Akram Zaatari: earth of endless secrets

Earth of endless secrets refers to Zaatari’s ongoing research project, unearthing and examining a wide range of documents that testify to the current cultural and political conditions of Lebanon. Zaatari’s artistic practice involves the study and investigation of the way these documents straddle, conflate, or confuse notions of history and memory. By re-contextualizing audiotapes, videos, photographs, journals, personal collections of artifacts, objects, and interviews, Zaatari explores the “dynamics that govern the state of image-making in situations of war,” more precisely in territories subject to military invasions and withdrawals. With an almost archeological eye, he reveals the intimate layers of history contained in records of everyday experience.

Edited by Karl Bassil and Akram Zaatari

Essays by: Rasha Salti, Hannah Feldman, Laura U. Marks, and Kaelen Wilson-Goldie.

Published by: Portikus (Frankfurt), Sfeir Semler gallery, and Beirut art center.

With the generous support of The Prince Claus Fund, Hessische Kultur, and 53 dots.

381 pages. color. Dimensions: 28 x 24 cm. hard cover.