Why Beirut Museum of Art project is a beacon of hope in crisis-plagued Lebanon

Special BeMA will showcase the wide diversity of Lebanese art and provide facilities for education, digitization, restoration, storage and residency programs. (Supplied/WORKac)
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BeMA will showcase the wide diversity of Lebanese art and provide facilities for education, digitization, restoration, storage and residency programs. (Supplied/WORKac)
Special Can the Beirut Museum of Art project help Lebanon rediscover its sense of self and recover from its many traumas? (Supplied/WORKac)
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Can the Beirut Museum of Art project help Lebanon rediscover its sense of self and recover from its many traumas? (Supplied/WORKac)
Special The New York-based architectural firm WORKac was approached in 2018 to design the new museum, due for completion in 2026. (Supplied/WORKac)
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The New York-based architectural firm WORKac was approached in 2018 to design the new museum, due for completion in 2026. (Supplied/WORKac)
Special Located in the upmarket Badaro district, the museum will stand on what was once the “green line” that divided Beirut during the civil war. (Supplied/WORKac)
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Located in the upmarket Badaro district, the museum will stand on what was once the “green line” that divided Beirut during the civil war. (Supplied/WORKac)
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Updated 21 May 2022

Why Beirut Museum of Art project is a beacon of hope in crisis-plagued Lebanon

Why Beirut Museum of Art project is a beacon of hope in crisis-plagued Lebanon
  • New York-based architects WORKac were approached in 2018 to design Beirut’s new art museum 
  • BeMA will stand on what was once the “green line” dividing the Lebanese capital during the civil war

DUBAI: For many Lebanese, the past can be a painful subject. A civil war destroyed large swaths of the country between 1975 and 1990. The postwar period has been marked by sectarian strife and government dysfunction.

But in spite of the traumas of recent decades, Lebanon remains a land of immense cultural wealth, with a rich history reflected in its architectural, cultural and anthropological heritage.

This is why the Beirut Museum of Art, or BeMA, which is due to open in 2026, has been billed as a “beacon of hope” in a country beset by political paralysis, economic decline and a worsening humanitarian crisis.

When Sandra Abou Nader and Rita Nammour launched the museum project, their goal was to showcase the wide diversity of Lebanese art and provide facilities for education, digitization, restoration, storage and artist-in-residency programs.

“They realized that there was, in fact, very little visibility for the Lebanese artistic scene, within the country and abroad, and for Lebanese artists, whether modern or contemporary,” BeMA’s art consultant, Juliana Khalaf, told Arab News.




Compuer-generated views of BeMA. Described as a 'vertical sculpture garden,' it will feature three gallery floors that borrow elements from local art deco designs. (Supplied/WORKac)

About 700 works of art will be on display at the new venue, drawn from the Lebanese Ministry of Culture’s collection of more than 2,000 pieces, the bulk of which have been in storage for decades.

“We are going to be housing this very important collection,” said Khalaf. “We call it the national collection and it belongs to the public. It’s our role to make it, for the very first time, accessible. It’s never been seen before.”

The artworks, created by more than 200 artists and dating from the late-19th century to the present day, tell the story of this small Mediterranean country from its renaissance era and independence to the civil war period and beyond.

The collection includes pieces by Lebanese American writer, poet and visual artist Kahlil Gibran and his mentor, the influential late-Ottoman-era master Daoud Corm, who was renowned for his sophisticated portraiture and still-life painting.

Works by pioneers of Lebanese modernism, such as Helen Khal, Saloua Raouda Choucair and Saliba Douaihy, will also feature among the collection, as will several lesser-known 20th-century artists, including Esperance Ghorayeb, who created several rare, abstract compositions in the 1970s.

“The collection is a reminder of the beautiful heritage that we have,” said Khalaf. “It shows us our culture through the eyes of our artists.”

Among the priorities for the BeMA team, in partnership with the Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, is the restoration of the collection, which includes several paintings and works on paper that have been damaged by war, neglect, improper storage or simply the passage of time.

Gathering information about the artists and their effects on Lebanon’s artistic heritage is another priority for the BeMA team, and is a task that has proved to be challenging given the dearth of published resources and the means to catalog them.

FASTFACT

* International Museum Day, held annual on or around May 18, highlights a specific theme or issue facing museums internationally.

“What was surprising was how little research there is out there and how much we need to do on that front, like getting the right equipment that is not currently available in the country to properly archive books and photography,” said Khalaf.

In 2018, the BeMA team approached WORKac, an architectural firm based in New York, for ideas about the new venue. Co-founded by Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, a Lebanese-born architect and former dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, WORKac has designed museums in California, Texas, New York and Florida.

For Andraos, who left Lebanon at the age of three, the chance to design a home for Beirut’s artistic heritage is particularly special.

“I think it’s a very personal project for everyone involved,” she told Arab News. “Everybody put their heart and soul into this idea that Beirut really needed a museum to house the national collection.

“For me, personally, I have a great attachment to Beirut, to its history, as well as architecturally, artistically and intellectually.”




"Everyone involved in it sees it as a beacon of hope, it's almost like a resistance to collapse," says Amale Andraos, the Lebanese-born architect and co-founder of architecture firm WORKac. (Supplied)

Given the country’s troubled past and complex identity, Andraos believes the museum’s collection will prove valuable in helping Lebanon rediscover its sense of self and recover from past traumas.

“It’s an archive that we need to go back to, to understand who we are and how we move forward,” she said.

After the project was approved by city authorities, the first stone was laid at the site of the new museum in February. The initial phase requires Andraos and her team to examine the site for archaeological remains.

When complete, the museum will feature three gallery floors that borrow aesthetic elements from local Art Deco urban design. It has been described as an “open museum” and a “vertical sculpture garden,” owing to its cubic facade which will be embellished with bursts of greenery from top to bottom.

Andraos admits she was initially skeptical about the project. Lebanon is in the throes of multiple crises, including a financial collapse. Beirut, the capital, is yet to recover from the devastating blast at the city’s port on Aug. 4, 2020, when a warehouse filled with highly explosive ammonium nitrate caught fire and detonated, leveling an entire district.

All of this, combined with the additional economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused thousands of young Lebanese to move abroad in search of work and respite from the seemingly endless litany of crises.




Lebanon is experiencing financial collapse, economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, mass unemployment and hunger, increasing poverty and government dysfunction. (AFP)

For some people in the country, though, it is precisely because of these issues that a museum celebrating Lebanon’s cultural achievements is needed, perhaps now more than ever.

“When I recently presented the museum to a member of the BeMA board, I said: ‘This is probably the worst time for a museum,’ and he said: ‘This is the most important time for a museum because we need culture, education and ideas,’” said Andraos.

“When people are hungry, it’s like art versus food — but art is also food, in some ways, for the spirit and the mind.

“Everyone involved in it sees it as a beacon of hope and the country needs to build its institutions. It’s almost like a resistance to collapse. We have a history that is worth valuing, rereading, and a culture that we need to preserve and build on.”

This is not to say that the project was welcomed by everyone at the beginning.

“There’s no large public attendance of museums; it’s something that really needs to be developed,” Khalaf said. “In that respect, people felt like it was an unnecessary project.

“But now that people actually see that it’s a serious project and is happening, the attitude has changed. People say there’s something to look forward to.”

To date, about 70 percent of funding for the project has been allocated and a public appeal will soon be launched to make up any shortfall. Entry to the museum will be free.

Located in the leafy, upmarket, residential Badaro district in the heart of Beirut, known for its early-20th-century, art deco-influenced buildings, the museum will stand on what was once the “green line” that separated the east and west of the capital during the civil war.

“What’s nice about it now is that it might become the ‘museum mile,’ because there’s the National Museum, BeMA, Mim Museum, and if you just go further down, you’ll actually get to the Sursock Museum,” said Khalaf.

“It changes the perspective from a war-torn Beirut to a culturally alive Beirut.” 

__________

Twitter: @artprojectdxb

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SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to open on May 23

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to open on May 23
Updated 22 March 2023

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to open on May 23

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to open on May 23
  • Marine-life theme park will host 150 species
  • Spaces were built to recreate the way sea animals would live in natural habitat

DUBAI: Property developer Miral announced on Tuesday that SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, a next-generation marine-life theme park on Yas Island, is set to open on May 23, Emirates News reported. 

The marine-life theme park will feature the region’s largest multi-species aquarium, with more than 58 million liters of water and 150 species, including sharks, manta rays, sea turtles, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. It will be constructed on five indoor levels with a total area of about 183,000 sq m. 

The theme park will offer up-close animal encounters, rides, and dining and shopping opportunities across eight themed guest environments. Meanwhile, the development also includes the UAE’s first dedicated marine research, rescue, rehabilitation and return center. 

“As part of our commitment to the Year of Sustainability, the marine life park will embed Sheikh Zayed’s legacy and profound respect for nature and all its beauty, as well as play a key role in promoting environmental awareness and protecting marine life in Abu Dhabi, the UAE and the wider region,” said Miral Chairman Mohamed Khalifa Al-Mubarak. 

“Through its innovative programs and its state-of-the-art facilities, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi aims to inspire the next generation of conservationists and marine life scientists while fostering a deeper appreciation for the natural world,” Al-Mubarak said 

The theme park was built to allow marine creatures to live in dynamic habitats alongside other fish, birds and animals as they would in nature, WAM reported. Spaces have also been designed to mimic social seasonal patterns for animals and provide the health benefits of full spectrum light.


Emirati singer Balqees Fathi named a Maison Valentino ‘Di.Va.’ 

Emirati singer Balqees Fathi named a Maison Valentino ‘Di.Va.’ 
Updated 21 March 2023

Emirati singer Balqees Fathi named a Maison Valentino ‘Di.Va.’ 

Emirati singer Balqees Fathi named a Maison Valentino ‘Di.Va.’ 

DUBAI: Emirati singer Balqees Fathi has been given the title of Di.Va. by Italian luxury label Maison Valentino.  

Akin to a brand ambassador, creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s chosen Di.Vas personify the labels’ “different values.” 

“The contemporary need to identify, to belong yet feel different, to risk and to feel strength. The modern DI.VA is a complex character of codes, upheld by inner values,” the brand previously explained on Instagram. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Balqees (@balqeesfathi)

 

Fathi took to Instagram to share the news with her 14.9 million followers. “I am proud to announce that I am a @maisonvalentino Di.Va. for the Middle East,” she wrote. “To me, it means being part of a community that shares my same values, and with every Valentino piece I wear, I feel liberated and in unconditional love with myself.” 

Before working with the label, the “Ya Hawa” singer was one of the brand’s loyal clients.  

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Valentino (@maisonvalentino)

 

In July, she tuned heads at the brand’s Fall-Winter Haute Couture show in Rome that was held on the steps of the historic Piazza di Spagna. 

She wore a pink creation from Valentino’s Pink PP Collection by Pierpaolo Piccioli to the show titled “Valentino The Beginning.” 

It was not the first time Fathi was spotted in Valentino. She wore an elegant all-white ensemble from the designer’s Rendez-Vouz collection back in March 2022 — a white silk shirt paired with a blazer and pants set that was an instant hit among fashion lovers on social media.  


Iraqi artist Rand Abdul Jabbar awarded Richard Mille Art Prize at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Iraqi artist Rand Abdul Jabbar awarded Richard Mille Art Prize at Louvre Abu Dhabi
Updated 21 March 2023

Iraqi artist Rand Abdul Jabbar awarded Richard Mille Art Prize at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Iraqi artist Rand Abdul Jabbar awarded Richard Mille Art Prize at Louvre Abu Dhabi

DUBAI: Iraqi artist Rand Abdul Jabbar has been awarded this year’s $60,000 Richard Mille Art Prize in a ceremony held at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The award, held jointly by the museum with Swiss watchmaking brand Richard Mille, was given to the multidisciplinary artist who lives in Abu Dhabi.

The artist won for “Earthly Wonders, Celestial Beings” (2019–ongoing),  which was put on show during the Art Here 2022 exhibition in October.

 “I am grateful to be recognized amongst a group of peers for whom I have deep respect and admiration. The Richard Mille Art Prize represents a significant investment in the growth and development of an artist’s practice, instilling both the capacity and drive to forge ahead in their pursuit. I would like to thank Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille for their generous support, and acknowledge the esteemed jury for their trust,” Jabbar said in a released statement.

To date, the artist has had her work exhibited at Shubbak Festival (UK), SAVVY Contemporary (Germany), Rabat Biennale (Morocco), Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans (France), Abu Dhabi Art, Jameel Arts Centre, NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, and Warehouse 421 (UAE).

The museum also revealed the theme for the upcoming third edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize as “Transparency.” Curated by Maya El Khalil, the open call for the upcoming edition will begin on March 30.


Sharon Stone shows off gown by Saudi designer Yousef Akbar at Beverly Hills gala event 

Sharon Stone shows off gown by Saudi designer Yousef Akbar at Beverly Hills gala event 
Updated 21 March 2023

Sharon Stone shows off gown by Saudi designer Yousef Akbar at Beverly Hills gala event 

Sharon Stone shows off gown by Saudi designer Yousef Akbar at Beverly Hills gala event 

DUBAI: Saudi designer Yousef Akbar has added another Hollywood star to his client list —Sharon Stone.  

The Oscar-winning US actress wore an embellished green dress designed by Akbar to the 2023 Women’s Cancer Research Fund Gala this week.  

Her dress, which was clinched at the waist, featured half-satin and half-sparkling fabric with built-in gloves. Stone accessorized her look with a metallic gold clutch.  

The star received the 2023 Courage Award for her support of breast cancer research and dedication to raising awareness for the cause.  

Upon taking the stage, Stone said: “So often things that start with women get overlooked completely, and I am so grateful to stand for something that doesn’t.” 

The event, which took place in the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, raised over $2 million to benefit the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation that is dedicated to ending disease by advancing research across the globe.


‘It will blow your mind,’ US actor Rob Lowe says of Egypt trip

‘It will blow your mind,’ US actor Rob Lowe says of Egypt trip
Updated 21 March 2023

‘It will blow your mind,’ US actor Rob Lowe says of Egypt trip

‘It will blow your mind,’ US actor Rob Lowe says of Egypt trip

DUBAI: US actor Rob Lowe is the latest Hollywood celebrity to visit Egypt.  

The filmmaker and podcast host shared pictures from his trip to the country this week. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Rob Lowe (@roblowe)

“Spent some quality time in this tomb today with the boy king himself! Tutankhamen’s body was only unwrapped last year,” Lowe wrote to his 1.9 million followers, sharing a picture of himself inside the tomb.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Rob Lowe (@roblowe)

He also posed for pictures in front of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza.  

“Nothing can prepare you for Egypt. No matter how many photos you’ve seen or books you’ve read, it will blow your mind. And the people were amazing,” the actor wrote on Instagram.  

Lowe is not the only celebrity to visit Egypt in recent years. He is joined by John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Kourtney Kardashian, Will Smith, Jason Derulo and more.