Abandoned Dwellings: A History of Beirut
Overview
Over the past 150 years, Beirut has witnessed a cycle of unbridled growth, war, economic and social crises and migratory movements. It is in this territory ceaselessly destroyed and rebuilt, broken and regenerated, that Gregory Buchakjian has undertaken an artistic project and a research devoted to abandoned dwellings. Disclosing the survey of 744 buildings, the collection of archives and testimonies, a PhD thesis and the creation of photographic tableaux with the subjects surrounded by sagging furniture and mounds of rubbish, the process that constitutes the present book proposes new perspectives towards the city as well as instruments to reclaim it at times it is confronted with various forms of violence.
About the Artist
Gregory Buchakjian
Gregory BUCHAKJIAN (b.1971, Lebanon) is an art historian and interdisciplinary artist, as well as the director of the School of Visual Arts at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA). His research is largely based on archive, archaeology and narration, including his Ph.D. dissertation at the Sorbonne (2016), the book Abandoned Dwellings, A History of Beirut (Beirut, Kaph Books: 2018, Valerie Cachard, ed.) and the exhibitions Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems (Beirut, Sursock Museum, 2018 curated by Karina El Helou) and Abandoned Dwellings of Beirut (Brussels, Villa Empain, 2019). In 2018, he contributed to the first Lebanese pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Works on Paper accompanying Karina El Helou's Cycles of Collapsing Progress in Oscar Niemeyer's Tripoli International Fair. In 2019, he co-organized the 2nd Alba Cinema Encounters “Filming in Times of War, 1975-1990” for which he produced the installation Where do Filmmakers go? In 2021, he created with Valérie Cachard and Sary Moussa the video Agenda 1979 for Opera National du Rhin and the installation Hercules and Omphale for the exhibition How will it end? (Curated by Alicia Knock and Louma Salamé) based on a painting he attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi.
About the Authors
Gregory Buchakjian
Gregory BUCHAKJIAN (b.1971, Lebanon) is an art historian and interdisciplinary artist, as well as the director of the School of Visual Arts at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA). His research is largely based on archive, archaeology and narration, including his Ph.D. dissertation at the Sorbonne (2016), the book Abandoned Dwellings, A History of Beirut (Beirut, Kaph Books: 2018, Valerie Cachard, ed.) and the exhibitions Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems (Beirut, Sursock Museum, 2018 curated by Karina El Helou) and Abandoned Dwellings of Beirut (Brussels, Villa Empain, 2019). In 2018, he contributed to the first Lebanese pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Works on Paper accompanying Karina El Helou's Cycles of Collapsing Progress in Oscar Niemeyer's Tripoli International Fair. In 2019, he co-organized the 2nd Alba Cinema Encounters “Filming in Times of War, 1975-1990” for which he produced the installation Where do Filmmakers go? In 2021, he created with Valérie Cachard and Sary Moussa the video Agenda 1979 for Opera National du Rhin and the installation Hercules and Omphale for the exhibition How will it end? (Curated by Alicia Knock and Louma Salamé) based on a painting he attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi.
Valérie Cachard
Née à Beyrouth en 1979, Valérie Cachard est de formation littéraire et journalistique. Chargée de cours à l’USJ et à l’ALB,A elle anime des ateliers d’écriture et de théâtre. Lauréate du Prix du Jeune Écrivain Francophone et du prix Etel Adnan Award for women playrights, elle bénéficie d’une résidence d’écriture au Théâtre du Tarmac en 2010. Elle est l'auteure de récits - Déviations et autres détours - (Tamyras, 2016) et de pièces de théâtre - Matriochka – (Antoine, 2015) ainsi que d'écrits accompagnant des travaux artistiques - Nos âmes en chantier avec Saïd Baalbaki et "Géographie du printemps" avec François Sargologo. Elle a édité “Habitats Abandonnés. Une histoire de Beyrouth”, de Gregory Buchakjian avec qui elle a également produit une performance filmée intitulée Archives.
Technical Details
- Publication Date:
- Thursday, November 29, 2018
- Language:
- English or French
- Format:
- Hardcover, Fabric Cover
- Dimensions:
- 24x29cm
- Weight:
- 1340g
- ISBN:
- 9786148035111
- Number of Pages:
- 240
- Publisher:
- Kaph Books
- Categories:
- The Arts
Related Events
Abandoned Dwellings at Fondation Boghossian
