Continuous City: Mapping Arab London
4–5 July 2013
Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA
London
The Pop-Up Mathaf returns to London for two days to re-imagine the city’s historical, contemporary and fictional Arab presence. In light of the prevalence of art related to the Arab world in London’s galleries and museums, the programme critically considers the city’s role as a home for generations of diasporic artists, writers and musicians among its many migrants and exiles.
The programme also launches a year of research, map-making, publications and activity online, exploring, for example, London’s role as a historic location for imagining the Arab Orient, and its more recent role as a pan-Arab financial, political and media hub.
The events are free of charge, but booking is essential.
For details, please visit www.serpentinegallery.org or email information [at] serpentinegallery.org.
Mapping Arab Literature in London
Thursday 4 July 7–9pm
Booking essential
London Review Bookshop
14 Bury Place
London WC1A 2JL
Explore Arab London’s literary and artistic heritage with artist Ibrahim El-Salahi, publisher Margaret Obank and authors Ma’n Abu Taleb, Etel Adnan, Sophia Al-Maria and Hisham Matar andSerpentine Gallery Co-Director Hans Ulrich Obrist. Curated by Pop-Up Mathaf guest curator Deena Chalabi, the event promises a unique and lively debate on the history and future of Arab literature in London.
Tashweesh and Waeil Abo Bakr
Friday 5 July 8–10pm
Booking essential
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
Two special performances take place in the extraordinary setting of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013, designed by Sou Fujimoto.
Palestinian audio/visual collective Tashweesh present their most recent sound and video performance: a fractured narrative exploring a contemporary moment full of desire and disaster and, on this occasion, incorporating recent histories of Arab London. The result is a collision between sound and video, field recordings, archive material, vocals, breaks and soundscape.
Renowned violinist Waeil Abo Bakr assembles musicians for a performance that incorporates histories of local London musicians and nightclub owners on the Edgware Road and elsewhere from the 1970s to present.
Continuous City: Mapping Arab London is a collaboration between Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha and the Serpentine Gallery’s Edgware Road Project. It is part of Ehtifal, a three-day festival hosted by the Serpentine Gallery and Qatar Museums Authority during Shubbak 2013: a window on contemporary Arab culture (22 June–6 July) and the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture.
