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11/2/2003

Harem fantasies

Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona CCCB, Barcelona

European and Islamic views of Beauty and Love

Curator: Fatima Mernissi

The exhibition takes as its basis the reality and the myth of the harem in order to establish a contrast between the respective Western and Muslim iconographies on the subject. The different approaches reveal both the role of women in Islamic society and the fascination that the theme of the harem awoke among nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western artists. Western aestheticism is just one aspect of this exhibition; the most innovative aspect is its presentation of the viewpoint of the society which created it.

The exhibition is closely connected with the life and personality of its curator, Fatima Mernissi, the best-known Moroccan woman writer on the international scene, author of Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood and Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems, in which she reflects on the theme of the exhibition. In the latter she explains how what prompted her to write the book was the realisation that Western journalists - men - have an idea about the harem which is very different to the reality.

The exhibition will feature some 150 works, including paintings, drawings and engravings of Western iconography and Eastern miniatures on the theme of the harem, original photographs documenting the life of its inhabitants and the works of contemporary artists about women's movements in Islamic society.

Opening times:
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. and 4.00 to 8.00 p.m.
Wednesdays and Saturdays, 11.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
Sundays and holidays, 11.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.
Closed: Mondays except holidays, 25 December and 1 January
Special opening times: 24, 26 and 31 December, 5 and 6 January, 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.

Admission: 5.50 euro / 4 euro

CCCB
C/ Montalegre, 5
08001 Barcelona
tel. 93 306 41 48

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