Contemporary art in the Middle East constitutes an emerging field of research. Especially since 9/11, the international art market has shown a growing interest in art and artists from this part of the world and impacted artistic production to a great extent. The lecture explores contemporary book art, which has, for a variety of reasons, remained neglected. Giving examples from Iraq and Lebanon in times of political crisis and war, it is primarily interested in the book as record, document, personal testimony between fact and fiction but also in the interplay of verbal and visual reading.