ABOUT THE PANEL:

Curated by BDW x NINE, this panel brings together different visions and experiences of understanding urban landscapes in relation to memories of what was and the physicality of what is. How can 

Moderator: Diala Lteif

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Yazan Halwani was born in 1993, three years after the Lebanese Civil War. Although he has not seen the armed conflict, he grew up in its consequences: bombings, civil strife, violent political discourse hinged in sectarian identity politics, censorship, a bad economy that pushed him to migrate and most importantly a city whose public spaces do not reflect the identity of its inhabitants.

Inspired by the blankness of public spaces he became at a young age one of the most recognizable street artists in the Middle-East. His work shifted over time to combine his eclectic interests in art, engineering, economy, and politics to create public and non-public works that become iconic landmarks that are instantly recognizable. His work is a synthesis of his analytical personality and artistic alter-ego

Having painted since a young age, Yazan has developed a unique and recognizable visual language rooted in expressionism and traditional Arab art. His work also recombines calligraphy, images, historic texts to create paintings and sculpture with a conceptual underpinning.

Although he is one of the youngest emerging artists, he has been recognized for his work on many levels. His work has been covered in international publications such as

The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist’s 1843 and many others. He has won the Gold Medal while representing Lebanon at the Jeux De La Francophonie, a common milestone in the career of established artists from Lebanon. Most notably, he has been commissioned for the first national monument the “Great Famine of Lebanon

(1914-1918)” at the heart of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

Yazan’s ongoing works deal with identity and migratory patterns.

Pablo Sendra is Lecturer in Planning and Urban Design at The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL). He combines his academic career with professional practice in urban design. He is co-founder and director of the urban design practice Lugadero, which has recently run a co-design process for two public spaces in Wimbledon, London, UK. He is also co-founder of Civicwise, a network that works on civic engagement and collaborative urbanism. His main areas of research interest are social housing neighborhoods and collaborative processes for planning and designing public spaces. He studies the impact that regeneration processes have on people’s relationships and looks at design strategies that encourage unplanned activities and sociability in the public realm. He has developed action research projects and radical teaching in collaboration with community groups and activists in London. At UCL, he is the Director of the MSc in Urban Design and City Planning program, the coordinator of the Civic Design CPD Course and the Deputy Leader of the Urban Design Research Group.

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