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Etel Adnan has many parallel realities. Born in Beirut in 1925, Etel Adnan is a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, playwright and visual artist who divides her time between Lebanon, France and the USA.

Having taught philosophy in California for fourteen years, Adnan went on to devote herself to painting and writing. A powerful voice in feminist and anti-war movements, Adnan has published several works of poetry and fiction. Among these are Sitt Marie Rose (1978), a novel set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War; Master of the Eclipse (2009), In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country (2005), and The Spring Flowers Own (1990). Her recent texts include the play Crime D’Honneu, and the extraordinary poem FOG.

When asked by RES magazine to curate an issue, I suggested a monographic issue on Etel with our new interview and many of her works.

Ever since we met for the first time in Paris three years ago Etel and I became friends and started to work on many interviews and projects; from the Serpentine Map Marathon for which Etel wrote, to the Serpentine Park Night in Jean Nouvel’s Pavilion with an evening of reading and music.

Hans Ulrich Obrist