BAGHDAD much more than a holiday

ABIDIN TRAVELS - welcome to Baghdad
Installation / 2007 Venice Biennale

A travel agency promotes vacation trips to Baghdad, The agency functions through a website (to take orders for flights to Baghdad) two videos (Animation and real life), Posters, two light boxes and brochures in 9 different languages.
Abidin travels aims to invite as many of viewers to interact by witnessing the real situation in Baghdad through a humoristic and sarcastic way.

ABIDIN TRAVELS an installation in the form of a travel agency, consisting of:
Two monitors, two DVD players, posters, one computer for booking airline tickets to Baghdad via Web site, users who visit installation will have the oppourtunity of taking a printed ticket (multiple) and brochures (Tourist Guides) away with them to help remind them of the interaction of the piece.
BAGHDAD- much MORE than a holiday

Monitor #1:
Showing the life that Iraqis are living at this very moment in Iraq.
Audio: voice-over of an American woman welcoming visitors to Baghdad, and American soldiers singing and playing instruments in one of Saddam’s palaces during Fourth of July.
Duration: 04’33’00 (Looping)

Monitor #2:
An animated commercial, advertising a special offer to win a holiday in Baghdad, through a very humoristic way.
Duration: 02 min (Looping)

Computer: (web site)
A computer will be situated at the space, viewers are invited to book their flight tickets or receiving e-tickets for those who are booking from else where online. after going through the regulations of the insurance and filling the needed forms, the user either receives a printed ticket (by visiting the instalation) or an eticket (live online) via the users supplied email address
The computer presents the web site of the agency (www.abidintravels.com)

The Brochures: free to take from installation
Tourist guides, meant to be giving all the needed instructions and information about Baghdad and the people of Baghdad.
And go as far as to advice the Tourist how behave.

Brochures Languages: Arabic, English, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Spanish and Chinese

Site/Script/Installation Creation & visualisation
By David Knight (Boring-Group Oy.)