“On Books and Translation”, curated by the Platform Translation Team & 98Weeks Project-Research, the 98Weeks-Project Space , Beirut (Lebanon) & 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art “Παλιές Διασταυρώσεις – Make it New”, the main programme “The Rock and The Hard Place”, the Old Baths ‘Bei Hamam’, Thessaloniki, (Greece) 2011.

” It’ s not just about swapping languages”

“… Artists’ books invite handling.

Flipping through Dimitris Ameladiotis’ untitled book, dried bits of paint stick to translucent plastic pages. Other pages have been created from denim, crocheted yarn and wire. A few pages are a collage of greek text.All are bound togetherwith a brown burlap cover.

The book is one of over a dozen created by artists for “On Books and Translation” , the exhibition showing at the 98weeks project space, Beirut.

Ameladiotis says that translation is more interesting for him when the people in dialogue don’t speak  each other’s language and must depend on body movement and facial expression to get their point across.

Translation, he says, finds its home in the way we communicate. His point is demonstrated through the form and the content of his book – mixed media, textures and lack of coherent narrative – that forces the reader to use other senses. The book is meant not to be read with the eyes alone, but touches…”

The July 26, 2011

By Willow Osgood, The Daily Star Newspaper, Beirut.

 

• “On Books and Translation”, curated by the 98Weeks Project (Mirene & Marwa Arsanios) & the Platform Translation Team,the 98Weeks Project Space ,Beirut.

For the Beirut edition of “Platform Translation”, artists were invited to develop artists’ books and publications. The participants explored the book format using it as an end object in itself, as a way of organizing research and sketches in a poetic manner, or even as a platform for collaborations and correspondences. The process of producing the books was addressed in different manners, its possibilities stretched, often departing from a story or an archive. The issue of words, images, movement and distribution being inherent to books and printed material were also explored through the set format of books. “On Books and Translation”, convenedby 98weeks, aims to constitute a large travelling library of artists’ books, adding up along the way.

In this edition participants are: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Dimitris Ameladiotis, Marwa Arsanios, Elena Bellantoni and Daniela Alloca, Víctor Hugo Bravo, Federico Cavallini (invited by Silvano Manganaro), Hatem Imam with Jana Traboulsi, Interactivité Povera (collective), Daniel Jacoby, Manos Kornelakis (invited by Zoi Pappa), Mariagiovanna Nuzzi, Zeynep Oz and Suna Kafadar, Zoi Pappa, Iordanis Papadopoulos and Nana Sachini (invited by Zoi Pappa), Katia Roumbou, Soledad Pinto and Loes Heebink, Javier Rodríguez, Tom Robinson, Mihalis Theodosiadis,Vaticanochico​ Publishers, Karine Wehbe and Mirene Arsanios.

• “98Weeks Project-Research”, presented by the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art 2011, “Παλιές Διασταυρώσεις – Make it New”, the main programme “The Rock and The Hard Place”, co-curate by Marina Fokidis, Paolo Colombo and Machita El Bacha Urieta, Bei Hamam (Old Baths), Thessaloniki (Greece).

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