In Lebanon, Art is a Matter of Survival

Walid Raad, "Comrade Leader, comrade Leader, how nice to see you _ XIII," single channel projection, black and white, silent, six paper figures 00:39:22, loop. Edition of 1 + 1 AP (Installation view, Walid Raad: Another Festival of (In)gratitude, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon, courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg).

22 NOVEMBER 2024 • By Nada Ghosn
Galleries and cultural venues have reopened, but Lebanon still faces canceled international events due to the ongoing war and evacuation orders.

 

Nada Ghosn

 

Although galleries and cultural venues have reopened this week, international events have been cancelled. The Lebanese scene is adapting as best it can to the war situation, despite fear, stress and evacuation orders. 

Resilience, did you say resilience? “It’s no longer resilience, it’s exhaustion,” says Lina Kiryakos, director of the Sfeir Semler gallery in Beirut. “It’s an inhuman form of violence. Even if we’re still alive, we’re at our wits’ end. Lebanon is the laboratory of a futuristic war; we’re all part of a game. It’s frightening to realize that this exists.” 

After five years of protests, along with political, economic and health crises, and the explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, the war in Gaza has spread to the land of the cedars, already on its knees. “As I speak, a drone is hovering overhead, and the southern suburbs are being bombed. Since this morning, there have been 12 evacuation notices. We’re trying to carry on doing our job, but it takes an exhausting amount of energy,” says Lina Kiryakos.

Walid Raad, "Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut) _ Solidere, 1994-1997," 1994-1997/2019. Multi-channel video, color, silent 05:10:00, loop (courtesy Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut).
Walid Raad, “Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut) _ Solidere, 1994-1997,” 1994-1997/2019. Multi-channel video, color, silent
05:10:00, loop (courtesy Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut).

Reality Beckons

In September, when war broke out, the Sfeir-Semler gallery, like all the others, decided to close its doors. But the reopening of public schools at the beginning of November prompted a return to cultural venues. “The rules haven’t been established, but we’re getting a better understanding of the contours of the war,” explains Lina Kiryakos. “We’re getting used to this new reality, even if it puts pressure on programming and opening hours. Our team comes from different parts of the city and we can’t expose them to danger. Despite the situation, people want to keep working, and audiences want to do things that are fun and feel good.”

Already this summer, the situation was a heavy one. The gallery, which operates in the downtown area and in the Quarantaine harbor district, had decided to cancel the opening of Walid Raad’s exhibition Festival d’(in)gratitude, scheduled to run from August 7, 2024 to January 4, 2025. “Another exhibition at a threatening historical moment,” stated the invitation. Like many contemporary Lebanese artists, Walid Raad’s works deal with such moments and what they make obvious, possible, probable, thinkable, imaginable and easy to say. His exhibition in the gallery’s two Beirut spaces features both new and recent works. 

Mohamed Al Mufti, "Beirut," acrylic on canvas, 100x100cm, 2023 (courtesy of the artist).
Mohamed Al Mufti, “Beirut,” acrylic on canvas, 100x100cm, 2023 (courtesy of the artist).

Beirut-based Syrian painter and architect Mohamed Al-Mufti, on the other hand, isn’t working on a new exhibition at the moment. For him, it’s hard to shake off the anger, rage and sense of injustice. “Everything is on hold, for obvious reasons. It frees me from deadlines and pressure, so I’m experimenting a lot, exploring and testing new media, new techniques, maybe new subjects,” he admits.

For most of those working in the arts scene, it’s impossible to look ahead to 2025. Because artists and works are mostly abroad, flights are disrupted and cargo ships no longer arrive. International fairs such as Frieze and Art Basel go some way to filling the gap, as does the presence of a Sfeir-Semler branch in Hamburg. But the gigantic resources put into Walid Raad’s exhibition by this museum-quality gallery cannot be amortized by the passage of collectors and curators to Beirut.



Nuhad Es-Saïd Pavilion for Culture
Nuhad Es-Saïd Pavilion for Culture

Escape and Meeting Areas

Amid all this chaos, the Nuhad Es-Saïd Pavilion for Culture, a new space dedicated to art and heritage, opened its doors in Beirut at the beginning of November. The National Heritage Foundation, which manages this space, has chosen to remain accessible to visitors wishing to discover its store, café and inaugural exhibition, designed and organized by the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA), a modern and contemporary art museum in the making. 

This new pavilion for culture stands on the grounds of Saint Joseph’s University, alongside the Beirut National Museum dedicated to archaeological heritage, as a space for the protection and continuity of heritage, as well as an affirmation of its influence in the face of the violent destruction and suffering affecting the country. 

BeMA co-director Juliana Khalaf recounts how the inauguration, originally scheduled for September 18, had to be cancelled due to the pager attack. “The ongoing crisis situation has multidimensional consequences,” she explains. “In the context of our cultural ecosystem, we must constantly find solutions.” This is the raison d’être of BeMA, created in response to the circumstances of recent decades, which have led to the degradation of artistic heritage. Since 2015, the Beirut Museum of Art has been managing the Ministry of Culture’s collection and restoring some 1,000 works dating from 1890 to 2005, supported by private funds from Apeal (Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon). In the run-up to its opening in 2027, BeMA is working to pass on conservation know-how, offering training courses in partnership with universities, in particular the science departments which play a crucial role in this field. 

“The important thing is to create public spaces bathed in a culture that unites us,” says Juliana Khalaf. For this inaugural exhibition, BeMA artistic director Clémence Cottard has chosen to exhibit the work of contemporary artists such as Rayyane Tabet, Lamia Joreige, Caroline Tabet and Nasri Sayegh, alongside modern artists from the Ministry’s collection. The theme of the exhibition Portes & Passages, une traversée du réel et de l’imaginaire is linked to the pavilion designed by the Raëd Abillama architectural firm. The public is invited to cross four symbolic passages: memory, myth, perception and territory. 

Hymn to Love, an in-situ installation by Alfred Tarazi, questions issues of memory, realities and fictions, the perception of time and space, and a geography rooted in the region. Presented a year ago in a hangar near the National Museum to highlight the lack of interest in the decorative arts — a “neglected aspect of Lebanese museology — the exhibition brings together antique and handicraft pieces designed by the artist’s father in the family workshop first established between Damascus and Beirut in 1860 and destroyed by successive wars. “It’s war that interrupts us, not the other way around,” stresses Alfred Tarazi. “As long as we’re alive, we continue to create because we have no other means of survival, on any level. The public is delighted to see a new space. Culture shows that we still exist.” The National Museum has also reopened, as have dozens of other galleries, as well as the Monnot Theatre and the French Institute of Beirut. “Visitors are flocking in,” says Juliana Khalaf. “Art is a place of escape that reminds us that our culture will never die, a form of resistance.”


Sursock Museum during grand reopening event for the iconic venue in Beirut May 26 2023 photo Hussein Malla
Beirut’s Sursock Museum during the grand reopening, May 26, 2023 (photo Hussein Malla).

A Child of Constant War

The Sursock Museum, a historic monument in the heart of Ashrafieh adorned in the Venetian and Ottoman architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries, closed its doors at the end of October and will not reopen until sometime in 2025. Having just been restored following major damage caused by the August 2020 port explosion, the institution decided to take a break in order to guarantee its mission of accessibility to the general public. The gala dinner planned for December to raise annual funds was cancelled, and solutions must now be found outside Lebanon. “Aid goes first and foremost to the displaced,” says director Karina el-Hélou, who has been crisscrossing European capitals to meet with donors from the diaspora and international institutions. 

Since the outbreak of civil war in 1975, the Sursock Museum has experienced repeated closures. “We’ve had to adapt to each security and economic crisis, finding last-minute solutions in terms of funding and programming. This teaches us to act quickly with the means at hand to keep going,” confides the young director, appointed in 2022. In response to the massive bombing and destruction in the south of the country, an exhibition of works by the Baalbaki family, originally from south Lebanon, is planned for the reopening. Until then, the museum’s activities will focus on educational initiatives for displaced children, with workshops on modern art led by Lebanese illustrators outside the museum in different venues in Beirut.


An open-mic night at Zoukak Theatre (courtesy Omar Abi Azar).

On the performing arts front, the Zoukak theater company has also chosen to intervene by helping displaced persons with art therapy sessions in schools and a show for children at the studio, located in the Fleuve district on the outskirts of Beirut. “The cruelty experienced by Palestinians and Lebanese makes us think a lot,” says Omar Abi Azar, playwright and co-director of Zoukak. Every day, the company publishes a “Letter from the Field” on social networks. Open mics are organized at the studio, and all funds raised at events are donated to associations helping refugees. “It’s not a question of adapting, but of rethinking the way we work to meet our belief in the need to be together while we’re still alive,” says Omar Abi Azar, who is keen to point out that Zoukak was founded in 2006 during another war with Israel. In the meantime, the festival organized by the company has had to be cancelled, as have all the international festivals planned for Lebanon. 

Since the financial crisis of 2019, Omar Rajeh, director of the international contemporary dance festival Bipod, has been reflecting on how to adapt to different formats by offering interactive performances, creative laboratories and workshops in unconventional spaces. The participation of foreign artists in his next Shift action, scheduled for April 2025 with European partners, seems compromised. “The artists who have stayed in Lebanon feel very alone at the moment. They don’t receive any international support, and this is the time to shine a light on them,” says the choreographer, who has been based in Lyon for several years. “What’s happening in Lebanon and Palestine concerns the whole world. These images of barbarity cannot easily be forgotten. And in the absence of any condemnation, culture is the strongest thing we can do.”


Tom Young, "Zaher Dream," oil on canvas, 140cm x 220cm, 2017.
Tom Young, “Zaher Dream,” oil on canvas, 140cm x 220cm, 2017 (courtesy of the artist).

Tom Young, a British artist based in Beirut, highlights that the role of art and culture is to express the unspeakable, to channel unbearable emotions and trauma into something creative which can be a shared experience across borders. “This way, art can be both a mode of healing and processing, as well as bearing testament to unimaginable suffering and injustice. It can also illuminate a positive path forward which cannot be seen now. And, possibly, it can be part of a process which holds those responsible to account. But as we’ve seen with the ineffectiveness of international law, and purely symbolic arrest warrants for Israeli leaders issued today, it is unlikely that the prosecution of those responsible will ever be converted into action. But we will still have the art.” 

A stunning new museum for the Lebanese sculptress Saloua Raouda Choucair opened in the hills above Beirut, at Ras El Metn this year. Other institutions such as the Dalloul Art Foundation, Saleh Barakat Gallery, and Art on 56th keep opening their doors to the public. Young’s own exhibition Revival at Hammam Al Jadeed in Saida’s Old Souk, which paradoxically celebrates the harmonious history between the three Abrahamic faith communities, remains open daily, despite bombs raining down nearby.

Numerous initiatives testify to the artistic world’s solidarity with Lebanon. Photographers for Lebanon, held on November 14 in Paris, is the latest. Emma Zahouani Burlet, Marguerite Bornhauser, Lara Tabet, Randa Mirza and Yasmine Chemali succeeded in mobilizing some one hundred photographers, who generously offered works for sale, with profits going entirely to the support of families affected by the crisis. At the same time, the Menart Friends association is presenting a boxed set of four photographs created and donated by Guillaume Taslé d’Héliand, a specialist in Near Eastern Roman sites. All proceeds will be used to fund initiatives that help promote Lebanon’s cultural heritage at a time when these historic treasures are threatened by armed conflict. 

 

Nada Ghosn

Nada Ghosn Nada Ghosn is a Paris-based writer who has lived in the Emirates, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco, where she has worked for the press and diverse cultural institutions. These days she works as a freelance translator and journalist, having translated... Read more

Nada Ghosn is a Paris-based writer who has lived in the Emirates, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco, where she has worked for the press and diverse cultural institutions. These days she works as a freelance translator and journalist, having translated several essays, art books, novels, film scripts, plays, and collections of short stories and poetry from Arabic into French. She regularly covers culture and society for such publications as an-Nahar, Grazia and Diptyk, and participates in art projects, conferences and performances.

Read less

Join Our Community

TMR exists thanks to its readers and supporters. By sharing our stories and celebrating cultural pluralism, we aim to counter racism, xenophobia, and exclusion with knowledge, empathy, and artistic expression.

Learn more

RELATED

Film Reviews

New Documentaries from Palestine, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iran

12 SEPTEMBER 2025 • By Yassin El-Moudden
New Documentaries from Palestine, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iran
Editorial

Why Out of Our Minds?

5 SEPTEMBER 2025 • By Lina Mounzer
Why <em>Out of Our Minds</em>?
Centerpiece

Trauma After Gaza

5 SEPTEMBER 2025 • By Joelle Abi-Rached
Trauma After Gaza
Art & Photography

Ali Cherri’s show at Marseille’s [mac] Is Watching You

15 AUGUST 2025 • By Naima Morelli
Ali Cherri’s show at Marseille’s [mac] Is Watching You
Essays

Ziad Rahbani: The Making of a Lebanese Jazz Legend

8 AUGUST 2025 • By Diran Mardirian
Ziad Rahbani: The Making of a Lebanese Jazz Legend
Art

Syria and the Future of Art: an Intimate Portrait

4 JULY 2025 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Syria and the Future of Art: an Intimate Portrait
Art

Repression and Resistance in the Work of Artist Ateş Alpar

27 JUNE 2025 • By Jennifer Hattam
Repression and Resistance in the Work of Artist Ateş Alpar
Arabic

Jawdat Fakreddine Presents Three Poems

20 MAY 2025 • By Jawdat Fakhreddine, Huda Fakhreddine
Jawdat Fakreddine Presents Three Poems
Beirut

Contretemps, a Bold Film on Lebanon’s Crises

16 MAY 2025 • By Jim Quilty
Contretemps, a Bold Film on Lebanon’s Crises
Cities

Heartbreak and Commemoration in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs

7 MARCH 2025 • By Sabah Haider
Heartbreak and Commemoration in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs
Book Reviews

Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life

20 DECEMBER 2024 • By Zahra Hankir
Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life
Book Reviews

Barrack Zailaa Rima’s Beirut Resists Categorization

6 DECEMBER 2024 • By Katie Logan
Barrack Zailaa Rima’s <em>Beirut</em> Resists Categorization
Essays

Beirut War Diary: 8 Days in October

22 NOVEMBER 2024 • By Rima Rantisi
Beirut War Diary: 8 Days in October
Art

In Lebanon, Art is a Matter of Survival

22 NOVEMBER 2024 • By Nada Ghosn
In Lebanon, Art is a Matter of Survival
Beirut

The Haunting Reality of Beirut, My City

8 NOVEMBER 2024 • By Roger Assaf, Zeina Hashem Beck
The Haunting Reality of <em>Beirut, My City</em>
Beirut

Between Two Sieges: Translating Roger Assaf in California

8 NOVEMBER 2024 • By Zeina Hashem Beck
Between Two Sieges: Translating Roger Assaf in California
Editorial

A Year of War Without End

4 OCTOBER 2024 • By Lina Mounzer
A Year of War Without End
Fiction

The Last Millefeuille in Beirut

4 OCTOBER 2024 • By MK Harb
The Last Millefeuille in Beirut
Film

Soudade Kaadan: Filmmaker Interview

30 AUGUST 2024 • By Jordan Elgrably
Soudade Kaadan: Filmmaker Interview
Art

Nabil Kanso: Lebanon and the Split of Life—a Review

2 AUGUST 2024 • By Sophie Kazan Makhlouf
Nabil Kanso: <em>Lebanon and the Split of Life</em>—a Review
Fiction

“We Danced”—a story by MK Harb

5 JULY 2024 • By MK Harb
“We Danced”—a story by MK Harb
Art

Malak Mattar: No Words, Only Scenes of Ruin

26 APRIL 2024 • By Nadine Nour el Din
Malak Mattar: No Words, Only Scenes of Ruin
Fiction

“Paris of the Middle East”—fiction by MK Harb

1 APRIL 2024 • By MK Harb
“Paris of the Middle East”—fiction by MK Harb
Weekly

World Picks from the Editors: Feb 23 — Mar 7

23 FEBRUARY 2024 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors: Feb 23 — Mar 7
Weekly

World Picks from the Editors: Feb 9 — Feb 22

9 FEBRUARY 2024 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors: Feb 9 — Feb 22
Poetry

“The Scent Censes” & “Elegy With Precious Oil” by Majda Gama

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Majda Gama
“The Scent Censes” & “Elegy With Precious Oil” by Majda Gama
Essays

“Double Apple”—a short story by MK Harb

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By MK Harb
“Double Apple”—a short story by MK Harb
Beirut

“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By MK Harb
“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb
Books

Huda Fakhreddine’s A Brief Time Under a Different Sun

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Huda Fakhreddine, Rana Asfour
Huda Fakhreddine’s <em>A Brief Time Under a Different Sun</em>
Fiction

“The Followers”—a short story by Youssef Manessa

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Youssef Manessa
“The Followers”—a short story by Youssef Manessa
Weekly

World Picks from the Editors: Nov 24 – Dec 10

24 NOVEMBER 2023 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors: Nov 24 – Dec 10
Art & Photography

War and Art: A Lebanese Photographer and His Protégés

13 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Nicole Hamouche
War and Art: A Lebanese Photographer and His Protégés
Weekly

World Picks from the Editors: Nov 07 – Nov 24

10 NOVEMBER 2023 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors: Nov 07 – Nov 24
Art

Mohamed Al Mufti, Architect and Painter of Our Time

5 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Nicole Hamouche
Mohamed Al Mufti, Architect and Painter of Our Time
Books

World Picks from the Editors: Oct 28 – Nov 10

27 OCTOBER 2023 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors: Oct 28 – Nov 10
Art & Photography

Middle Eastern Artists and Galleries at Frieze London

23 OCTOBER 2023 • By Sophie Kazan Makhlouf
Middle Eastern Artists and Galleries at Frieze London
Theatre

Lebanese Thespian Aida Sabra Blossoms in International Career

9 OCTOBER 2023 • By Nada Ghosn
Lebanese Thespian Aida Sabra Blossoms in International Career
Books

Fairouz: The Peacemaker and Champion of Palestine

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dima Issa
Fairouz: The Peacemaker and Champion of Palestine
Fiction

“Kaleidoscope: In Pursuit of the Real in a Virtual World”—fiction from Dina Abou Salem

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dina Abou Salem
“Kaleidoscope: In Pursuit of the Real in a Virtual World”—fiction from Dina Abou Salem
Books

“Sadness in My Heart”—a story by Hilal Chouman

3 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Hilal Chouman, Nashwa Nasreldin
“Sadness in My Heart”—a story by Hilal Chouman
Film

The Soil and the Sea: The Revolutionary Act of Remembering

7 AUGUST 2023 • By Farah-Silvana Kanaan
<em>The Soil and the Sea</em>: The Revolutionary Act of Remembering
Beirut

“The City Within”—fiction from MK Harb

2 JULY 2023 • By MK Harb
“The City Within”—fiction from MK Harb
Cities

In Shahrazad’s Hammam—fiction by Ahmed Awadalla

2 JULY 2023 • By Ahmed Awadalla
In Shahrazad’s Hammam—fiction by Ahmed Awadalla
Arabic

Inside the Giant Fish—excerpt from Rawand Issa’s graphic novel

2 JULY 2023 • By Rawand Issa, Amy Chiniara
Inside the Giant Fish—excerpt from Rawand Issa’s graphic novel
Art & Photography

Newly Re-Opened, Beirut’s Sursock Museum is a Survivor

12 JUNE 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Newly Re-Opened, Beirut’s Sursock Museum is a Survivor
Beirut

Remembering the Armenian Genocide From Lebanon

17 APRIL 2023 • By Mireille Rebeiz
Remembering the Armenian Genocide From Lebanon
Beirut

War and the Absurd in Zein El-Amine’s Watermelon Stories

20 MARCH 2023 • By Rana Asfour
War and the Absurd in Zein El-Amine’s <em>Watermelon</em> Stories
Fiction

“Counter Strike”—a story by MK HARB

5 MARCH 2023 • By MK Harb
“Counter Strike”—a story by MK HARB
Fiction

“Mother Remembered”—Fiction by Samir El-Youssef

5 MARCH 2023 • By Samir El-Youssef
“Mother Remembered”—Fiction by Samir El-Youssef
Essays

More Photographs Taken From The Pocket of a Dead Arab

5 MARCH 2023 • By Saeed Taji Farouky
More Photographs Taken From The Pocket of a Dead Arab
Cities

The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian

5 MARCH 2023 • By Iason Athanasiadis
The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian
Beirut

The Curious Case of Middle Lebanon

13 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Amal Ghandour
The Curious Case of Middle Lebanon
Beirut

Arab Women’s War Stories, Oral Histories from Lebanon

13 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Evelyne Accad
Arab Women’s War Stories, Oral Histories from Lebanon
Book Reviews

Sabyl Ghoussoub Heads for Beirut in Search of Himself

23 JANUARY 2023 • By Adil Bouhelal
Sabyl Ghoussoub Heads for Beirut in Search of Himself
Art

On Lebanon and Lamia Joreige’s “Uncertain Times”

23 JANUARY 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
On Lebanon and Lamia Joreige’s “Uncertain Times”
Fiction

Broken Glass, a short story

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
<em>Broken Glass</em>, a short story
Book Reviews

Fida Jiryis on Palestine in Stranger in My Own Land

28 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Diana Buttu
Fida Jiryis on Palestine in <em>Stranger in My Own Land</em>
Columns

For Electronica Artist Hadi Zeidan, Dance Clubs are Analogous to Churches

24 OCTOBER 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
For Electronica Artist Hadi Zeidan, Dance Clubs are Analogous to Churches
Film

Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker
Essays

Kairo Koshary, Berlin’s Egyptian Food Truck

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Mohamed Radwan
Kairo Koshary, Berlin’s Egyptian Food Truck
Essays

Exile, Music, Hope & Nostalgia Among Berlin’s Arab Immigrants

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Diana Abbani
Exile, Music, Hope & Nostalgia Among Berlin’s Arab Immigrants
Art & Photography

16 Formidable Lebanese Photographers in an Abbey

5 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Nada Ghosn
16 Formidable Lebanese Photographers in an Abbey
Film

Two Syrian Brothers Find Themselves in “We Are From There”

22 AUGUST 2022 • By Angélique Crux
Two Syrian Brothers Find Themselves in “We Are From There”
Film

Lebanon in a Loop: A Retrospective of “Waves ’98”

15 JULY 2022 • By Youssef Manessa
Lebanon in a Loop: A Retrospective of “Waves ’98”
Columns

Why I left Lebanon and Became a Transitional Citizen

27 JUNE 2022 • By Myriam Dalal
Why I left Lebanon and Became a Transitional Citizen
Fiction

Rabih Alameddine: “Remembering Nasser”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine: “Remembering Nasser”
Film

Saeed Taji Farouky: “Strange Cities Are Familiar”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Saeed Taji Farouky
Saeed Taji Farouky: “Strange Cities Are Familiar”
Fiction

Dima Mikhayel Matta: “This Text Is a Very Lonely Document”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Dima Mikhayel Matta
Dima Mikhayel Matta: “This Text Is a Very Lonely Document”
Fiction

“The Salamander”—fiction from Sarah AlKahly-Mills

15 JUNE 2022 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
“The Salamander”—fiction from Sarah AlKahly-Mills
Art & Photography

Film Review: “Memory Box” on Lebanon Merges Art & Cinema

13 JUNE 2022 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Film Review: “Memory Box” on Lebanon Merges Art & Cinema
Beirut

Fairouz is the Voice of Lebanon, Symbol of Hope in a Weary Land

25 APRIL 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
Fairouz is the Voice of Lebanon, Symbol of Hope in a Weary Land
Book Reviews

Joumana Haddad’s The Book of Queens: a Review

18 APRIL 2022 • By Laila Halaby
Joumana Haddad’s <em>The Book of Queens</em>: a Review
Art & Photography

Ghosts of Beirut: a Review of “displaced”

11 APRIL 2022 • By Karén Jallatyan
Ghosts of Beirut: a Review of “displaced”
Columns

Music in the Middle East: Bring Back Peace

21 MARCH 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
Music in the Middle East: Bring Back Peace
Poetry

Three Poems of Love and Desire by Nouri Al-Jarrah

15 MARCH 2022 • By Nouri Al-Jarrah
Three Poems of Love and Desire by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Fiction

Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Abeer Esber, Nouha Homad
Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered
Columns

Sudden Journeys: From Munich with Love and Realpolitik

27 DECEMBER 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: From Munich with Love and Realpolitik
Comix

Lebanon at the Point of Drowning in Its Own…

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Raja Abu Kasm, Rahil Mohsin
Lebanon at the Point of Drowning in Its Own…
Comix

How to Hide in Lebanon as a Western Foreigner

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Nadiyah Abdullatif, Anam Zafar
How to Hide in Lebanon as a Western Foreigner
Beirut

Sudden Journeys: The Villa Salameh Bequest

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: The Villa Salameh Bequest
Music Reviews

Electronic Music in Riyadh?

22 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Melissa Chemam
Electronic Music in Riyadh?
Art

Etel Adnan’s Sun and Sea: In Remembrance

19 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Etel Adnan’s Sun and Sea: In Remembrance
Book Reviews

Diary of the Collapse—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
<em>Diary of the Collapse</em>—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire
Interviews

The Anguish of Being Lebanese: Interview with Author Racha Mounaged

18 OCTOBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
The Anguish of Being Lebanese: Interview with Author Racha Mounaged
Book Reviews

Racha Mounaged’s Debut Novel Captures Trauma of Lebanese Civil War

18 OCTOBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
Racha Mounaged’s Debut Novel Captures Trauma of Lebanese Civil War
Art & Photography

Displaced: From Beirut to Los Angeles to Beirut

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Ara Oshagan
Displaced: From Beirut to Los Angeles to Beirut
Columns

Beirut Drag Queens Lead the Way for Arab LGBTQ+ Visibility

8 AUGUST 2021 • By Anonymous
Beirut Drag Queens Lead the Way for Arab LGBTQ+ Visibility
Art & Photography

Gaza’s Shababek Gallery for Contemporary Art

14 JULY 2021 • By Yara Chaalan
Gaza’s Shababek Gallery for Contemporary Art
Columns

The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth

14 JULY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth
Columns

Lebanon’s Wasta Has Contributed to the Country’s Collapse

14 JUNE 2021 • By Samir El-Youssef
Lebanon’s Wasta Has Contributed to the Country’s Collapse
Columns

Lebanese Oppose Corruption with a Game of Wasta

14 JUNE 2021 • By Victoria Schneider
Lebanese Oppose Corruption with a Game of Wasta
Weekly

War Diary: The End of Innocence

23 MAY 2021 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
War Diary: The End of Innocence
Weekly

Beirut Brings a Fragmented Family Together in “The Arsonists’ City”

9 MAY 2021 • By Rana Asfour
Columns

Memory and the Assassination of Lokman Slim

14 MARCH 2021 • By Claire Launchbury
Memory and the Assassination of Lokman Slim
Weekly

Hanane Hajj Ali, Portrait of a Theatrical Trailblazer

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Nada Ghosn
Hanane Hajj Ali, Portrait of a Theatrical Trailblazer
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Revolution in Art, a review of “Reflections” at the British Museum

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Malu Halasa
Revolution in Art, a review of “Reflections” at the British Museum
TMR 3 • Racism & Identity

Find the Others: on Becoming an Arab Writer in English

15 NOVEMBER 2020 • By Rewa Zeinati
TMR 3 • Racism & Identity

I am the Hyphen

15 NOVEMBER 2020 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
I am the Hyphen
World Picks

World Art, Music & Zoom Beat the Pandemic Blues

28 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Malu Halasa
World Art, Music & Zoom Beat the Pandemic Blues
Beirut

Wajdi Mouawad, Just the Playwright for Our Dystopian World

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Melissa Chemam
Wajdi Mouawad, Just the Playwright for Our Dystopian World
Art

Beirut Comix Tell the Story

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Lina Ghaibeh & George Khoury
Beirut Comix Tell the Story
Editorial

Beirut, Beirut

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Jordan Elgrably
Beirut

It’s Time for a Public Forum on Lebanon

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Wajdi Mouawad
It’s Time for a Public Forum on Lebanon
Beirut

Salvaging the shipwreck of humanity in Amin Maalouf’s Adrift

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
Salvaging the shipwreck of humanity in Amin Maalouf’s <em>Adrift</em>

1 thought on “In Lebanon, Art is a Matter of Survival”

  1. Good reading for the art scene in Lebanon. Indeed, in Lebanon art is a matter of survival. Thank you Nada!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

sixteen + 7 =

Scroll to Top