Musafiri. Of Travellers and Guests

Musafiri. Of Travellers and Guests is a research project that culminated in an exhibition shown at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) from 8 March to 16 June 2025. The accompanying publication was designed by Uncoated using New Edge 666 Rounded and BBB Baskervvol. The covers additionally feature debossed text in various scripts, set in yet unidentified typefaces. From publisher Archive Books:

The Musafiri: Travellers and Guests reader follows the entwined paths and encounters of those that embark on journeys, traversing the worlds that open up when the confines of familiar surroundings are left. They are musafiri, a word that denotes the traveller as well as the guest in a plethora of languages such as Arabic, Romanian, Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Swahili, Kazakh, and Uygur. This reader addresses questions of departure and arrival, of who is welcome and who is not, of artistic expressions during travels, of the global circulation and transformations of ideas and commodities, of religions and pop culture. The essays, interviews, and artistic contributions in this volume accompany the eponymous exhibition at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and introduce the worlds of determined travellers, of individuals and communities displaced in the past, and of migratory movements of today. The spectrum of perspectives presented includes the figure of the hermit in ancient China, whose retreat is understood as a journey into nature and selfhood, the transcultural experiences of Japanese artists in the Latin American diaspora, the mobility networks of Afghan traders in the geographical spaces of the former Silk Road and beyond, or the sıla yolu, the transit route to Turkey, on which thousands of people travel every year to visit their old home.