Books published by Editions Skira Paris

Two-dimensional Plensa Jaume Plensa is one of the major figures of contemporary sculpture, best known for his large-scale human figures in stainless steel. This monography presents the artist from another angle, showing his graphic works. The book offers an intimate insight into Plensäs universe. Characterised by a greater freedom, as they are not made to order and do not require assistants¿ help, the drawings are a form of reflexion and experimentation for Plensa. He works with various materials, such as plastic sheets, or thick glue on paper or Plexiglas, which allows him to play with light and transparency and gives his works an impression of volume. As in the case of the sculptures, the artist focuses on the human, representing a variety of figures, which he assembles with elements such as photos, letters from different alphabets or numbers. This monography brings to light the diversity of Plensäs creation and the richness of his artistic language. Far from being reduced to preparatory works, Plensa's drawings, often of very large dimensions, function as artworks in their own right, showing the diversity of Plensäs ideas.

The immersive exhibition Imagine Picasso makes it possible to discover Pablo Picasso's work from new, innovative angles. Each visitor is invited to wander through a mosaic of emblematic paintings, removed from their frames and projected on a huge origami-like forms. Penetrating the mesmerizing world of unusual compositions of large-scale artworks gives the opportunity to explore the richness of details of Picasso's art. The album offers the possibility to relive the immersive experience through multiple photos from the exhibition. They are accompanied by texts by Androula Michael which provide clear descriptions of different Picasso's periods and of subjects that were dear to him. The reader can discover Picasso's art from the early years, through blue and pink period, cubism, "neoclassical" period, surrealism, up to his final years. Les demoiselles d'Avignon, Portrait of Dora Maar, Guernica and many more are to be explored in this book that offers a new way of looking at the work of this genius of modern art.

Renowned architect Hala Wardé designed "A Roof for Silence" for the Lebanese Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. The design of the work was based on a poem-in-paint by Etel Adnan, as well as on the Antiforms of Paul Virilio, hung facing a series of sixteen ancient trees of Lebanon that were photographed in daylight by Fouad Elkoury, then plunged into darkness by Alain Fleischer, who filmed them in their sleep, with the musical accompaniment of the Soundwalk Collective. The Lebanese Pavilion is conceived as a musical score, resonating disciplines, shapes, and periods to provoke the sensory experience of a thought, articulated around the notions of emptiness and silence, as temporal and spatial conditions of architecture. Treated as a manifesto for a new form of architecture, Hala Wardé's project is based on the cryptic shapes of a group of sixteen olive trees that are a thousand years old in Lebanon. These legendary trees, whose hollowed forms are home to various species, are the tutelary figure of the Lebanese Pavilion. They are places of recollection or gathering, where peasants have convened for generations to decide on village affairs or to celebrate weddings. This book tells the story of the Lebanese Pavilion and explains, through plans, sketches and models, the intentions, and concepts behind the spatial organization of the exhibition.

Political geography and personal encouters

The Majlis, Cultures in dialogue is comprised of objects that tell stories. Stories about a long history of exchanges and dialogue in the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. Stories that one might hear in a majlis, the space present in every Arab home where people gather to talk and socialize. Stories that recall the mutual - and often forgotten - influences between the Islamic civilization, Europe, India and the Far East. Stories at the core of an ambitious project initiated by the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum: a multifaceted forum for respectful yet incisive dialogue that connects people, beliefs and cultures. This catalogue gathers some forty artworks from the collection of the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, chosen to showcase these existing interrelationships between artists and craftsmen around the world and how they influenced style and culture across country borders.