Bidoun has to be one of the freshest magazines out right now-always coming correct with the dope covers and informative articles detailing the happenings in the often overlooked middle eastern art world. I tried to contact editor-in-chief Lisa Farjam-she was busy so her assistant Kate Alberswerth was kind enough to answer a few questions. Get Familiar!
Among other magazines, Bidoun‘s covers always standout? What is the process like, is it collaborative or do you select a different designer for each cover, who you might feel is well suited for hat particular issue’s theme?
Our covers are designed by Babak Radboy, Bidoun‘s creative director.
In your mission statement you declare that, “While we acknowledge the reductionist tendencies of orientalism, BIDOUNalso resists obsessing over cultural difference”, You guys did that not to be boxed in or ghettoize yourselves, how do you guys maintain that balance?……….in other words, how do you incite readers to take a fresh look at the Middle East and its peoples, often presented in mainstream media as one-dimensional?
We do this by approaching it from a different angle, there’s no Middle Eastern arts magazine that covers the people that live there or here. We also want to look at the Middle East in a positive way without all the pretext or pretenses or politics of what it is to be Arab.
How is Bidoun being marketed in the Middle-East? What is the circulation like in major middle eastern cities?
It’s marketed as an art, cultural and travel magazine and is read by a large range of people. We’ve got good circulation in Cairo, Beirut, Dubai and the UAE. We’re working on Iran.
go to http://www.bidoun.com for more.
check out cover designer Babak Radboy’s wesite:
I think your Art Director (Babak Radboy) is amazing. His work stands out.