Mapping Our World

The first activity part of ALBOOK FAIR’s cultural program takes the shape of an intimate workshop led by artist Marina Mardas. 

The workshop introduces participants to the concept of Postmortem, as developed in the eponymous publication, inviting them to approach the present as an object of retrospective inquiry. Through a series of guided exercises, participants will produce individual sets of words that reflect their perception and experience of the contemporary world. These contributions will then be brought together and collectively organized into a semantic structure, allowing categories and patterns to emerge organically. The session culminates in the construction of a shared semantic tree, offering a fragmented yet meaningful representation of the present. Beyond its formal outcome, the workshop creates a space for dialogue and reflection, exploring how individual perceptions converge, or resist convergence, into a collective understanding shaped by diverse social positions. 

• Marina Mardas is a Lebanese diasporic multidisciplinary artist based in Paris. She is the founder and curator of Postmortem, an independent paper publication bringing together SWANA and European creatives to reflect on the contemporary world through creative writing, critical essays, and visual art. Her work explores the intersections of language, memory, and perception, often approaching the present as an object of analysis. In her personal practice, she works across sound design, writing, and visual forms, developing research-based and experimental approaches that question how individual and collective experiences are articulated and archived.