Middle East. Lebanon

AIWA [ Workshop ]

The AIWA workshop which took place in Aley, (a town situated in the hills 10km from Beirut) during September 2005 was the realisation of a lengthy planning process involving the host group in Beirut, Braziers Workshop and the Triangle Arts Trust. The second AIWA workshop took place in 2008.

Both workshops successfully brought together artists from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Iran to work with artists from the Lebanon. From further afield artists came from the UK, Mexico and China.

Coordinators:
Ghassan Maasri (2005 and 2008)
Tamara al-Samerraei (2005)
Lina Hakim (2008)

The first Open Day at Aley attracted over 400 visitors and ended with a memorable celebration of an event that had succeeded against some formidable obstacles.

Akram Zaatari wrote:

I could see them (the Aley community who came to the Open Day) wonder yet accept; how can a living space become an art work? And so forth, the list is long : Punching paper? Planting neon lights in the earth? Creating a mud pond? A swing made out of clothes: plastic chair skyscrapers? etc.

On the other hand with regard to arts relation to the audience, and the placement of this event in the context of consumption of art in the Lebanon, AIWA successfully drove Lebanon’s audience for offroad art.

Participants 2005
Anne Course (UK)
Annette Stahmer (Germany)
Auj Khan (Pakistan)
Basel Saadi (Syria)
Cynthia Zaven (Lebanon)
Duan Yingmei (China)
Elie Abou Samra (Lebanon)
Elmas Deniz (Turkey)
Hanan Hirzellah (Palestine)
Fernando Palomar (Mexico)
Gill Ord (UK)
Hassan Darsi (Morocco)
Kahil, Abdullah (Lebanon)
Mohammed Abdulla (Iraq)
Mohammed Al Rifai (Egypt)
Mahmoud Khaled (Egypt)
Oraib Toukan (Jordan)
Ramin Haerzadeh (Iran)
Tom Chamberlain (UK)

Participants 2008
Marwa Arsanios (Lebanon)
Ayman Baalbaki (Lebanon)
Ginou Choueiri (Lebanon)
Tagreed Darghouth (Lebanon)
Youmna Chala (Lebanon)
Camille Zakharia (Lebanon)
Nabil Makhloufy (Morocco/Germany)
Mahmoud Hanafy (Egypt)
Larissa Sansour (Palestine/Russia)
Selim Birsel (Turkey)
Setareth Shahbazi (Iran/Germany)
Norman O'Flyn (South Africa)
Patricia Souza (Portugal)
Juliana Smith (Switzerland/USA)
Luca Bertini (Italy)
David Greg Harth (USA)