2008-ongoing

NOA (not only arabic) magazine is a periodical magazine in limited editions. Viewing of the magazine can only be arranged by appointment or by direct inscription, at specific or secret locations, such as a hotel room, or a library.  

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NOA I

In 2008, the first issue titled treason is like a bible was launched at Home Works IV in Beirut and read at the offices of Ashkal Alwan.

In 2010 treason is like a bible was re-read at Kunsthalle Lissabon, and in 2013 at CCA in Glasgow.   

NOA magazine I: treason is like a bible, chief editor: mounira al solh, editors: mona abu rayyan and fadi el tofeili, co-editor: noa roi, artistic director: lynn osman, producer: Ashkal Alwan

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NOA II

In 2009, the second issue titled arrest buried under something else was released during the Istanbul Biennial, and read there at an Italian ex-opera school.

In 2010  arrest buried under something else was read during a group show at De Appel in Amsterdam. The reading took place in a hotel room overlooking De Appel. In 2010/11 it was re-read at Kunsthalle Lissabon and in 2013 at CCA in Glasgow.  

NOA magazine II: arrest buried under something else, chief editor: mounira al solh, editors: mona abu rayyan, erden kosova and fadi el tofeili, creative director: ali cherri, produced by the 11^thInternational Biennial, with the support of FONDS BKVB

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NOA III

In 2012, working on the third issue of NOA magazine started as I was on a residency at AIR in Antwerp. The magazine is on “language and schizophrenia” and takes its inspiration from Louis Wolfson’s Le Schizo et Les Langues.

The third issue of NOA magazine will be unfolded and will create interactive works, such as reading sessions, talks, performances, videos, created dictionaries. Working on the third issue of NOA magazine has lead to the creation of noa language school, a collaborative project with Angela Serino. You can find more information on this project here: http://www.noalanguageschool.org

A selection of NOA magazine III research acts:

- A video shot in Beirut on 27 August 2012 recording a discussion between Chaza Charafeddine, Masha Refka, Marwa Arsanios, Maxime Hourani and Fadi El Tofeili about the schism between Darija and Fous'ha in Arabic. Seated around a table on a house balcony, the group of writers, artists and translators discuss what is most urgent in their opinion to think about when it comes to the Lebanese dialect in relation to the Arabic language and our daily life language. In which language do we dream? How do we take our notes and so on…

- A video shot at Atlas in Antwerp where immigrants in Belgium inscribe in order to study the Flemish language and to integrate in Antwerp. (please check the work titled vrijouiligers in the list of works). 2012-14

- A reading that took place on Tuesday 19 March 2013 at rongwrong in Amsterdam co-organized with Arnisa Zeqo. Along with the participants, we read selections of texts by Cathy Acker and Louis Wolfson. 

- A talk by curator of AIR Antwerpen Alan Quireyns at 98 Weeks in Beirut, presenting two examples of projects that deal with the specific use of language in nowadays Belgium. One by current resident Darren Roshier named "Darren Roshier essaie de (re)presenter ses trois maanden van residentie", and the other project is named "Raymond" and is a theatre production by KVS (Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg) and Théatre National, where a monologue is held in a mixture of Dutch and French, without really translating or repeating. The talk took place on April 3rd 2013.

- A collaborative reseach week titled "a next stopping place called hearsing" held in Beirut with 98 Weeks, Kunsthalle Lissabon and AIR Antwerpen in Beirut. Dates: 16-19 October 2013.

It included a performance by Pedro Barateiro and Amal Dibo, a temporary installation consisting of a slide projection by André Romao at Villa Fleming, an open group discussion on institutional language moderated by Ghalya Saadawi at 98 Weeks and with Joao Mourao, Luis Silva, Mark Luyten, Marwa Arsanios,  and other participants, an artist's presentation at Villa Fleming by Mark Luyten, a temporary exhibition at 98 Weeks of Nathan Witt's 98 press releases, collected and defaced. 

Here below the details and program:

NOA Magazine III

"A next stopping place called Hearsing"*

Research week, in collaboration with 98 Weeks, Kunsthalle Lissabon, AIR Antwerpen

October 15-19, 2013, Beirut (98 Weeks, Villa Flemming, Mansion)

Mounira Al Solh, in collaboration with AIR Antwerpen, Kunsthalle Lissabon and 98 Weeks, organizes a research week in Beirut, around the third edition of NOA Magazine (Not Only in Arabic). NOA Magazine is an ongoing project in Mounira Al Solh’s practice. It is conceived as an experimental gesture located between exclusive magazine and performance. A limited print of 5 to 9 copies is made for each magazine issue where Mounira Al Solh invites artists, writers and thinkers to contribute. In order to read it, an appointment is required at a specific place during a specific event. Only one person at a time or two can read the magazine.

For this third edition of NOA magazine the issue of language is put central to the research. It departs from the role of language as an agency for the creation of identity and how we relate ourselves to our mother language. It goes into the curious story of American writer Louis Wolfson, who in “Le Schizo et les Langues” explains his methodology to gradually eliminate his mother language English. Living in New York with an American mother and stepfather this calls for a very sophisticated system of immediate phonetic translation.

The purpose of the research week is to have conversations, presentations and performances who contribute to the thinking process, with Marwa Arsanios, Pedro Barateiro, Mark Luyten, Ghassan Maasri, João Mourão, Roger Outa, André Romão, Luis Silva, Nathan Witt. As part of this research Alan Quireyns did a presentation in 98 Weeks Beirut, earlier this year using two examples of artistic projects where language plays an important role.

*Hearsing is a compound name that Freud invented in his dreams. "One part of it was derived from the names of place on the suburban railway near Vienna, which so often end in "ing" (...). The other part was derived from the English word "hearsay"." (A Voice and Nothing More, Mladen Dolar)

Program:

Wednesday 16 October, 8pm, at 98 Weeks

How to Make a Mask, Pedro Barateiro in collaboration with Amal Dibo, performance

"How to Make a Mask" is a scripted monologue accompanied by images that put various modes of subjectivity into play. The performance is delivered as a lecture, as the performer introduces among other things the "Big Five Theory", a personality test created by Carl Jung, which s still used today in companies to choose a job applicant.

Thursday 17 October, 98 Weeks

7pm, Reception for Nathan Witt, 98 Press Releases for 98 Weeks (Exercises De Style)

A pathetic life of stalking, courting libel, defamation, treachery, contesting the claims of others, defending artists - for some unknown reason - embarrasment about your own mind and fighting to silence it... and 2 Press Releaes short of Raymond Queneau's 100 Stories told in endlessly differnt ways in Exercises de style. 

8pm, A conversation on Institutional Language with Marwa Arsanios (98 Weeks), Mark Luyten, João Mourão and Luis Silva (Kunsthalle Lissabon), Ghassan Maasri (Mansion), moderated by Ghalya Saadawi.

How is language used inside insititutions in different stages of projects; from grant applications to production to press releases? How does it affect artistic production? How does this shape our understanding and general relation to art?

Friday 18 October, Villa Fleming

7pm, The Dancing Plague, André Romão, a temporized slide projection

8pm, Artist Talk by Mark Luyten, The talk centers around narrative strategies as a "modus" in some series of his works from the 90s.

- A closed of reading group (no details will be announced)

- the final and actual release of the magazine on may 2015 

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