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Paris Photo 2009 will inaugurate this Thursday, November 19, and will run through November 22 at the Carrousel du Louvre, offering visitors a rare overview of historic and contemporary photographic production from and concerning the Arab countries and Iran, with 89 galleries and 13 publishers from 23 countries.
The guest curator for this edition is Catherine David, who directed Documenta X in Kassel in 1997 and has since developed a number of projects on “Contemporary Arab Representations.”
Paris Photo, the world’s leading event for photography since 1997, this year is demonstrating that contrary to what is often assumed there is a real attraction to the photographic image in the Arab countries and Iran, and the relationship with this medium goes back a long way.
The main section of the fair will present examples of studio photography from the 1870s to the 1960s, from the collection of the Arab Image Foundation, an institution created in 1997 in Beirut dedicated to the photographic heritage of the Arab world. Together with well-known names like Walid Raad, Yto Barrada and Lara Baladi, it will be possible to get closer to this constantly growing and moving culture.
In addition to this platform, a large number of galleries in the general section have chosen to pay tribute to the work of artists from the Middle East, or to Western artists who have worked in this region.
But projects delivered to Beverly Hills officials last month show a much bigger project: a 126,600-square-foot, three-story building, which will include about 43,000 square feet of museum space, a 6,100-square-foot outdoor sculpture court on the top floor, and 67,000 square feet to host an “archive” for the art not on display, along with offices for the Broad Foundation’s art, education and medical research. (FlashArt)
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