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A New Beginning for Beirut's Sursock Museum

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A New Beginning for Beirut's Sursock Museum October 30, 2015 23 Culture A new beginning for Beirut’s Sursock Museum Jimmy Dabbagh ration of what is happening now, somehow. The institutions that were set in the ‘90s made [it] pos- Beirut sible [for] the work of certain con- temporary artists to have exposure hile next door in internationally,” she said. Syria skies are buzz- Tohme stressed that “whole gen- ing with warplanes erations of artists, intellectuals, from various coun- writers and cultural practitioners” tries, Beirut is ex- have worked to pave the road for Wperiencing a cultural buzz. This in- such a surge. “Things do not really cludes the relaunch of the Sursock happen overnight. It’s been around Museum, a landmark art space, 30 years that people have been among other milestones that en- working, and what is happening is rich the Lebanese capital’s cultural very positive,” Tohme said. scene. However, Sursock Museum oc- Seven years after it closed for cupies a special place in Tohme’s renovation, Sursock Museum is set heart. “It is a museum that has for a new beginning at a time when affected me a lot since my child- Lebanon’s cultural sector is gain- hood. I can see the way it had an ing momentum with the impeding impact on our generation and I’m launch of the private Aishti Foun- very happy to have it there for the An outside view of the Sursock Museum in Beirut. dation, a mixed-use cultural centre, local community,” she said. and Marfa’, a contemporary art gal- The exquisite villa housing the lery in Beirut Port. museum was originally the private A sleek, glass-walled structure, than 200 rarely seen works from tion of postcards and studio photo- Museum Director Zeina Arida home of aristocratic art-enthusiast which harbours a restaurant and private collections, including paint- graphs from the fervent collector’s noted that the timing of the reopen- Nicolas Sursock, bequeathed to the bookshop, stands alongside the ings, etchings and photographs that intricate collection. ing of Sursock was not coordinated city of Beirut after his death in 1952. museum’s Venetian- and Ottoman- explore the history and evolution The blend of contemporary and with the launch of the two new gal- By 1961, the private residence, styled façade, with the interior of Beirut’s identity from 1800-1960. historic works provides an interest- leries to make a cultural buzz but which had once served to enter- housing a new 164-seat auditori- The twin galleries house a group ing dichotomy of art for visitors to was a coincidence. tain the country’s upper crust, was um, a specialised research library, exhibition The City in The City, consume. turned into a museum carrying a climate-controlled storage spaces, which assembles recent work by “What is interesting is to really The blend of mission to inform audiences about a restoration workshop space, a artists, designers and researchers build bridges. It’s [important] to art practices within Lebanon and temporary exhibition hall and twin concerned with mapping and ex- link your own identity and history contemporary and the region. galleries on the ground floor. ploring contemporary Beirut. to your contemporary time. I’m historic works The museum housed a rich per- The grand reopening of the mu- [part of] the war generation in Leb- provides an manent collection of Lebanese seum created a cultural buzz but, Sursock Museum is anon and maybe for us it was a real interesting modern art and hosted the annual as far as Arida is concerned, the concern to find links between our Salon d’Automne. This juried ex- impact can only be measured in the set for a new past and present,” Arida said. dichotomy of art for hibition of contemporary art was long term. “I’m conscious this is beginning at a time With the country’s current tur- visitors to consume. modeled after its French predeces- the opening week, so we’re going to when Lebanon’s moil and continuously shifting po- sor, which was established in 1903 have lot of people but I don’t know cultural sector is litical landscape, time will reveal “This is happening in the post- as a reaction against conservative if this means there is a lot of people whether the Sursock Museum will war period, after years of initiative policies of the officialSalon de Par- interested in arts, or they are curi- gaining momentum. preserve a central position within and support of contemporary ar- is. ous about the museum. Some have the city’s art scene but for Tohme, tistic practices,” Arida said, com- While the 1975-90 civil war rav- been waiting for years for the mu- Along the upper two floors, visi- “Such art institutions can play a mending Lebanese curator Chris- aged Lebanon, the museum stayed seum to reopen,” she said. tors can also survey the museum’s pivotal role in shaping our notions tine Tohme as one of the main open, albeit remaining relatively In October and November, the extensive collection display, which of how to live together collectively contributors to the art scene today under the radar. Initially offering museum offers an eclectic pro- traces the development of Leba- and as a community.” through her organisation Ashkal nearly 2,000 square metres of floor gramme that caters to a broad spec- nese modern art from the late 1800s Alwan, which has been promot- space, the premises have now ex- trum of audiences from children to to the early 2000s. Jimmy Dabbagh is a journalist ing Lebanese and Arab artists since panded to about 8,500 square me- aficionados. Displayed in the main Picturing Identity, Selection of based in Beirut and contributes 1993. tres with the renovation estimated exhibitions hall, Views on Beirut: Photographs from the Fouad Debbas cultural articles to The Arab “We all participated in the prepa- to cost nearly $14 million. 160 years of Images showcases more Collection offers a compelling selec- Weekly. Unusual art exhibit from Saudi Arabia Karen Dabrowska ing slowly and shockingly meta- (GS) in Riyadh, established in 2010 introduce themselves as a sacrifice In her video and pigment print morphosing into an armed fighter to teach people aged 18-25 about in jihad,” he said. “I want them to on photo rag paper, Anbari reflects jet that resembles a malevolent in- contemporary art. Due to an ab- look around and develop their hu- the interaction between visually London sect. The message is that religion sence of art schools in the country, manity.” starved children and a typical dis- can be used as pretext for war but the studio is one of the only places On his part, Ajlan Gharem, a play of cautionary art that is unique orget about images of the beauty of the Islamic design in Saudi Arabia where artists can maths teacher in Riyadh and co- to Saudi Arabia and common in ed- quaint mosques, pictur- prevails, suggesting that war is talk freely and learn about contem- founder of GS, exhibited Paradise ucational settings. esque sand dunes, palm transient and ultimately peace and porary art. Has Many Gates, a video document- In a series of untitled works, all trees and Arabs in tradi- unity will prevail. The studio has staged exhibitions ing the installation of a 10×30 cm pigment print on photo rag paper, tional costumes: Saudi Aniconism is a 5-minute video by at the US ambassador’s residence in cage transformed into the shape of Shehri creates a collage of crowd- FArabia’s contemporary young art- Abdulnasser Gharem showing Sau- Riyadh and worked closely with the a mosque and installed in the desert reverent pilgrims, overconfident ists specialise in controversial, di artists in traditional dress using a British Council on a series of work- outside Riyadh. football fans and bare graves. These thought-provoking, unique photo- plastic model of naked woman for shops with Professor David Rayson, images illustrate how collective cul- graphs, sculptures, video art and an art drawing class. Gharem took head of painting at the Royal Col- The message is that tures can cause the value of an indi- installations. the mannequin from Dubai earlier lege of Art in London. religion can be used vidual to be compromised. The concept of “ricochet” was the in 2015. It was dismantled and the Abdulnasser Gharem, one of the as pretext for war Proud of his studio’s first inter- central theme of a week-long exhi- pieces transported into Saudi Ara- Gulf’s most influential artists, but the beauty of the national exhibition, Abdulnasser bition in London’s Asia House that bia in different cars as all depic- was a lieutenant-colonel in Gharem speaks eloquently about showcased the work of contempo- tions of naked women, even in the Saudi Army. Two of Islamic design his aim: “I don’t just want to create rary Saudi artists Abdulnasser Ghar- the form of mannequins, are the 9/11 hijackers were prevails. artists. I want to create real players em, Shaweesh, Dhafer al-Shehri, forbidden. The video shows in his class at school. He who are good at everything, work- Ajlan Gharem and Njoud al-Anbari. the will of artists to over- says the only way to con- There are images of figures com- ing with society and also successful The artists investigated how actions come barriers and engage quer the wave of terror- ing to pray in the mosque, including in the art market.” taken by a country’s authorities can with aesthetics at the ism sweeping the Middle children who ask many questions When Christie’s Dubai sold his cause direct or indirect chain reac- core of art history.
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