January 29, 2012
To live in exile is to sever oneself doubly—between one’s past and present, but also between the ambivalent mystery of a new place and the deepening mythologies that grow around one’s origins. These are the most readily apparent splits encountered by the exile, but surely there are hundreds, if not millions more, for the exile inadvertently exchanges one self for another, one economic system for another, one war for another, one community, one government, one family, one sensibility, one vocation, one culture, and so forth, for one that could just as well be any other.
Due to a complex chain of events, poet, essayist, journalist, and artist Bilal Khbeiz was forced to leave his home in Beirut permanently, adopting Los Angeles as his home before relocating to Washington, DC. While the circumstances surrounding his own exile are closely linked to the open wounds of the Lebanese Civil War, the feeling of estrangement felt most acutely by the exile can also be familiar to those who have not left their native country. As Khbeiz has written in a forthcoming interview for an issue of Third Text, guest-edited by Walid Sadek:
“My intent is to indicate that we do not defend the land in which we live or from which we originate by choosing to believe in its founding myths. In fact, these myths are what shackle us, provoke our premature deaths, and haunt us like the tireless fates from one generation to the next. When overdetermined by roots and origins, we often seek facile beliefs as an exit from the incongruities of what we are and who we would rather be.”
Bilal Khbeiz (1963, Kfarchouba) is a poet, essayist, journalist, and artist. He regularly contributes to Beirut Al-Masaa, Annahar, Almustaqbal, Elaph and Future TV. His publications include Tragedy in a Moment of Vision (2007), The Enduring Image and the Vanishing World (2005), and Globalization and the Manufacture of Transient Events (2003). Together with friend and collaborator Jon Rich, he is a frequent contributor to e-flux journal.
Also see:
Bilal Khbeiz, Gaza–Beirut–Tel Aviv: In Praise of Selfishness and Opportunism
Bilal Khbeiz, Modernity’s Obsession with Systems of Preservation
Bilal Khbeiz, Los Angeles: The Invention of Public Weather
Bilal Khbeiz, Michael Jackson Died for No Reason (and the Vampire that is His Life)
Jon Rich, The Blood of the Victim: Revolution in Syria and the Birth of the Image-Event
Jon Rich, Camels vs. Google: Revolutions Recreate the Center of the World
e-flux journal lecture series is organized in conjunction with e-flux book co-op at PS1:
Costly and often monopolistic approaches to the distribution of art books has resulted in a situation in which it is common for not only the author but also the publisher to receive little to no revenue from book sales. As a possible alternative, e-flux presents the book co-op: a mobile bookstore with over 600 titles on contemporary art, theory, and criticism from over 100 international art centers, artist-run spaces, and independent publishers. Housed in a refurbished aluminum Airstream trailer, this temporary model for more equitable distribution in art publishing displays and sells books on behalf of the cooperative’s member institutions.
co-op member publishers:
98weeks : A.R.T. Press : AND Publishing : Archis Press : Architectural Association / Bedford Press : Archive Press : Arsenal Gallery : Artspace : AS220 : BAK, basis voor actuele kunst : Ballroom Marfa : BAS : Bergen Kunsthall : Berliner Künstlerprogramm / DAAD : Bielefelder Kunstverein : Brumaria : CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo : CASCO—Office for Art, Design and Theory : Casino Luxembourg—Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg : CDA-Projects : Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) : Cultural Center of Belgrade : DeLVe, Institute for Duration, Location and Variables : Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane : EACC—Espai d’Art contempoarani de Castello : Eastside Projects : Fillip / Motto : Fondazione March : Fondazione Nicola Trussardi : Foreman Art Gallery of Bishopʼs University : Gagarin : Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic : Gallery Nova / WHW : Grazer Kunstverein : Halifax, INK : Harpune Verlag : IASPIS : ICA Sofia : Ikon Gallery : Independent Curators International (ICI) : Index, The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation : Kadist / Kadist Paris : Kim? : Kölnischer Kunstverein : Kumu Art Museum : Kunsthalle Basel : Kunsthalle Bern : Kunsthaus Bregenz : Kunsthaus Graz : Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein : Kunstnernes Hus : Kunstverein Hamburg : LABoral Centre for Art and Creative Industries : Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers : M HKA : MACBA : MAMbo-Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna : Master in Visual Arts, Faculdade Santa Marcelina : Maumaus, Escola de Artes Visuais : Milton Keynes Gallery : Moderna Galerija Ljubljana : MUMA, Monash University Museum of Art : Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia : Museum of Contemporary Art Serralves : NKV, Nassauischer Kunstverein : MNAC, National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest : NBK, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein : Nottingham Contemporary : Old Mill Society : OMMU : Paraguay Press : Pavilion : Pavilion Unicredit : Pori Art Museum : Portikus / Städelschule : Postgraduate Program in Curating, Zürich University of the Arts / Whitespace : Press to exit project space : Project Arts Centre : Publication Studio : Rakett : READ Books, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art and Design : REDCAT : Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten : SALT : Salzburger Kunstverein : Sarai-CSDS : Serpentine Gallery : Shedhalle : split/fountain : Sternberg Press : Stroom den Haag : The Books : The New Gallery : The Power Plant : The Renaissance Society : Torpedo Press : Traffic : Van Abbemuseum : Vitamin Creative Space : Walker Arts Center : Wexner Center for the Arts : White Flag Projects : Wysing Arts Center : Zacheta National Gallery of Art and others.