The Tempest Society builds upon a video installation of the same name by Moroccan-French artist Bouchra Khalili, which was originally commissioned for documenta 14. The publication revisits and resuscitates the forgotten heritage of Al Assifa, a politicised theatre group active in Paris during the 1970s. Incorporating film stills, archival footage, research, ephemera and writings, The Tempest Society seeks to examine the specific history and legacy of Al Assifa in the context of the European economic and migratory crises.
The publication features a tactile, folded and wrapped dust-jacket, formed of a large sheet printed with a constellation of archival images; the title of the book appears on a folded portion of this jacket. The design and layout within references the visual language of an archive: sans-serif type is set to either a one- or two-column grid, allowing footnotes to run along the bottom of each page. Page numbers are placed on the outer edges of the book to allow room for footnotes, but also to double up as image reference numbers when needed. Archival materials are grouped separately to the text, interwoven throughout the publication as they are within the film itself.
