Exhibitions

-Algeria as seen by painters, from Delacroix to Renoir
(mid-September 2003 to the end of January 2004, rooms +1,+2)

This exhibition will present French 19th century painters, in particular Delacroix, Fromentin, Chasseriau and Renoir, whose travels to Algeria left their mark on their work, either in the subjects dealt with or the techniques used (palette and use of light).
A documentary part will bring together photographs from the period, postcards, facsimiles and travel logs as well as accessories present in the paintings exhibited.



-Algeria, art and history
(mid-September 2003 to the end of January 2004, rooms -1,-2)

The aim of the exhibition will be to illustrate, through archaeological works, the major stages in the history and culture of Algeria, and to underline the diversity and wealth of its heritage.This heritage will be presented in three parts:
- Pre-history, in a developed introduction.
- Antiquity, the Punic, Numid and Roman periods.
- The Islamic period, from the Arab conquest to the establishment of the North African dynasties.
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-"Pierre Bourdieu, Algeria 60
(23 January-23 March 2003, current events room)

The exhibition will present the material collected by Pierre Bourdieu used to build both a personal memoir and a collective history. The emphasis will be placed on the ethnological and sociological work carried out by Bordieu in Algeria in the 1960s.
Photographs bearing witness to the situations he experienced will be accompanied by the sociologist's comments, analysis and interpretations. Pierre Bourdieu spoke of this experience as "both my oldest and most contemporary work".



-The Abdi years
(February-March 2003, room -1)

This exhibition illustrates the path of an Algerian designer in France over a twenty-year period, with his capacity to confront, contrast and mix East and West, north and south, on a day to day basis, and to invent a unique, specific and autonomous formal vocabulary.

-Early photos of Algiers”
(15 September-9 November 2003, current events room)

This exhibition follows the thread of the exhibitions programmed by the IMA on the visual memory of Arab cities. After Damascus, Beirut, Cairo and Jerusalem, Algiers will be honoured on the occasion of Algeria Year in France.
The exhibition will present original photographs dating from the beginnings of photography to the first world war, and will group together works by pioneers such as Marville, Moulin, Portier, Geiser, Leroux, Lehnert and Landdrock.


-Abdallah Benanteur, engravings
(2 June-3 August 2003, rooms -1, -2)

Painter and engraver, close to the ancient and modern poets, Abdallah Benanteur is a book artist. He has produced a large number of art books decorated with watercolours, drawings, etchings, etc. The poems in his books are in French, in Arabic, or both.
The exhibition is programmed as part of Algeria Year and the sixth edition of the Month of the Art Print in Paris.

Cultural activities

In parallel to these exhibitions, the IMA has programmed other events :

- Music is programmed from January to June 21 2003, six months to present the different facets of musical creation in this vast country, placing the accent on less well-known music such as that from the south of Algeria and the Aures mountains, naturally without neglecting internationally recognised genres such as shaabi, rai, Arabo-Andalusian and Kabyle songs.
- There will be three months of theatre and dance, and also a cycle of meetings-debates within the scope of Thursdays at the IMA.
- A colloquium (end of May 2003) organised jointly with the Emir Abdelkader Foundation will be
devoted to this leading figure whose stature marked his era and whose work continues to inspire people
today.
- Qantara will devote a special report to Algeria in three editions in 2003
- A six-month cinema programme will show, through four cycles of Algerian cinema, the production of young people who emigrated. A third cycle will be devoted to the Casbah of Algiers in the cinema and another to events in Algeria from 1963 to 1973.
A round table on Algerian cinema will bring together Algerian film-makers and émigrés.

- Two CDs will be produced by the IMA in partnership with the Algerian Commission. One set will be devoted to "Music of Algeria" and the other to "Arabo-Andalusian Music".

- The Education section offer an art workshop led by an Algerian plastic artist, events (music, storytelling), tours of the various exhibitions, the publication of a young people's guide based on the heritage exhibition, and a short "Young People of Algeria" newspaper that will present the geographical, historical, social and cultural aspects of the country. It will also cover young people's lives and interests. Selected bibliographies will also be proposed to libraries wishing to acquire a collection on Algerian literature.

- Algeria will be the guest of honour at the Euro-Arab book fair organised by the IMA in May 2003. During this event, a round table on Algerian publishing will bring together publishers and authors from Algeria. A collection of short stories translated from Arabic with a print run of 10,000 copies will be widely distributed in order to raise awareness of Algerian writing in Arabic.