[dentifier] K2026-010

For his final-year research project, Oussama Tabti spent many hours in the library of the Institut Français in Algiers, working through its art history, humanities, philosophy and history sections. The circulation cards revealed that many books had gone unborrowed for extended periods, sitting 'on standby' in a kind of dormant state. These quiet stretches coincided with the Algerian Civil War, when the institute was often forced to close its doors. The 21 panels of this installation display the scanned index cards of these books.

The war between the Algerian state and Islamist groups was a particularly bloody political-military conflict, claiming an estimated 150 000 lives and known as the 'Black Decade'. Thousands of people disappeared, were displaced or forced to flee. Less quantifiable, but no less profound, is its impact on an entire generation of children who grew up in the shadow of the violence. Tabti himself belongs to that generation, and his work shows how war leaves its mark on young people's upbringing, learning and development.