Al Mutanabbi always
By: [art by] Karen Baldner ; text by Al-Mutanabbi
Contributors: Mutanabbī, Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn, 915 or 916-965, poet; IU Herron School of Art and Design; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [Karen Baldner]
Published: 2015
Place of publication: [Indianapolis, Indiana]
Language: eng
Subjects: 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; Cultural property; Destruction and pillage; Conceptual art; Publishers and publishing; History; 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.

"Karen Baldner grew up in West Germany in a Jewish family who survived persecution by Nazi Germany. The haunted climate of Germany after the Holocaust became a pivotal experience and narrative for her work. Other influences are: her publisher family, the literary/musical world she grew up with, and the experience of the written word as both powerful and slippery; the work and life of Joseph Beuys; the pioneering work of book artist Keith Smith; the sculptor/papermaker Winnifred Lutz; the shifts in thinking during the 1960's. Although Germany remains a personal and professional destination, living in the US has become an important emotional buffer. Karen moved to the US to complete her formal studies with a Master's Degree in Printmaking; she still lives and works in the Midwest. She teaches Book Arts in the Printmaking Department at Herron School of Art & Design at Indiana University in Indianapolis. Karen's work has been supported by Fulbright and NEA Grants, as well as state grants from Arkansas and Indiana. She shows extensively throughout the US and Europe, and her work is in a number of public and private collections in the US, Canada and Germany"--Statement from the artist's website (viewed September 8, 2015).

"The book format offers an appropriate formal space for the dynamic processes I am interested in: two symmetrical pages that oppose and face each other, yet come together to a shared structure; a space to unfold, perhaps separate, juxtapose, integrate and mediate; objects expressive of their content that have to be used, interacted with by an audience. The inclusion of the viewer is mandated by format and tradition of the book structure. The viewer becomes part of the synergy of 2D and 3D parts completing them to a 4D experience. The intimacy of a book seems appropriate for offering up the open ended, unresolved and perhaps difficult processes I am exploring"--Statement from the artist's website (viewed September 8, 2015).

"When intellectual property is destroyed my heart aches. In particular, if the destruction is pervasive and massive, as the car bomb destruction of Al-Mutanabbi Street was in 2007. However, there is something indelible about knowledge and culture under attack. Books may get destroyed but people remember in their hearts and minds what is said inside them. My contribution to the 'Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here' project points to al-Mutanabbi himself. His poetry and wisdom have survived for centuries. For me, his name and writing is becoming a platform for resurrection. In my book, I allow his words to become increasingly more assertive against the backdrop of war propaganda and increasing sizes of pages. 'Al Mutanabbi Always' is a beckoning of the indestructible forces of culture. During the Nazi era, my family's publishing house inventory was burned, and the business was lost, except for the rescue of the author's rights. After the war my grandfather was able to rebuild the enterprise, and today, it is thriving as one of the larger publishing houses in Germany. I feel a personal connection to destructive events against culture. Hence, to me there was a special call to participate in this project. What we are looking at may be even larger than the world of books and culture but the attempt at destroying human spirit and its ultimate ability to withstand, survive and thrive"--Artist's statement from Book Arts website (viewed September 8, 2015).
Notes: Printed in an edition of 4.

Medium: Silkscreen printed on stenciled handmade paper; piano-hinge binding.

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.