Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents

Damascus 2008: three people suddenly disappear. Zaat al-Abed, a presumed secret agent, Leena Kilkka, curator of the Damascus Biennial, an event that never happens , and a flâneur, whose diary is accidentally lost and found.

Damascus: Tourists, Artists, Secret Agents is a pseudo-fictitious encounter of artists, dancers, secret agents, speculative writers, lovers, film-makers and photographers who come together to unravel the rumors, questions and traces of the mysterious disappearances that happen in the subconscious urban setting of one of the world's oldest cities.

The idiosyncratic novel is the outcome of a Reloading Images collaboration and an ongoing platform for artistic research, involving more than thirty international artists and writers. 'Reloading Images: Damascus / Work in Progress 2008' is a playground for discursive practices on artistic agency that happened in relation to Damascus, the actual city, and that of our imagination.

Edited by Kaya Behkalam, Paula Bugni, Beatrice Catanzaro, Roberto Cavallini, Azin Feizabadi, Carla Esperanza Tommasini, Sarah Rifky, Ashkan Sepahvand / Reloading Images

With contributions by Salina Abaza, Jan Ackenhausen, Woroud Ahdali, Isa Andreu, Kaya Behkalam, Omar Berakdar, Paula Bugni, Beatrice Catanzaro, Roberto Cavallini, Mikala Hyldig Dal, Azin Feizabadi, Soudade Kaadan, Sophia Krey-Kolios, Gabriel Martinez, Gabriella Micale, Sanna Miericke, Raqs Media Collective, Rania Mleihi, Ersan Ocak, Juergen Rendl, Sarah Rifky, Adel Samara, Manuela Scebba, Ashkan Sepahvand, Carla Esperanza Tommasini, Hanadi Traifeh, Kianoosh Vahabi and Wu Ming 4