Bidoun #10 : Technology

Letter from the Editor - Lisa Farjam

"Technology is messy and complex. Thomas P. Hughes, a historian of technology, has called it, simply, “a means to change the landscape.” We like that definition. It’s appealingly simple. In the following pages, we ponder technology — what it means to us, how it intersects with our lives, sometimes in the most subtle ways, sometimes in loud and messy ways. Our particular take on technology ranges from the very micro (TV, science fiction, simulation games) to the very macro (oil, canals, development).
We’re not in the business of having a position about things-technological — either celebrating its democratic promise (laptop fetishism) or damning its horrors (for we live in post-post-surveillance times). In these pages, we raise some simple questions, and, as ever, keep our heads down. The best stuff is always in the details."

Featuring:

Previews
BIDOUN
Highway to Heaven
NEGAR AZIMI, SOHRAB MOHEBBI
Gold Rush
ANTONIA CARVER
Conspiracy!
MOHAMMED YOUSRI
Kingdom of the Dolls
SEAN DOCKRAY
Mohammed al-Riffai
CLARE DAVIES
Yoshua Okon
MAGALI ARRIOLA
Jill Magid
ELIZABETH RUBIN
Tropical Malaise
MIRJAM SHATANAWI
Bidune
ANAND BALAKRISHNAN
Glory
BINYAVANGA WAINAINA
Perfect Sound Forever
MIKA TAANILA
One Life to Live
GARY DAUPHIN
Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads
CURTIS BROWN
Going Dutch
ERIC FASSIN
Free Love, Funny Costumes and a Canal at Suez
MARWA ELSHAKRY
Doctor Know
HASSAN KHAN, HAYTHAM EL-WARDANY
Let Them Eat Laptops
ALAA ABD EL FATTAH, BIDOUN, PARK DOING, KAUSHIK SUNDER RAJAN, SJ KLEIN
Blue Nile
SHERIF EL AZMA
Drill Bits
MOHAMED MANSOUR
The Haggis Samosa
SUKHDEV SANDHU
Disorientalism
MICHAEL C. VAZQUEZ
Body Tech
BRUCE HAINLEY
Gentleman’s Agreement
TIRDAD ZOLGHADR
Lens Flare
ANTONIA CARVER
Winter Film Festival Review
KAELEN WILSON-GOLDIE, ANTONIA CARVER, SARAH MERSCH
Claire Fontaine
MURTAZA VALI
Sensorium
JACOB PROCTOR
Yama
NOVEMBER PAYNTER
Under the Indigo Dome
ANTONIA CARVER
The Exotic Journey Ends
BARBARA PIWOWARSKA
Melik Ohanian
EMILY SPEERS MEARS
Akram Zaatari
BELINDA GRACE GARDNER
The Maghreb Connection
ANNA SUSSMAN
Rokni Haerizadeh
SOHRAB MOHEBBI
Camp Campaign
MEDIA FARZIN
Nazgol Ansarinia
SOHRAB MOHEBBI
Chicago
YOUSSEF RAKHA
Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran
GEORGE SCIALABBA