Erich Paproth | Bibliotheca Alexandrina

ÜBER ERICH PAPROTH

Text zur Ausstellung in der Bibliotheca Alexandrina "Imagining the Book"
im September 2002

aus: umbrella, vol. 25, no 3/4, december 2002, p. 107

BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA OPENS

REPORT FROM THE LIBRARY ABOUT "Imagining the Book"

Editor's note: Proposed by the organizers, "The core of the proposed project
is a workshop, exhibition and colloquium at the Library of Alexandria that
brings together 120 artists and scholars representing different languages
and cultures to present the book as art, pushing out the boundaries of the
concept of "book" to highlight the role of the imagination in inspiring and
documenting our journey towards knowledge and wisdom."

54 Egyptian artists worked in five different workshops (the Library, the
French Cultural Center, the Goethe Institute, the Atelier, Alexandria and
the Alex Workshop Center) along with 36 foreign artists and student
assistants. The spirit at all the workshops was exceptionally positive. For
many, it was the first time to work alongside other artists in an
environment free of competition. At the same time it was an opportunity to
measure one's work against that of internationally-recognized artists. The
energy, the differences, the curiosity all fostered cooperation and
friendship that resulted in a high standard of output and forged lasting
relationships and contacts among all the artists. For most of the
non-Egyptian artists, it was their first contact with Egypt and her artists
and their enthusiasm and gratitude was boundless: many are determined to
return. A number of artists are meeting their Egyptian counterparts in
Cairo, visiting their studios and the Townhouse Gallery and planning future
projects in Egypt. Out of this contact a number of future collaborations are
developing, such as one-week residencies for foreign artists at Cairo
University, more workshops with Egyptian artists at the Alex Workshop
Center, invitations to exhibit in Mexico, Lebanon, Germany and others.
Finally, the event has generated Egyptian access to new resources, such as
the Mail Art network, the Well Project (originating in Germany and Poland,
respectively), as well as websites, publications and other events.

A number of art students from Cairo and Alexandria worked as assistants to
the foreign artists. It was an unprecedented opportunity for these students
to see new ways of working, new materials and new creative possibilities: as
one student expressed it, "my eyes were opened-I learned how to see". They
also had the opportunity to express themselves to a larger audience when Dr.
Mohamed Abou El Naga steered the Channel S team towards the students, rather
than towards the VIPs. The students represent a younger generation of
Egyptian artists. Many of them are women and many of them wear the Islamic
headscarf and modest dress. Their enthusiasm and curiosity and generosity
(many of them invited their "mentors" to their homes, on tours of
Alexandria, etc) showed the foreign artists another face of Islamic Egypt,
one they would never have seen from media reports or touristic visits.
Discussions on politics, religion, culture were all part of the daily work,
especially at the communal lunch shared by artists, assistants and workers
and all came away enriched by the exchange.

The effect of the event on the teaching of art in Egyptian institutions has
been both unexpected and profound: it is the first time that an exhibition
in Egypt has had an influence on curriculum and teaching methods. Supported
by the enthusiastic testimonies of both government and academic officials,
teachers from the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria and Cairo Universities have
made the exhibition a part of their program, as field trip and as study and
have accepted the field of Book Art into the official curriculum

It is generally recognized that the event has contributed to the development
of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina as a significant venue for learning,
translating vision into concrete action. It is also generally acknowledged
that the event has attracted interest to the city of Alexandria and bestowed
an enhanced status on the cultural activity in that city It is not,
therefore, surprising that the event has been officially adopted by Mohamed
Abou El Naga, Dr. Ismail Serragaldin, Director of the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina announced at the opening reception and again at the colloquium
that henceforth the event would be part of the program of this institution,
as a "biennale" of Book Art.

REPORT FROM ANNE HICKS SIBERELL

In September, I arrived in Egypt to participate in the opening of the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The new library, a UNESCO project, was built as a
contemporary replacement of Alexander's magnificent library that existed
more than 2000 years ago. For its first exhibition titled "Imagining the
Book: International Contemporary Art Encounter", the library invited 54
Egyptian artists and 36 artists from around the world to take part in a
workshop prior to the opening in October. The five different workshops were
assisted by students and library staff. In all, 125 artists contributed to
an exhibition, which was shown in two huge halls and venues throughout the
city.

The library sent a car to meet me at the airport about 3 .am. On 13
September, and it was almost dawn by the time I got situated in the hotel.
At 9:30 that morning (and for the next few days), a bus picked up those of
us who were staying in the hotel and delivered us back in the late
afternoon.

We were assigned working areas in a cooperative that had once been a factory
complex. Medium and size of project determined placement in studios that
allowed us to work alongside artists from other countries. During work time
many languages wafted about, mostly English, Arabic, French, Japanese,
Swedish and Italian, Turkish and Polish. Each day we received a hot-boxed
lunch and water which we needed in the 97-degree heat.

Because the book exhibition was a first to be mounted in the halls, some
equipment was in short demand. At one point I needed two tiny nails to
complete the hanging. When the nails did arrive hours later, I had my choice
of every possible shape and size.

In looking back on how the exhibition got mounted, it seems a miracle! The
exhibition hall was still in completion, while spaces in the huge empty
galleries (and for outdoor installations) were being designated for each
artist's work.

The show filled two exhibition halls, with some installations mounted
outdoors, and at additional venues so that all books could be accommodated
regardless of size. At the reception artists were relieved to have our work
finally out of our hands, library directors and staff seemed pleased and
proud, and the viewers were receptive to the mysteries of the artist's book.
Many Egyptians had never seen such an exhibition.

In addition to the show there was a symposium, programs by artists, critics,
journalists and scholars. The feeling was that the ambitious plan had met
its goal.

REPORT FROM ERICH PAPROTH

An Interview with Erich Paproth by Franciska Wilcken: (Berlin, November,
2002)

The Participants:
The consensus spurring us on to astonishing work was itself astonishing;
there was no competition, no fighting for a prize. Good work was done in a
manifold global context; an all-encompassing unity arose and developed the
life and, above all, the work of the artists from more than twenty different
countries. A cultural exchange emerged, yet a cultural identity as well, one
which did not fracture at political or religious boundaries. Being different
was always courageous and openness and thus freedom for a continuation which
was then represented in the exhibition following the workshop. The artists
comprised and were supported by excellent organization - of space and room,
of foreignness and proximity, of security and joy.

The Exhibition

Q: How was the exhibition?

A: In the studio environment, work with the materials was so easy for me
that I at first expected to find other results materially and technically
closer to my own work in the exhibition. In particular, Mohamed Abu El
Naga's work impressed me: in its material proximity and size it is really a
work about the book as object of the imaginary. The commission "imagining
the book" became for me, as I sought distance, "imaging the book". I
especially remember the installation of dancing dervishes on canvas and the
"belly" dancer with "house" background music. The music alone creates
desire, and in this presentation! It was certainly the most impressive work.
I really treasured some of the works that at first glance seem plain and
appear small and - typical for book art - of course could not be suitably
presented, will never experience a comparable estimation. The exhibition was
good and courageous: courageous because it focused on the book, and clearly
supports the book as a contribution to artistic work (without begging for
recognition). Each book work was artistically unique and natural and
evidenced impressive artistic debate. A truly international exhibition,
then! And we are excitedly looking forward to its catalogue which we hope
will, and we imagine can, be many places in this world.

Q: Did you create a library?

A: No. Most were single works that were then gathered together in the
exhibition and then certainly touched on the "library" horizon, but not in
themselves created for the purpose of "library-izing". Certainly now and
then the aspect of collecting of traces. Those are of course contributions,
characteristics of a library's being. Unfortunately, or perhaps thank
goodness, the theme library was not required, not even "Biblioteca
Alexandrina". The commission was "imagining the book", from which I
developed "imaging the book".

Q: Memories?

A: The participants were extremely present in their ability and in their
perception - most were well prepared and possessed great technical artistic
competence for creating a large work, to participate in it. But what
artistic work is possible without memory?

Q: How was interaction with the site?

A: For me, the site was fantastic. As artist and historian, I was facing an
enormously complex challenge, represented in the work, and one I was able to
confront (at least I think so!). The timeline and thus the (diachronic) path
of the "Biblioteca Alexandrina" could actually be realized in a search for
traces. My work bears the title: "From the New to the Old Library" and
consists of the results of actually recording traces of the topography of
the "historically objective" path from the new to the old library. A
fabulous approach to a work

The Lecture:

Too bad - it could have really become an inspired theoretical discourse if
the participants had been capable of such. Unfortunately not, and thus the
lectures were sometimes embarrassingly failed self-presentations by the
invited artists. Sadly, more and more people backed off from this
obligation. It would have been great if a qualified person had worked with
the artists: interviews and a challenge to participate in a discourse on the
topic. It wouldn't have been so important to distinguish between "imagining"
and "imaging" here.

Conclusion:
A great event – it created a strong transcontinental artistic dialogue and
was quite influential for my work. A continuation of the event would
certainly show interesting developments in all our work and the Book Art. I
will continue.

REPORT FROM SEAN KERNAN

Let me share my view with you. I am writing from the verandah of the Old
Cataract Hotel, looking out over the Nile at Aswan. It is a great place to
sit for a moment and write you about this trip across time and cultures, far
into the realm of art.
I am relaxing after having just finished up 10 days work at the Alexandrian
Library. The original library was built by Alexander the Great in about 350
BC. It housed the greatest collection of books in the world, and
philosophers, mathematicians and other thinkers gathered there to read, talk
to each other and generally try get to the bottom of everything. It was more
like a think tank than what we think of as a library. You didn't borrow the
books and there was no Children's Story Hour.That Library was destroyed
sometime around 300 AD, as the Roman Empire collapsed in on itself.

Then 30 years ago someone came up with the idea of building a new library
just next to where the old one stood. It would become a center of learning
and scholarship for Egypt and the world, a repository for books but also a
high-tech internet-based information node.Now the building has just opened
open, a spectacular architectural statement that rivals the Gehry Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao.
The exhibition that opened it was Imagining the Book, the first large-scale
event at the library. Thirty artists from all over the world as well as from
all around Egypt came and worked for a week making art about books. At the
end of the week, we hauled what we had made from our studios on the edge of
town over to the museum and installed it, along with other work sent by a
hundred other artists from around the globe.
The show, called Imagining the Book, filled two huge halls, the plaza in
front of the library, and several other venues around town. The installation
was wonderful to see, but for me the real fun was in making the work.
Artists usually work in solitude, so this kind of beehive atmosphere was an
incredible experience, a cross between sleep-away camp and art school. The
days were incredibly long and focused, and at the end of them we'd all eat
together and talk about everything you can think of.
(An odd moment for me came when I presented what I wanted to do to the
organizers, and they just said, 'Whatever you like.' I kept pushing for them
to approve my concept, but they just wouldn't. Then I realized that they
really meant that I should go ahead. I have worked so long in the commercial
environment that I was expecting them to behave like clients and sign off on
it. Finally I just went ahead.)
The piece I did was a still life made from a mosaic of 72 Polaroid prints,
each one of a different part of the set-up, toned on the spot and fixed
directly on the Library wall. (Polaroid very kindly donated all the film.)
It took me 5 days to make the one piece.five days! I also included two
pieces of sculpted images and three photos from my monograph The Secret
Books.
(And, in fact I was the only photographer. My sponsor confided that the
committee had reservations about even inviting a photographer. They wanted
someone who made things, something of clay or wood or paint and metal, not
just images. But he argued and prevailed. I'm so grateful that he did.) And
just to answer the question that nearly everyone asks: No, I was never
worried. Given the state of the world and the position of our government in
the Middle East, it is a fair question, but everyone I met was simply
wonderful-warm, welcoming and helpful-and the team of organizers, led by an
artist named Mohamed Abou el Naga, did an amazing job of keeping things
running smoothly. It was impossible to feel anything other than harmony with
the whole group.
All in all, it was one of the highpoints of my artistic life. And as a bonus
I came back home with an idea for a new project. I hope to travel back to
Egypt within the next year or so to work on it. I don't want to say too much
about it here. It's not a done deal, and besides I want to keep it floating
in my minds eye for as long as I can to see where it goes. But here's a
hint: its working title is The Museum of Dust.

Vol. 25, no. 3/4 - Umbrella

ed.: judith a. hoffberg, po 3640, santa monica ca 90408
email.: umbrella@ix.netcom.com www.colophon.com/journal

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