
In 2009, Gregory
Buchakjian decided to
symbolically inhabit
abandoned houses. This
gesture consisted of
recovering buildings
whose inhabitants had
been expelled either by
wars or by real estate
speculation. It is also
a re- enactment of a
sequence from Hamasat
– Whispers , a
documentary produced by
Maroun Bagdadi in 1980
and chronicling the
lives and the
testimonies of the
inhabitants of a country
torn between war and
hope. The film opens
with the poetess Nadia
Tuéni who, accompanied
by a photographer,
surveys the ruins of the
city, moving towards the
shore, and pronounces a
litany:
"Beirut has become
ruins. With time, ruins
become beautiful. But I
will not get accustomed
to it. Beirut was ugly,
maybe. But she was my
city. She was bad,
maybe. But she was my
city."
Between 2009
to 2018, forty people
took part in the game
despite the risks
involved: unwelcome
encounters, accidents,
bugs, dirt. This
performative practice
echoes the principle
stated by researcher
Rebecca Schneider:
performance can be
engaged as what remains,
rather than what
disappears. Although
condemned to extinction,
the body can be
approached in this
perspective as "an
archive and hosting a
collective memory".
|
|
solo
exhibitions
- Abandoned
Dwellings, Display of
Systems. Curated by
Karina el-Helou, Sursock
Museum, Beirut, 2018.
>> view
website
- Abandoned Dwellings
[vol. 2], Villa Empain,
Brussels, 2019 >>
website
related
publication
-
Abandoned Dwellings.
A History of Beirut
related texts
- The
lives and deaths
of inhabitants in
abandoned houses,
2017
- Exhume
ghosts from one's
artwork (in
French), 2018
- Abandoned Dwellings in Beirut. Wars and
Transformation
of the Urban
Space.
1860-2015 (in
French), 2016
selected
reviews and
interviews
- Kirsten O'Regan, Hyperallergic, 06'12'2018
- Tim Cornwell, Middle East Eye, 10'12'2019
- Sam Brennan, Al-Monitor, 03'12'2018
- India Stoughton, The National, 19'11'2018
- Iain Akerman, Arab News, 10'01'2020
abandoned
dwellings
bodies of work
- Abandoned Dwellings. Inventory
- Abandoned Dwellings. Archive
- Abandoned Dwellings. Typologies
-
Abandoned Dwellings. Inside/Outside
-
Abandoned Dwellings. Facts
-
Abandoned Dwellings. Restitution
- Chez Takieddine el-Solh
prequel
projects
- Sniper Pinhole, 2017
-
Kolmanskop, 2013
- Leningrad, 2013
|