RENCONTRE # 1 : An Artist talk, what comes after the August 4 explosion ?

Dans les conditions extrêmes que nous vivons les uns et les autres, dans cette vie bouleversée que nous affrontons, nous recherchons à partager nos ressentis et à écouter les avis des autres.

Les visites guidées de l’Agenda Culturel, se transforment, pour le moment, en « Rencontres post 4 aout » avec des artistes qui partageront leurs sentiments et l’impact de cette situation inédite sur leur destin en tant qu’artiste.

Rendez-vous le mercredi 30 septembre à 18h, Galerie TANIT, Mar Mikhael.

Langues : Arabe et anglais

Masque sanitaire requis 

PROGAMME DE LA RENCONTRE

An artists’ talk:

What comes after the August 4 explosion?

Participating Artists: Abed Al Kadiri, Randa Mirza, Roy Dib, and Dalia Khamissy

Moderated by Marc Mouarkech

Chaos. Absurdity. Malevolence.

All have plagued Lebanon for quite a long time. And for quite a long time, artists have looked for the pulse. That special pulse that allows them to interpret, question, and create.

Artists have always been mobilized to refuse to succumb to tragedies.

Toni Morisson in an essay on the artist’s duty at time of crisis insists that when the world is bruised and bleeding is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear.

Today, Lebanon is bruised and bleeding. The August 4 explosion has destroyed not only the city but also the morale of so many people. This isn’t the first time. Lebanon has endured so many traumas during the last four decades. And time after time, artists have worked: they committed to the truth and looked for knowledge and wisdom in each incident.

But a new reality has been enforced by the pandemic, the political and economic crisis, and lately the August 4 criminal act. So where do artists stand today? Do artists adhere to Morisson’s interpretation of their role and their duties?

The artists we invited today have witnessed it all, they acted, they reacted, as citizens, as activists, and through their artistic work.

Is there still energy? Do they still feel like they can take all the pain, the upheaval, and the adversity and turn it in ways that stimulate us to become a more humane humanity?

Abed Al Kadiri, Randa Mirza, Roy Dib, and Dalia Khamissy will share their experiences, the ways they’re dealing with these turbulent times, and their future perspectives.