The Common Library is open from Monday to Saturday, 10am-5pm.
For information on readings, artist talks and workshops in the Common Library, see our upcoming Events.
Photo credit: Christopher Baaklini, Arab Image Foundation
Library Catalog:
This catalog is an online database of our physical library. It holds over 2,300 books, journals and documents related to photography, art, and the MENA region.
The library is an essential resource for anyone with an interest in photography and visual culture.
The Common Library, located at the Arab Image Foundation, is shared with Dawawine, Public Works and Archive Books. Together we house an extensive collection of publications on a range of themes, from photography, and art, to critical theory and feminism, from cinema and theatre, to history and urbanism. Whether you want to delve into the works of renowned photographers or explore the intricacies of the city, or even calligraphy, our library offers a critical and diverse range of books and ephemera, housed within space fostering community and cultural exchange.
If you are seeking a quiet space to study or work; an environment to discuss or organise; or a place to simply charge your phone and cool down from the heat, you are welcome to visit the Common Library.
Recent Acquisition
03 April 2024 Acquisition title Author Acquired from/Donated by Brief description
03 April 2024 Acquisition title Author Acquired from/Donated by Brief description
Featured Publication
Sélection Focus 1 – Traduction مختارات مسار ١ – الترجمة by Dawawine Beirut
Book recommendation 002 selected by Dawawine: Focus 1 - Translation
The second book recommendation has been compiled by Dawawine, as part of their Focus series for the Common Library at the Arab Image Foundation.
Focus 1 - Translation is a selection of books and writings that look at translation not for its capacity to deliver equivalent texts and words in another language. Rather, it is where we halt over the unequivalences, using them as opportunities to diffract significations, to reveal the bits and parts where one can appropriate meaning, while keeping away from the burden of betrayal, to take measure of the partial understanding we might have of the depth of the languages we utter, to witness how languages have long been prone to interferences, and again, ourselves, interfere lovingly, nervously, delightfully.
AMONG A SEA OF INFLUENCES
SORRY I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND. CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN ?
ENTRE LES LANGUES Conférences
صموئل بكت، ترجمة ديك الجن
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PENSÉE GRECQUE CULTURE ARABE
HARSH OUT OF TENDERNESS
KALIARDÁ
THE QUEER ARAB GLOSSARY
DMZ COLONY
PIDGINIZATION AS CURATORIAL
FASSL n5 ASSIA DJEBAR
THE ILLUSTRATED SURVIVAL GUIDE
Auditorium
Beside the Common Library is an auditorium / screening room. The room features a professional-grade DCP Projector provided by the Cooperative of Cinema Professionals, and cinema chairs contributed by Dawawine.
While members of the Cooperative have access to the screening room and its facilities, we also hire out the space to other professionals. Our hope is to create a hub for varied programming and screenings, whilst also establishing a self-sustaining economic model that covers any maintenance and operational costs, contributing to the economy we share with our collaborators.
For information on programmes and screenings in the auditorium / screening room, see our upcoming Events.
Collaborators
Dawawine is a cultural entity specialised in film, dance, theatre and music. It will using the library and auditorium for its public programmes, but also jointly programme with one or multiple entities in the space on topics of shared interest. The Common Library holds around 900 books from Dawawine.
Public Works is a research and design studio that critically tackles urban and social issues. Public Works has contributed around 200 books to the common library.
Archive Books is a polycentric publishers cooperative with bases in Milan, Berlin and Dakar. The Common Library at AIF is one of their new centres. The cooperative is a community of practitioners collaborating across regions and socio-political environments. As a result, their work is deeply rooted in a sustained scrutiny of the role of languages, visuality, and archives in the perpetration of the coloniality of knowledge.
The Cooperative of Cinema Professionals is a collective of industry professionals spanning cinematographers, colourists, sound engineers, animators, set designers, and filmmakers.