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Join us for the launch of the Jameel Library at Hayy Jameel, a space that aims to make information accessible while highlighting the fluidity of knowledge, research and narrative. The Jameel Library seeks to expand our understanding of what a book is — as is such, visitors can look forward to finding research materials, books, movies, records, cassettes, maps, zines, video games and more in the collection.
The library’s opening coincides with a three-day programme running from December 18–20, featuring creative practitioners and collaborators Loulwah Kutbi, Maria Alem, Nadine Ghandour, and the Hayy Explorers team.
Find the agenda below:
e(xilic)encounters: archival chasms with Loulwah Kutbi
Thursday, December 18
7-10pm
A letter-writing workshop exploring the exilic optics and intimate spaces created through letters and biographical writings, drawing on the post-1967 Arab cultural moment.
The Library, Everbranching with Maria Alem
Friday, December 19
5pm
Explore the interplay between order and chaos inside the library, diving into the gnarled, contradictory, and occasionally absurd world of cataloguing. Drawing from the field of taxonomy, the workshop invites participants to provoke systems designed to tame knowledge, revealing their quirks, tensions, and collisions
Exploration & Discussion of Camera Arabe (1988) Documentary with Hayy Cinema
Saturday, December 20
8-9:30pm
On December 20th 2025, join us for an exploration of of Férid Boughedir’s “Camera Arabe” (1988) through an educational discussion and screening presented as part of E(xilic)ncounters in collaboration with Hayy Jameel examining the essay film that delves into social history and development of cinema in the Arab world while documenting Arab filmmakers efforts to create more socially aware cinema. Taking place across the library and cinema spaces at Hayy, the program explores the critical potentials of biography and documentary through examining the space of art between culture and systems.Curated by Loulwah Kutbi.
‘The Library as the City’ Exhibition by Nadine Ghandour
December 18, 2025 – May 15, 2026
Dot to Outer Space is an installation of publications that sit within a display system of theatrical book stands, starting with a book about a single character, to a book about a shelf, then a room, a house, a street, a city, a mythical mountain, and finally outer space. It attempts to freeze books in different stages of their opening/open-ness, turning each book into a character, and in turn a category of one.
Hayy Explorers Activities
Young explorers (Ages 7-15) are invited to join the opening of the Jameel Library at Hayy Jameel through mapping ways to find books and stretching their imaginations while story-telling and zine making activities.
Library Walk-Through & Book Exploring
Thursday, December 18
4-4:30PM
Learning about the importance of libraries through a guided walk-through and clue-finding in books. These clues and elements will then be used in making a concertina zine.
Walk-in Activities
December 19-20
4-8pm
Activities include creating an accordion zine which shows how books can take creative forms, and introducing kids to library terms.
Reading Circles
December 18 – 20
4-7pm
- The Quds’ Crescent
- The Return of the Hoopoe
Stay tuned for more upcoming and exciting updates from the Jameel Library!
