With/ Without

One Response to “With/ Without”

  1. antonia carver Says:

    These images of villas in Dubai by arabianeye photographers Celia Peterson and Richard Allenby-Pratt are part of a book just published by Bidoun and Moutamarat, that looks at spatial politics in the Middle East. See http://www.bidoun.com for further details.

    WITH/WITHOUT
    Spatial Products, Practices and Politics in the Middle East

    Edited by Shumon Basar, Antonia Carver and Markus Miessen

    As Dubai builds unprecedented realms of new newness, other parts of the Middle East grapple with physical and symbolic histories. Relics come up against re-invention and revolution. Micro-mutations in Middle Eastern politics or economics are part of our shared ‘local’ news around the globe.

    With/Without is an anthology, featuring an archival design, that casts an eye across the broader swathes of the Middle East today.

    Each of the fourteen chapters takes an obvious architectural or institutional typology (the museum, the villa, the street, the skyscraper, etcetera) and illustrates it with essays, interviews, and documentary photographs.

    Subjects range from the redevelopment of Martyr’s Square in Beirut; gated communities in Istanbul; Dubai’s mall culture; bridge building in Mecca; and the creation of a new Iraqi flag in the post-Saddam era. The underlying question in all of these inquiries is: how do spaces and territories form fundamental ideas about individuals, communities, and worlds?

    Co-published by Bidoun and Moutamarat, With/Without is edited by London-based architects/critics Shumon Basar and Markus Miessen, with Bidoun editor Antonia Carver, and designed by the award-winning Dubai agency 9714.

    Book details:
    Editors: Shumon Basar, Antonia Carver, Markus Miessen
    Managing editor: Antonia Carver
    Design: Jana Allerding, 9714
    Format: 15×22 cm, 265 pages
    Publisher: Bidoun/Moutamarat
    Price: $25 / Dhs90
    ISBN: 978-9948-03-453-7

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