Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit

Qatar University in Doha, Qatar
Designed by Kamal El Kafrawi, 1974–1983
© Markus Elblaus

Weil am RheinDesign

Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit

Behind the Headlines: the true urban landscape of cities like Baghdad and Tripoli exposed in absorbing exhibition...

Western governments and their complicit mainstream media have successfully desensitised many to the lives of those who inhabit ‘that part of the world’. Cities like Baghdad and Tripoli are bywords for darker concepts, and the realities are purposefully blurred so that the West’s looting of the region can continue unabated.

Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit at Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein—in Collaboration with Brownbook Magazine

Gymnasium in Bagdad, Iraq by Le Corbusier, realised posthumously, 1978–1980 © Ayman Al Amiri

Behind the headlines, the energetic metropolises of the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) reverberate to the sound of cultural innovation; sub-cultures and the avant garde exist here, too, whatever you’ve been led to believe. Dubai-based magazine Brownbook is a beautiful cultural reference point for the MENA region, and has been shifting perceptions of its city’s urban landscapes for the last ten years.

Brownbook’s peerless documenting of the Middle East and North Africa’s contemporary culture now takes the shape of a new exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum; representing a year’s worth of discourse between the magazine’s editors, the museum, and select curators. Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit (taking its name from the Arabic word for cities) is an exhaustive insight into the little-seen cultures that comprise those realities behind the Western fog; the architecture, neighbourhoods, and people who shape them.

Split into three sections — Architecture, Places and Societies — the exhibition will cover insights from Iraq’s Le Corbusier-designed Baghdad Gymnasium; the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art; profiles of people from the region who live in the diaspora (Kurdish communities in the U.S., Yemenites in Singapore, Tunisians in Paris); and cultural dissertation on cities like Ankara, Tripoli, Damascus, Tangier, and Tehran. The exhaustive analysis of the region’s urban culture is presented in the form of architectural models, photographs and texts.

Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit continues at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, until 20 August.

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Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit at Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein—in Collaboration with Brownbook Magazine

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
Designed by Kamran Diba, 1977
© Abbas Kowsari

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
Designed by Kamran Diba, 1977
© Abbas Kowsari

Karaj metro station in Tehran, Iran

Karaj metro station in Tehran, Iran
© Hanif Shoaei

Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit at Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein—in Collaboration with Brownbook Magazine

Islamic Cemetry in Altach, Vorarlberg, Austria
Designed by Bernardo Bader, 2014
© Matthias Rhomberg

International Fair of Tripoli in Tripoli, Lebanon

International Fair of Tripoli in Tripoli, Lebanon
Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, 1962 – 1977
© Philip Cheung

Carpet Museum in Tehran, Iran

Carpet Museum in Tehran, Iran
© Hanif Shoaei

Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit at Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein—in Collaboration with Brownbook Magazine

International Fair of Tripoli in Tripoli, Lebanon
Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, 1962 – 1977
© Philip Cheung

Qatar University in Doha, Qatar

Qatar University in Doha, Qatar
Designed by Kamal El Kafrawi, 1974-1983
© Markus Elblaus

Visual Director Xeina Almusallam in Kuwait, 2015

Visual Director Xeina Almusallam in Kuwait, 2015
© Djinane AlSuwayeh

Mudun مدن Urban Cultures in Transit at Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein—in Collaboration with Brownbook Magazine

Al Nilain Mosque in Omdurman, Sudan
Designed by Gamar Eldowla Abdelgadir, 1976 – 1983
© Ala Kheir

Gymnasium in Bagdad, Iraq Designed by Le Corbusier

Gymnasium in Bagdad, Iraq
Designed by Le Corbusier, realised posthumously, 1978–1980
© Ayman Al Amiri

Gymnasium in Bagdad, Irak Designed by Le Corbusier

Gymnasium in Bagdad, Iraq
Designed by Le Corbusier, realised posthumously, 1978–1980
© Ayman Al Amiri