Book launch—A Bundle of Reeds: Contemporary Art after the “Tigris”

As the Persian Gulf is once again a site of global conflict, the new publication A Bundle of Reeds brings together artists, writers and thinkers connected to the region to explore contemporary questions of art, ecology, cultural heritage, technology and transnational solidarity.

To mark the release of this new publication, OCA and Archive Books will host launch events in London and Oslo, featuring conversations with contributors Rashad Selim, Hannah Lewis and Simon Starling.

About the book
In 1977, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl organised an expedition called the “Tigris” to build and sail an ancient-style reed boat down the Tigris River in Iraq, out into the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and across the Arabian Sea. Among the crew of Heyerdahl’s “Tigris” was young Iraqi artist Rashad Selim.

Now based in London, Selim has in recent years begun returning to both Iraq and to boat-building. His project Ark Re-Imagined (2015-present), developed with his collaborator Hannah Lewis, is a community-based art project that draws on the metaphor of the Mesopotamian Ark: the simple act of gathering and bundling reeds comes to symbolise the revival of Iraq’s craft traditions after decades of war. Their work has already led to the establishment of nine local boat clubs across the country, a maritime museum in Basra, and an exhibition for the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennial, amongst its many outcomes.  

Selim’s time aboard the “Tigris” and subsequent work provides the starting point for this new publication, which brings together a range of artists and thinkers who are developing new frameworks for understanding the region traversed by the Tigris River. The volume also reflects on the global relevance of contemporary Iraq, a country which—as Selim has written—“maps out the worst political, social, and environmental fears that threaten us and our planet.”

Pelin Tan traces the recent histories of political and ecological violence along the Tigris; Rijin Sahakian examines the enduring effects of the American wars in Iraq; Mike Sperlinger examines Heyerdahl’s original expedition as a snapshot of the region in the late 1970s; Simon Starling and Juan Carlos Arratia Esteban explore craft and cultural exchange through Starling's project Houseboat for Ho; Dilip Menon discusses “oceanic cosmopolitanism” and the politics of nostalgia in the return to ancient traditions; and Nora Al-Badri and Zoya Masoud consider technology’s role in recovering and reimagining Mesopotamian cultural heritage.

“A Bundle of Reeds brings different practices and forms of knowledge into proximity without settling on a single narrative. The book is, in this sense, itself an expedition: moving across geographies, histories and disciplines without a fixed destination, in search of other ways of understanding the world. OCA seeks to foster encounters that cross established geographies and unsettle inherited ways of understanding the world; this new publication speaks directly to this ongoing ambition.”
—Hanne Mugaas, Head of Programme, OCA

Editors: Rana Issa and Mike Sperlinger
Contributions by: Nora Al-Badri, Sargon Boulus, Juan Carlos Arratia Esteban, Maria Catalina Heitmann, Rana Issa, Hannah Lewis, Zoya Masoud, Dilip Menon, Rijin Sahakian, Rashad Selim, Mike Sperlinger, Simon Starling & Pelin Tan.
Design by: Marwan Kaabour
Published by: OCA—Office for Contemporary Art Norway and Archive Books

OCA—Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a foundation promoting contemporary art from Norway internationally. OCA expands international opportunities and contributes to global exchanges through various activities, including grants and residencies, research visits and network development, public programmes, and publishing. OCA is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Equality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is the commissioner for Norway’s contribution to the visual arts section of La Biennale di Venezia.

Order a copy of A Bundle of Reeds: Contemporary Art after the “Tigris”