A visual index of Lebanon's urban ruins Perched on the edge of the Mediterranean, the city of Beirut was once a bustling site of modern architecture. Since the Lebanese Civil War, which broke out in 1975 and claimed over 120,000 lives before its cessation in 1990, many of Beirut's modernist gems have lain abandoned or ruined. Beirut Bereft profiles 57 of these structures as indicative of the wider fragmentation of Lebanon. Lebanese writer Rasha Salti and photographer Ziad Antar generated a visual, textual and cartographic vocabulary to profile the skeletons of office towers, hotels and apartment blocks that overlook the serene Mediterranean. One such building, the Murr Tower, has become something of an emblem of the destruction and lost hopes of Beirut. Begun in 1974 and incomplete at the beginning of the war, this Corbusier-inspired structure now looms over a city trying to find its way again.

Beirut Bereft: Architecture of the Forsaken and Map of the Derelict

Travel

Middle East

Sharjah Art Foundation

Embodying Marcel Duchamp’s words that “art is a game between all people of all periods,” Do It [in Arabic] features more than 70 artists’ instructions, in both English and Arabic, that anyone can use to make a new work of art.Since its inception in 1993, Hans Ulrich Obrist’s multiplatform Do It project has been realized in more than 50 locations worldwide. Do It [in Arabic] collects new instructions commissioned for the exhibition’s most recent iteration organized by Sharjah Art Foundation, including those of artists Adel Abdessemed, Etel Adnan, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Mona Hatoum and Jalal Toufic. Essays by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie and Adila Laïdi-Hanieh and a conversation between co-curators Hoor Al Qasimi and Obrist, which considers the relevance of Do It within the context of the Arabic-speaking world, accompany these instructions.

Do It: [in Arabic]

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Sharjah Art Foundation publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sharjah Art Foundation

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Sharjah Art Foundation publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beirut Bereft: Architecture of the Forsaken and Map of the Derelict

Do It: [in Arabic]