About this project
For centuries, the caravanserais served as staging posts in the Middle East and Central Asia along the famous caravan routes of the Silk Road. Thousands of these caravanserais were built offering services along the trade routes and in cities, accommodating traders, pilgrims and other travelers.
Today many caravanserais are crumbling ruins, relics of flourishing and thriving days in the past in the Middle East and Central Asia. Many more have vanished or have been swallowed by cities. Some survive, offering their useful compound layout for such facilities as hotels, museums, storage or garrison posts. Built as roadside inns in this network of trade routes crossing international boundaries, connecting China and the Western world overland, these caravanserais were a platform for prosperous commercial and multicultural exchange, mutually benefiting all parties, surviving numerous political, military, religious and economic calamities.
“Caravanserais in the Levant” is the 2nd stage of my photography project about the caravanserais in Middle East and Central Asia, presenting the caravanserais as a metaphor for successful international exchange and communication between Middle East and West, between Muslim and Western worlds.
The 1st stage of the project included my travels and photography on the Silk Road in Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan and China and resulted in a research on the caravanserai and website publication; exhibitions in Portland, Oregon, USA (2008); and Paris, France (2009) in a collab with School of Architecture ENSA-PVS.
In this 2nd stage, after travels and photography in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan last year, I am preparing a new series of exhibitions, as well as a book. And here Kickstarter kicks in.
EXHIBITIONS
The exhibition series will carry the title “Caravanserais in the Levant”;
A first teaser exhibition is ongoing at Springbox gallery in Portland showing a first small selection of photos, on a caravanserai at the Byzantine site of Al Resafa in Syria;
http://www.consideratcaravanserai.net/Exhibitions/SPRINGBOX_II.html
An exhibition with the first showing of the full photography series is now being prepared for mid October in Beirut, Lebanon in collab with Art Lounge gallery;
Before moving to the gallery, we will open the exhibition in a historical building which is also the gallery’s first showing there;
The exhibition will combine and juxtapose B/W and color photography;
I am further preparing for a series of exhibitions ideally in another location in Middle East, in 2-3 locations in Europe, and 2-3 locations in USA.
BOOK
As for the book, just like when traveling in the Middle East, I got warm, engaging interactions on this subject with so many regular folks, now I turn to Middle East experts, writers and journalists;
The book is meant to be in "collage"-style combining photography material, documentary & travel notes, and writings on current international affairs in Middle East and in its relations with the Western world;
So far 10 journalists, writers, experts on the Middle East are committed to contribute with text material, in the form of an article, a letter, an interview or dialogue, it can be a story or a poem, ….
One such article was already published in The Independent, Saturday 24 July 2010,
by Robert Fisk: “We should mourn these desert staging posts”
www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-we-should-mourn-these-desert-staging-posts-2034136.html
Kickstarter funding will allow to:
prepare photo prints;
help organize the first exhibition in Beirut, Lebanon;
prepare and edit material for book publication;
prepare future exhibitions, ideally in another location in Middle East, in 2-3 locations in Europe, 2-3 locations in USA.
This photography project about the caravanserais intends to enable and come up with positive messages, with positive, constructive elements, much needed these days, in these relations, in this dialogue between Muslim and Western worlds. I hope you too will be part of my journey.
Links
www.consideratcaravanserai.net
www.springbox.us/Artist-Detail.cfm...
www.coolhunting.com/culture/caravanserais-a.php
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on November 4, 2010.
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you will receive invitations for exhibitions and book launch via email.
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your invitations and one signed photo print (6” x 9”) with mention “Backer by Kickstarter.com”.
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your invitations, one signed photo print and one surprise gift. (Add 5$ for international shipping).
Pledge $80 or more Pledge $80 or more
rewards of $50 plus one catalogue “Caravanserais a Metaphor” from 2009 exhibition in School of Architecture in Paris, France, with B/W photos from caravanserais in Northern Iran. (Add 5$ for international shipping). Max 50 backers.
Pledge $150 or more Pledge $150 or more
rewards of $50 plus one signed copy of the book on the caravanserai project. (Add 15$ for international shipping).
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rewards of $50 plus one signed copy of the book on the caravanserai project, your personal invitation for book launch, and your name mention in “Special thanks to … ” section in book. (Add 15$ for international shipping).
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
rewards of $400 with your name mention in “For their generous support special thanks to … ” section in book, plus your personal invitation for exhibition in Beirut Lebanon this Mid October 2010, with guided tour and diner. Or alternatively, at later exhibition in Portland, OR or in one of the key cities of exhibition. (Add 15$ for international shipping). Max 10 backers.
Pledge $3,000 or more Pledge $3,000 or more
rewards of $400 with your name mention in “For their generous support special thanks to … ” section in book, plus you can join for one week in a next photography journey, travel costs and risks at your own expense, (photographer is not a competitor to travel agencies ☺). Max 5 backers.
Project By
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European national, born in Belgium, Tom has lived, traveled, studied and worked in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Middle East and Africa. He and his wife Drieke are currently living in the USA.
Keen on further engaging in multicultural exchanges, he is always eager to move on to the next international experience: a documentary photography project of the caravanserais in Middle East and Central Asia. Documentary photographer, with a keen interest in architecture and history, he got intrigued by these caravanserais and is fascinated in linking them up with current international affairs in the Middle East, the West and the East. His first series of photos from Northern Iran, has resulted in an art collaboration with Gilles Neuray, a series of exhibitions at galleries in Portland, USA and his first solo exhibition in Paris, France in collaboration with l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture (ENSA) of Paris-Val de Seine.
Traveler, nomad, wandering and restless mind, this is a life’s journey. Recently he returned from another four months road trip thru Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, which resulted in a second visual documentary on the caravanserais. A small selection of photos, on a caravanserai at the Byzantine site of Al Resafa in Syria, is showing in a photography group show in Portland, USA. He is preparing an exhibition in Beirut, Lebanon, which is his first showing of the full photography series of Caravanserais in the Levant. Tom is further preparing exhibitions in the USA and Europe and is working on a book that will combine photography material with text materials and interviews with international affairs experts on the Middle East.
