Controlled denotations
By: Elçin Marasli
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Chicago, IL]
Language: eng
Subjects: Metaphor in art; Violence; Pictorial works; Booksellers and bookselling; Bombings; 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; Artists' books; 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.

"The Latin word for book is 'liber' which also refers to the inner bark of a tree, and the concept of freedom. The front cover of a book is most often compared to skin, or perhaps clothing. As much as it is a flat surface, a smooth, glossy, hard, or paperback object, it is also a bodily relatable entity; it is very human. Before it can be called a book, Controlled Detonations is an imaginary term coined to help us denote primary meanings of words and images, and challenge processes of abstraction that assign them symbolic significance for ideological purposes. By constructing a poetic/metaphoric discourse around the 2007 car bombing on al-Mutanabbi Street, the book aims to transform itself into a shared, moral act. It is an anthology of found visuals and a critical essay regarding Internet's distribution and ownership of images and words in the recording and preservation of the history of 2007 al-Mutanabbi Street car bombing. Controlled Denotations uses one last metaphor with profound intentions to make realize that ideology itself is a metaphor. It can, however, be overcome through our very literal acts as simple as breathing, touching skin, changing clothes, or reading a book"--Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK.
Notes: Cover title.

Edition signed by the artist.

On March 5th, 2007, a car bomb exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. Al-Mutanabbi Street is located in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic center of Baghdad bookselling, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. It has been the longstanding heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community for centuries. In response to the attack, a San Francisco poet and bookseller, Beau Beausoleil, rallied a community of international artists and writers to produce a collection of letterpress-printed broadsides (poster-like works on paper), artists' books (unique works of art in book form), and an anthology of writing, all focused on expressing solidarity with Iraqi booksellers, writers and readers. The coalition of contributing artists calls itself Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.

English and Arabic.