Section one: Remnants
Visitors of Printed in Jerusalem: Mustamloun will be taken on a journey that surveys the city’s current reality and explores the history of Jerusalemites’ relation to the city’s printing presses and publications. This journey seeks to raise questions as to who the city’s new mustamloun are while encouraging visitors to question the mustamly’s new tools, which have surpassed the traditional processes of printing and publication. Our series of virtual tours, which will run over the next months, opens with the exhibition’s first section: Remnants. In it, we explore the Industrial Islamic Orphanage Press, which since its establishment, has printed educational books, industrial and social magazines, in addition to several local newspapers. Many apprentices were taught the printing trade and craft there and relayed their expertise to neighbouring cities and countries over the years. The virtual tour series will sequentially cover every section of the exhibition in video on the Palestinian Museum social media platforms.
Section Two: The Sixth Communiqué
The Sixth Communiqué seeks to understand the relation between political content and the means by which it is communicated. During the first Intifada, those caught with political publications were imprisoned and banned from practicing any profession linked to printing. Paper itself was damning evidence in those days.*A mustamly (plural: mustamloun) was tasked with dictating manuscripts to copyists and acted as an intermediary between authors and the public. Historically, this transmission of content was associated with censorship as well. This ancient profession disappeared as modernisation took hold.
Section Three: Inspection and Evaluation
In this virtual tour, viewers will discover original Lawrence Press printing clichés, in addition to artistic interventions based on the collection in five corners of the gallery: Education, Commerce, Tourism, Culture, and Society. *A mustamly (plural: mustamloun) was tasked with dictating manuscripts to copyists and acted as an intermediary between authors and the public. Historically, this transmission of content was associated with censorship as well. This ancient profession disappeared as modernisation took hold.
Section Four: Calligraphy, Education and the Press in Jerusalem’s Publications
The virtual tour of the fourth section of Printed in Jerusalem: Mustamloun begins with a set of digital fonts and an exploration of how they translate into Arabic. It also highlights the influence that calligrapher Mohammed Siyam had through the educational material and penmanship copybooks he created, which were used during the British Mandate period and Jordanian rule. The tour also draws attention to Khalil Sakakini, his influence in education, and his prolific writings. It goes on to shed light on Jerusalem’s social life through wedding invitations, health sector publications and other material that was printed in the city. In ‘Leave a Trace’, we see how in the 1960s and 70s, Israeli military censors suppressed any material of which they disapproved. In those days, newspapers often appeared with blank columns, marks of the censor’s redactions, which left readers with a space in which to imagine and wonder about the censored item. The tour concludes with the culture corner, where the disappearance and emergence of some magazines and newspapers that were printed in Jerusalem is analysed, and the history of some of these publications is surveyed in an interview with writer and novelist Mahmoud Shukair.
Section Five: Revival
This section of the exhibition contains a biographical presentation about Fatema Muhib and her artistic achievements. It presents printing clichés and books that feature her work, including school textbook covers designed and illustrated by Muhib.
Curation and Production Team
Curator: Baha Jubeh, guest curator: Abdel-Rahman Shabane, Assistant Curator: Sandy Rishmawi, Interns: Islam Jabbarin, Salem Shobaki,Collections and Registrar Assistant: Bara Bawatneh Public Engagement and Production Manager: Obour Hashash, Technical Production Officer: Khaled Sha’ar, Graphic Designer: Lena Sobeh, Photographer / Audio-visual Content Specialist: Hareth Yousef, Public Engagement Programme Coordinator: Raneen Kiresh, Public Engagement Programme Coordinator: Bashaer Shawar, Media and Public Relations Officer: Haneen Saleh, Media and Public Relations Assistant: Zeina AbuSitteh.
