Al-Mutanabbi street
Subtitle: a vicious circle
By: Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck]
Published: 2013
Place of publication: [Thisted?]
Language: eng
Subjects: Bombings; Pictorial works; Artists' books; Shāriʹ al-Mutanabbī (Baghdad, Iraq); Miscellanea; Violence; Booksellers and bookselling; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Protest movements; Books and reading in art; Intellectual life; Social conditions; Censorship; Terrorism in art; In art; War and civilization; Vehicle bombs; Visual literature; Specimens; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Description: This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition's focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content.
Notes: Artist's book, in which the images are cut-outs. There are five cut-out circles: one with buildings, one with people, one with coffe and teapots and hookahs, one with forks and machine guns, and the last is an empty circle with burnt edges. Quarter bound in card board, with title laser-engraved.

" ... Why was the car bomb explosion in Al-Mutanabbi Street on the 5th of March 2007 not just another atack, only this time on a street filled with booksellers? ... It seems likely that the books that drew this hatred may have contained ideas that would point society away from such acts and a a greater shared respect and humanity. Killing only leads to more killing and history reveals it is a vicious circle ... This book is a representation of this circle and a tribute to Al-Mutanabbi Street--a street where thought and ideas were--and are--exchanged in book form."--Introduction.

"This book is part of the international project: 'An inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street' initiated ... in 2010 ... Three copies have been donated to the project. Completed February 2013"--Introduction.

"Laser-cut at the University of West England [sic], Bristol by Tom Sowden."

Hand-cut and signed by the artist.

SC/RBR: Lib. has copy no. 8/10.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.