At the beginning of this year, Jon Lindblom (Faculty Berlin ’19) of Modernism Unbound visited Tunisia to speak at New Affinities, a programme that develops Mark Fisher’s concept of popular modernism in Arabic, contextualised by and for the Arab World.

With vast public events, New Affinities was designed with the aim of creating an intimate space, domestic in character, exploring the false dichotomy between the experimental/critical and mainstream/popular by presenting examples of popular modernist works primarily from the Arab world in a variety of art forms. The exhibition and its use of domestic interiors of display put into question understandings and engagement with different art mediums and their modes of production and consumption.

New Affinities featured films, music, poetry, literature, dance, anime, video games and fashion most of which made and consumed in the Arab world, all shown at B7L9 Art Station.

Full information here.

New Affinities was curated by online music magazine Ma3azef and Reem Shadid
Organised by The Kamel Lazaar Foundation
Exhibition design by Musbahi/Harskamp
Graphic design by Montasser Drissi

“تآلفات جديدة”، والذي يستضيفه المحطة الفنية ب7ل9، يبني على مفهوم الحداثة الشعبية للمفكر الراحل مارك فيشر من خلال تطوير مفهوم للحداثة الشعبية باللغة العربية، من صلب الثقافة العربية. صمم المعرض ليكون بيئة حميمة، بيتوتية، ليستكشف الفصل الباطل بين ما يعتبر تجريبيًا/نقديًا وما هو سائد/شعبي من خلال تقديم أمثلة أعمال توافق الحداثة الشعبية من العالم العربي، أو أعمالًا عالمية تحظى بشعبية فيه. تبرز هذه الأعمال المتنوعة الأصناف ما هو حداثي وشعبي. المعرض وطبيعته الحميمة يسائلان فهمنا وتجربتنا للفنون المختلفة وطرق استهلاكها. سيضم المعرض أفلامًا، موسيقى، شعرًا، أدبًا، رقصًا معاصرًا، أنيميه، ألعاب الفيديو والموضة، وسيقع في وسطه مكتب معازف، ومكتبة ومحطة راديو تبث خلال المعرض.

من تقييم معازف وريم شديد
معرض فني تنظمه مؤسسة كمال الأزعر
تصميم المعرض: مصباحي/هارسكامب
التصميم الجرافيكي: منتصر الإدريسي

INFORMATION

New Affinities: 11th Dec – 25th Jan 2020
B7L9 Art Station
Rue Commandant Bejaoui, 2046 La Marsa

About Jon Lindblom

Jon Lindblom (b. 1986) is a cultural theorist and editor based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has a BA in film and cultural theory from Stockholm University, and an MA and a PhD in Aural and Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths University. He also has a degree in book publishing from Stockholm University. He is the editor and founder of Modernism Unbound,  an online publication oriented around the subversive encounter between modernism and popular culture, against the backdrop of the transition from analogue to digital culture.

About B7L9

B7L9 is an experimental art space imagined and developed by the Kamel Lazaar Foundation (KLF) in Bhar Lazreg (بحرلزرق), commonly known as B7ar Lazra9 phonetically, which gave birth to B7L9, a rural land whose landscape has been transformed organically. at the heart of the political vacuum in the aftermath of the revolution. The new forward-thinking / innovative and challenging categorization space is designed as a laboratory for KLF to connect, interact and grow its business to date and to initiate / launch a regional dialogue with international cultural institutions contemporary visual.

The Kamel Lazaar Foundation responds to the imminent need for the creation and promotion of visual arts in the Maghreb and the Arab World. It is dedicated to supporting cultural practice and providing a forum for dialogue in the region and beyond.