"This is not an exhibition. And this is not Beirut" A free-format curatorial platform exploring the space of Beirut in the aftermath of the August 4 explosion

Authors

Philippa Dahrouj, American University of Beirut

Keywords

curatorial practices, public interventions, August 4 explosion

Document Type

Exhibition Review

Abstract

This is not an exhibition. is a platform for experimentation in the public spaces of the city through timely interventions in the form of installations, performances, discussions, walks, etc. These interventions aim to question and contest established artistic and curatorial practices by transgressing the normalization of social, political, and urban dynamics in the spaces in which they take place. They invite the audience to participate in the production of the works.
The pilot version, This is not an exhibition. And this is not Beirut., engages with Beirut in the aftermath of the August 4 explosion through artistic interventions in public space. In the wake of the explosion, a lingering fear persists around the politics of erasure and the displacement of city residents. Thus, the works produced shed light on the present and the reality of the city, as opposed to projecting an illusory future in which its inhabitants are reduced to mere observers of its transformation.
The productions presented on this platform are non-representational and engage with the lived present rather than projecting a unified image. Conceived within the BePublic Lab – a timely experimental initiative engaging with the social, political, and urban dynamics that shape public space – This is not an exhibition. And this is not Beirut. comprises interventions deployed across different sites in the city.
Through these works, audiences are invited to navigate and explore Beirut through a myriad of contributions not restricted to any single medium or approach. The multimedia and multidisciplinary platform, in the form of a website, archives these spatial and temporal ruptures. By navigating the city, we perceive it in its heterogeneous fragments, rather than through a collective and enforced romanticization of the blast.
The importance of these works lies in the process by which we allow ourselves to rediscover the needs of the social, economic, political, and urban spheres by framing their ruptures.

Recommended Citation

Dahrouj, Philippa (2022) ""This is not an exhibition. And this is not Beirut" A free-format curatorial platform exploring the space of Beirut in the aftermath of the August 4 explosion," Regards: Vol. 28: No. 28, Article 11.
DOI: 10.70898/regards.v0i28.790
Available at: https://e-journals.usj.edu.lb/regards/vol28/iss28/11