Bergen Assembly and Saâdane Afif are pleased to announce the launch of Side Magazine, conceived as a site of research for the fourth edition of Bergen Assembly. Afif has invited Berlin-based Yasmine d’O. as curator of the edition and executive editor of Side Magazine.

Side Magazine is dedicated to the seven characters in The Heptahedron, a play written by the French poet, essayist, and scholar Thomas Clerc in 2016. In order of apparition these characters are the Professor, the Moped Rider, the Bonimenteur, the Fortune Teller, an Acrobats, the Coalman, and the Tourist.

Yasmine d’O. says, “The seven characters in The Heptahedron resemble a game—a tarot deck—and that’s handy, because my work as a curator requires a certain level of divination. I am becoming better acquainted with them, exploring and discovering them through their puzzling names. I consider Side Magazine a tool of poetic prospection, if you will. It is neither an art magazine, nor an academic magazine. Instead, it gives a body to the seven faces of The Heptahedron, physicalizing the questions that they raise. Subsequently, they will become the motifs guiding the seven exhibitions that will shape the seven sides of the next Bergen Assembly.”

The first issue of Side Magazine is dedicated to the figure of the Professor. It features seven articles, each of which explores the identity, role, and position of the Professor. Contributors include Uli Aigner, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Jörg Heiser, Christian Nyampeta, Marjorie Senechal, and Vivian Slee.

Seven issues of Side Magazine will be released in the run up to the opening of Bergen Assembly 2022, each comprised of seven articles respectively. A special eighth issue will be published after the opening days. Together with the existing seven issues as a collection, constitute the exhibition catalogue and guide.

Executive Editor: Yasmine d’O.
Concept: Saâdane Afif
Chief Editor: Louisa Elderton
Associate Editor: Jonas von Lenthe
Editorial Coordinator: Alix Chambaud
Research Assistant: Tatiana Rybaltchenko
Proofreader: Hannah Satz
Graphic Design: Neue Gestaltung

The editorial committee for the first issue is comprised of Saâdane Afif, Anna Bühler, Alex Chambaud, Louisa Elderton, Ingrid Haug Erstad, Jonas von Lenthe, John McKiernan, Yasmine d’O., Tatiana Rybaltchenko, and Pit Stenkhoff.

Bergen Assembly thanks the City of Bergen and the Arts Council of Norway for supporting this project.

Side Magazine is published by Wirklichkeit Books. It is available directly from their website for purchase and subscription, as well as in selected bookstores around the world.

Order: wirklichkeitbooks.com