Reading the sky. Beneath the Stars of the Mediterranean

Co-published by Mucem and Gallimard
264 pages
19.5 x 25.5 cm
ISBN 9782073126856

A legendary figure in literature born in 1605, Don Quixote is at once a parody of a knight, a philosopher of the absurd, an inveterate dreamer, and an old man who has regressed to childhood, acting out the scenarios of his imagination “for real” and “for fun.” In the form of a “choose-your-own-adventure” book, this exhibition catalog revives the comic power of Cervantes’s work, inviting the reader to join in a whimsical journey from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Punctuated by twists and turns, these journeys will take the reader, through the artworks, to essays, and on to interviews with major contemporary artists and writers.

Edited by: Aude Fanlo and Hélia Pauker

With contributions by José Manuel Lucía Megías, Jean-Raymond Fanlo, Anne-Valérie Dulac, Alfonso Mateo-Sagasta, Danielle Perrot-Corpet, Florent Libral
And exclusive interviews with Abraham Poincheval, Pierre Menard & Christian Garcin, Terry Gilliam, Gaspard Hirshi, Boris Razon, Erri de Luca, Sande Zeig, Anthony Morel, Gérard Garouste, Izhar Patkin, Hassen Ferhani, Michael Kenna, Guillermo Peydró, Pilar Albarracín, Rob Davis…

This art book, developed in close collaboration between the museum’s curators and editorial team, invites readers to delve into the Mucem’s collections and interpret them in a new light. To highlight the collection’s diversity, three hundred selected items will be presented. Three hundred objects, works of art, or documents—sometimes very distant from one another chronologically and in terms of type—but which share thematic or visual similarities. Their arrangement throughout the book and their juxtaposition on each spread sometimes give rise to playful moments, but above all, to narratives. And each time, they pose questions to the reader: What are their uses? What do they represent? What are they made of? What is a “rat-de-cave”? A “diable de Bessans”? Could it be that an oven and a loft vent share similar shapes? What are a fake beard, an ad for fly swatters, a crystal ball, and a miniature coffin doing in a museum?

Comparisons between objects offer clues; captions serve as keys. It is up to the reader to, in turn, unravel the narrative threads woven from these chain-like associations. For our most curious readers, we’ll reveal that the book’s structure was inspired by an amusing literary device called “concatenaion .” Concatenation is a series of anadiploses—in other words, “a repetition”—where the last word of one sentence is used as the first word of the next. So as not to scare off other readers, we’ll also tell them that it’s simpler than it seems: it’s the same principle as the nursery rhyme “Three Little Kittens.”

Published by Mucem / Jardin Majorelle Foundation
Paperback
160 pages
17 x 21 cm
ISBN 979-10-92708-28-8

Salima Naji and Alexis Sornin

Meriem Berrada, Marc Breviglieri, Marie-Charlotte Calafat, David Goeury, Mohamed Mouskite, Myriem Naji, Salima Naji, Ahmed Skounti, and Alexis Sornin.

In Amazigh culture, any act of adornment—whether it involves decorating the body, clothing, or a home—reflects a concern for belonging, protection, and connection to the cycle of life. These acts are never trivial: they embody a collective memory, a symbolic or magical filter that connects the body, the home, and the community.
Since the earliest myths, the matrix from which the birth of Amazigh culture is conceived has been feminine.
Tattoos, jewelry, ceramics, and textiles all follow the same grammar of forms and symbols. Whether aesthetic, therapeutic, or apotropaic, these motifs also serve as markers of social and gender identity.

This book explores these protective circles—these visible and invisible thresholds—through the objects, surfaces, and narratives in which they take shape. It highlights the often female-led craft traditions—from weaving to practices tied to lunar cycles—while paying tribute to male artisans, such as goldsmiths. Drawing on research and contemporary perspectives, it examines the concept of “Berber permanence,” the dynamics of transmission within the Amazigh diaspora, and the cultural appropriations to which this “matrimoine”/heritage is sometimes subject today.

Structured in two parts, like the exhibition, the catalog aims to provide an overview of the history of museum collections of antiquities and Mediterranean ethnography, delving deeper into certain exemplary cases through contributions from specialized art historians. This provides a better understanding of the dissemination—and political appropriation—of ancient models, and traces the footsteps of ethnographers in the field… Exclusive interviews with the contemporary artists participating in this project were also conducted.

Much like this exhibition, which resembles a large-scale installation where everything is mixed together and even a small folk art object can be presented in a grand manner, the book takes the form of a comic book, with a vibrant and cheerful cover specially illustrated by Hervé Di Rosa.

Inside, however, the catalog takes a more traditional approach. It includes an interview with the artist, two articles devoted to his biography and working methods, as well as three essays discussing, respectively, the embedding of art in literature, the “proper use” of objects, and, finally, the transformations in museum exhibition design in which Hervé Di Rosa participates as an “alchemist.” The book’s illustrations also reflect this striking blend: alongside reproductions of artworks and objects from the Mucem, several pages are devoted to views of the exhibition design in order to best recreate the “museum archipelago” conceived by the artist, free from any predetermined visitor route. Unpublished preparatory sketches also allow readers to go behind the scenes of Hervé Di Rosa’s creative process and the design of this exhibition.