOME THEATER

"Choose Your Own Adventure is the best thing that has come along since books themselves."
— Alysha Beyer, age 11

"I didn't read much before, but now I read my Choose Your Own Adventure books almost every night."
— Chris Brogan, age 13

"I love the control over what happens next."
— Kosta Efstathiou, age 17

Shannon Gilligan, Choose Your Own Adventure: The Terrorist Trap. New York: Bantam-Skylark, 1991.

October 12, 2013

Bidoun Benefit Dinner 2013

A big thank you to all who joined us this past Sunday evening for the Bidoun Benefit Dinner. It was really really fun!

A special thanks to our readers: Chelsea Clinton, Stuart Comer, Lawrence Weiner, Lynne Tillman, Knight Landesman, and Orhan Pamuk & Shirin Neshat; and our host committee: Maria Baibakova, Yto Barrada, Aarthi Belani, Lisa Farjam, Dana Farouki, Coco Ferguson, Princess Firyal of Jordan, Leila Heller, Shirin Neshat, and Sheena Wagstaff.

October 9, 2013

Bidoun at the New York Art Book Fair

New York Art Book Fair
September 19–22, 2013
MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Queens

Bidoun is taking part in the eighth annual New York Art Book Fair at PS1 this weekend. Come visit, chat, and peruse your favorite Bidoun titles.

The fair begins this Thursday from 6-9 pm and runs through the weekend.

Also! On the final evening of the fair, Sunday the 22nd from 6-9 pm, join us for vodka, music, MFK Fisher‘s favorite minestrone soup, and diverse readings on and about FOOD by Bidoun’s Michael C. Vazquez, who joins an illustrious cast including Gini Alhadeff, Clarissa Dalrymple, K8 Hardy, Gaby Hoffmann, Matthew Higgs, Emily Stokes, Lynne Tillman, Nicola Tyson, Wendy Yao, and more. Music by Bidoun’s Tiffany Malakoobideh. Look for signs of the pop-up cafe at the new MoMA PS1 storefront. Organized by Negar Azimi and Pati Hertling.

September 17, 2013

Bidoun Launch in Los Angeles!

Bidoun Launch Los Angeles
Sunday August 25, 2013 at 3pm
Ooga Booga 2, 356 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles

Join us for a celebrity-Bidouni-studded event with readings and performances and music and ice cream. Show begins promptly at 3!

August 19, 2013