‘Intimate Garden Scene (In Beirut)’ at Sursock Museum, organised by Ashkal Alwan, is part of the first chapter of Home Works 9: A Forum on Cultural Practices. The exhibition revisits forms of critical artmaking in Lebanon from the 1990s onward. The show’s title references Ashkal Alwan’s inaugural project at Sanayeh Garden, Beirut (1995). Drawing on lived experiences and subjective histories, the exhibition prompts consideration of Lebanon’s recent woes through everyday life.
The exhibition features works by artists including Mohamad Abdouni, Bassel Abi-Chahine, Etel Adnan, Haig Aivazian, Tamara Al-Samerraei, Mounira Al Solh, Omar Amiralay, Ziad Antar, Marwa Arsanios, Vartan Avakian, Monica Basbous, Tony Chakar, Ali Cherri, Roy Dib, Fouad Elkoury, Simone Fattal, Sirine Fattouh, Daniele Genadry, Laure Ghorayeb, Ahmad Ghossein, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Gilbert Hage, Charbel-Joseph H. Boutros, Ghassan Halwani, Amal Issa, Rim El Jundi, Mazen Kerbaj, Lina Majdalanie (Saneh), Raafat Majzoub, Alaa Mansour, Omar Mismar, Rabih Mroué, Rawane Nassif, Walid Raad, and many more.
‘Intimate Garden Scene (in Beirut)’ explores artistic production from the 1990s amidst Lebanon’s shifting political and cultural landscape. Through shared yet distinct trajectories, artists elevate lived experiences and historical writings into a transformative project, witnessing a time marred by crisis. Lebanon has grappled with violent postwar arrangements, reconstruction, the end of foreign occupations, the October 2019 uprisings, the Beirut Port explosion, and the collapse of state institutions and the economy.
Featured are diverse media including drawings, sketches, paintings, collages, diaries, archival documents, photography, video-based works, and sculptures, reflecting the mundane and historical. In the show, artists employ seriality, diaristic, fiction, and appropriation to challenge conventional representation. ‘Intimate Garden Scene (in Beirut)’ internalises and processes historical events, authoring an interrupted novel of Lebanon’s recent history.
Location: Sursock Museum, Special Exhibition Hall, Level -2,
Dates: 30 November 2023 – 15 November 2024
Explore related articles on Sursock Museum.