“What I took from this show is not how conflicts overwhelmed Beirut and its modernism. Rather, I was struck by how Beirut survived, even thrived, against all odds. Like Baghdad, a city that has had its share of tribulations, I see an undefeated Beirut and a resilient modernism.”

Publication: “Beyond Fragility: On Beirut’s Resilient Modernism,” Ocula (June 29, 2022).

Keywords:  art, contemporary, modern, artists, Shafic Abboud, Etel Adnan, Farid Aouad, Dia al-Azzawi, Alfred Basbous, Joseph Basbous, Michel Basbous, Assadour Bezdikian, Huguette Caland, Rafic Charaf, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Georges Doche, Simone Fattal, Laure Ghorayeb, Paul Guiragossian, Farid Haddad, John Hadidian, Joana Hadjithomas, Jumana Bayazid El-Husseini, Khalil Joreige, Dorothy Salhab Kazemi, Helen El-Khal, Simone Baltaxé Martayan, Jamil Molaeb, Fateh al-Moudarres, Nicolas Moufarrege, Mehdi Moutashar, Aref El Rayess, Adel al-Saghir, Mahmoud Said, Nadia Saikali, Hashim Samarchi, Mona Saudi, Juliana Seraphim, Cici Sursock, Khalil Zgaib, paintings, drawings, sculpture, installation, prints, Civil War, invasion, 20th century, trauma, destruction, prosperity, survival, representation, explosion, blast, Beirut, Lebanon, Baghdad, Iraq, Southwest Asia (”Middle East”), Arab world, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany

Image: Luca Girardini and Gropius Bau