“From calligraphic abstraction to forays into poetry, from legible inscriptions to surrealistic tableaux, and from ruminations on tradition to cravings for novelty, the artists’ inquiries range widely, as they interrogate the semantic, formal, and symbolic dimensions of the script.”

Exhibition: “Visceral Hymn: Arabic and Lebanese Modernism,” group exhibition (featuring artists such as Aref El Rayess, Etel Adnan, Helen Khal, Huguette Caland, Hussein Madi, Juliana Seraphim, Laure Ghorayeb, Mona Saudi, Nabil Nahas, Paul Guiragossian, Rafic Charaf, Said Akl, Saliba Douaihy, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Samir Sayegh, and Shafic Abboud), Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum, American University of Beirut, April 8 – July 15, 2025.

Keywords: exhibition, curatorial practice, art, Arabic, language, calligraphy, script, text, writing, letter, modern, twentieth, 20th, century, survey, art, history, artists, Adel El Saghir, Adnan Charara, Adnan El Masri, Aref El Rayess, Etel Adnan, Helen Khal, Huguette Caland, Hussein Madi, Joseph El Helou, Juliana Seraphim, Laure Ghorayeb, Layla Habr, Mahmoud Amhaz, Michel Akl, Mohammad Ghaleb, Mona Saudi, Mounir Najem, Moussa Tiba, Nabil Nahas, Paul Guiragossian, Rafic Charaf, Said Akl, Saliba Douaihy, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Sami Makarem, Samir Sayegh, Shafic Abboud, Stelio Scamanga, Wajih Nahlé, paintings, drawings, sketches, collages, sculptures, artist books, tapestry, rugs, publications, archival, documents, prints, public, private, collections, museums, Oriental, Eastern, abstraction, abstract, legibility, representation, Nahda, renaissance, rebirth, awakening, Arab, world, West Asia, North Africa, Southwest Asia (”Middle East”), Beirut, Lebanon

Image: Amin Alsaden