/  Lebanon - New Media

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Presentation

I would like to thank Transmediale for inviting me to present a panorama on the Lebanese current art scene dealing with new media. I will focus on how the new technology is used by artists, especially those who deal with still emerging approaches and positions. Artists I have got contact with during my art practice, as well as in the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut where I teach. So, some details will also cover the small issues that happens daily within the art sphere in Lebanon.

I’ll raise the issue of how the art, cultural and commercial institutions are initiating projects and giving subventions (schools and universities, galleries, cultural centers, museums, etc.), and how some individual efforts are invested to organize new media events (exhibitions, festivals, programs, etc.), with an overview on role of the public, the critics and press.

In my opinion, art in Lebanon is strongly related to socio-politics. So, to see how art is reflecting society, I would like to start by an overview of specific dates in the Lebanese history. This is to give an idea about what are the historical icons our generation share today, as part of their common geographical and historical context. While of course not all of them have the same translation or understanding of this or that event, they or others have caused.

So let's see for now, what could the second part of the lecture's title mean... with a precision that the facts or events I mention do not necessarily represent what every and each Lebanese is obsessed about. But from where I come from, I am sure these images are a collective and hidden standard and certitudes for Lebanese. They are also a kind of basic and raw material for artists to build on new judgment criteria and questions...

1. Specific Dates in the Lebanese History

1943 Lebanese Independence Day
This happened after the Lebanese Muslims dropped their attachment to Syria and the Lebanese Christians dropped their attachment to France. Before the independence, Lebanon was under French mandate.

May 1948: The founding of the Israeli state

1948-1949, 1956 and 1967 Arab–Israeli war
These wars produced a flood of Palestinian refugees from Israel to Lebanon, Jordan and many other countries.

The War of 1958
Left wing forces, which were motivated by the unification of Egypt and Syria on February 1958, agitated to make Lebanon a member of the new United Arab Republic. Thus, a war took place between these leftist pro-Arabs and the right wing pro-government wingers lead by President Camille Chamoun: 2000 to 4000 lives were killed before it was ended via the intervention of the army to separate both parties at an equal level.

Another element which played a role to make pressure on Abdel Nasser, who was leading the Arab Republic, to leave Lebanon alone, was the arrival of the US Marines to the Lebanese beaches, after the official request from the Lebanese state.

November 1969: The Cairo Agreement
It approved to the Palestinians the right to be armed in their camps and to attack Israel across Lebanon's border, and for their part, the Palestinians had to respect Lebanese laws and Lebanese sovereignty. By authorizing the armed Palestinian presence, Lebanon thus surrendered full sovereignty over military operations conducted within and across its borders and became then a party in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

April 13, 1975: Beginning of the Lebanese war
The war started between the Palestinian forces and the Lebanese Front, after the execution of Christian civilians in front of a Church at Ain El Remmaneh, a suburb of Beirut.

1976: Syrian army enters Lebanon

1978: The United Nations Interim Force enters Lebanon

1982: US Marines enter Lebanon

1982: Israeli army invades Lebanon and enters Beirut
Operation "Paix en galilée"

1982: 15 000 Palestinian fighters leave Beirut under the French protection

1982: Assassination of Bachir Gemayel, the newly elected president

1983: US Marines after a truck bomb explosion

1984: French army leaves Lebanon

1989: "War of Liberation"
Declared by the Lebanese army lead by General Michel Aoun against the Syrian army in Lebanon.

13th October 1990
Syria invades East Beirut and achieves full control over Lebanon. The 1975 war stopped. A total of more than 140 000 people were killed in 15 years.

May 2000: Israel withdrawal from Lebanon
Israel withdraws, while Shebaa Farms are still a discussed area whether it belongs to Lebanon or to Syria.

September 11th, 2001
The opposition in Lebanon got its cause updated on the international level, which is mainly the ending of the Syrian control over Lebanon.

Current Situation
Hizbollah keeps attacking Israel in the Shebaa Farms and Israel keeps hitting back with artillery and aircraft. The Lebanese Army was not deployed in South Lebanon. The security is handled by various armed groups as Hizballah and Amal.

In September 2004, the Lebanese opposition blames Syria for the extension of Emile Lahoud's presidency for 3 more years, against the will of the Lebanese people. Unhappy with Syrian political behavior, the United States and France prepared a Resolution against Syria. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1559, which calls on all foreign countries to withdraw their armies from Lebanon, and for the dissolution of all Lebanese militias. The resolution was adopted in September 2nd, 2004. Syria considered it as unimportant while it is still controlling Lebanon.

Elections are currently under preparation, and Lebanese opposition is gathering its forces to have the maximum seats in the parliament. This new parliament will elect the next President of Lebanon in 2007.

General Michel Aoun who was commanding the army against Syria is still in France. His return was always a head news, in the time when charges against him are constantly updated by the current government.
Samir Geagea who is the leader of the Lebanese Forces, the anti-Syrian right wing party, is still in jail since more than 10 years.
The sorts of these two leaders created in the Lebanese Christian part a feeling oppression, which kept Lebanon in an unstable equilibrium since the end of the war.

The families of the Lebanese detainees in Syria are still struggling to have their relatives liberated like those who were recently liberated from the Israeli jails.

Military service is canceled starting in two years from now.

Lebanese are still surviving the Syrian peace, while "hope" is now a main keywords when we speak about the global situation. 4 years ago, this was not the case, it was rather a pause or a frozen situation; a kind of fixing the Lebanese situation in time, in front of what is happening here and there. This is what was called the Syrian peace since 1990.

Now the pro-Syrian government is warning to extend the parliament expiry deadline till after the next presidential elections.
From Al Nahar News. Yesterday February 5th, 2005:
"The threatened extension would prolong the mandate of the present parliament in which Syrian loyalists control a majority, to Nov. 24, 2007, the expiry deadline of President Lahoud's new term in power that had been dictated by Syria on the Beirut parliament last September".

2. The Art-Related Institutions

Educational system

The Fine Art system in Lebanon is a combination between a School system and a University system in comparison to the French system, as example. Thus, in the frame of the University, we have Schools: The Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, which is a division of Balamand University, the National Institute of Fine Arts, which is a part of the Lebanese University, etc.
The public sector offers an academic program that covers no new media sections, and this is via the Lebanese Institute of Fine Arts.
The private sector, which is well established in Lebanon and recognized by the state and sometimes preferred by the citizens, offers relatively good possibilities with branches, such as Video Art and Net Art.
These art fields are often merged within the filmmaking specialization, rather than the field of visual arts. This is the case at USEK and ESAV Universities. ALBA offers this field within its School of Plastic Arts. Some academic responses to such choices vary from saying, that it is the artists who first invented Video Art and not filmmakers, while others say that these same artists were inspired by the experimental cinema, thus by filmmakers!

I recently heard that the American University of Beirut is willing to open a Fine Arts School soon. This would be a great thing to the New Media field, because the plus that AUB has, is that their branches are centralized, so students can easily access new technology courses, while other universities have the engineering branch in an other geographic area as the art branch.

UNESCO initiative of Master class on art, design and technology in the Arab States

"Information and communication technology is influencing more and more creative practices. An academic infrastructure is central to formalize the development of the emerging alliance of information technology with art and design. By creating a master class module on Art, Design and Technology in the Arab States, UNESCO is contributing to bridging the gap between University spheres of computer science and that of creative practices."

"The master class module will contribute to the establishment of resources and contents for teaching purposes in combining creative practices, art and computing. The resources and content will be used to train post graduate students in the use of new digital technology in its application to the digital environment, reflecting the cultural and linguistic wealth of the Arab States."

"A workshop focusing on the creation of master classes on art, design and technology in the Arab States took place in Linz, Austria, from 4 - 5 September 2004. This side-event was organized within the framework of the Ars Electronica 2004 Festival, conceived as an open platform for various disciplines in the field of digital media design, at the intersection of technology, art, science and society."

Exhibition places

Galleries of traditional art forms exhibit media works once or twice a year. Such exhibitions are a kind of "doing something for just doing it". I mean, that these exhibitions do not fit the global strategy or main field of this or that gallery. So what happens is, that an opening is followed by an exhibition period, and some press articles, and no more.

At the same time, there are few galleries that exhibit new media works more regularly. I would mention Espace SD (espacesd.com), a gallery that runs exhibitions the whole year through; thus, sometimes it presents good things, while other times it exhibits works of less quality. This gallery includes a new media space called "Labo", where new media works are often installed.

Museums: There are none in Lebanon, whether for new media nor for contemporary art in general. Sursock Museum is operating as a gallery rather than a Museum. It included some video works in its last exhibition.

Cine Clubs, like the Centre Culturel Français (the French Institute), which is now planning to present experimental videos prior to each long feature film within their screening program. As from next March on, experimental videos by Lebanese students will be shown on a regular basis. Other special experimental video shows for Lebanese artists are planned.

Pubs are also places where people can have access to visual art. In Gemmayzé Street in Beirut, there are frequent video screenings at Bars. It’s often a combination of all audiovisual categories.

TV Channels: Each is related to a political group. Some programs devote special releases about artists. This is the case with the "Cinema Beirut" program on NBN Channel which focuses on Lebanese film/video makers. But this diffusion method can sometimes confuse a public that is usually used to see commercial mass productions. I can mention here that when a 52-minute experimental video of mine was shown on this TV program, people started to call the chain to inform about a technical problem in the image.

Internet is now accessible and widely implemented. Cable connections are often setup in institutions, while modems are almost the only means for home connections. Despite its overwhelming presence, Internet is still used to advertise art rather than being in itself a medium for artists.

A thing to precise here is, that artists are often choosing video to work with, because it is financially accessible. So the digital capacities of computers are used for art rather than investing personal money in a huge electronic based installation, that ends with the exhibition coming to an end. So video is becoming more and more a tool to spread art works, for what video has as diffusion flexibility and endurance.

Festivals and art events

Festival de film et vidéo de création. Its first edition took place in April 2004 and was a project by the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Goethe-Institute, Beirut. The next edition will be in April 2005. A program of lectures is added to the festival, and more collaborators entered the sponsors’ list, namely Zico House, the French and Italian Institutes, as well as local commercial and non-commercial Enterprises. The next edition is still under preparation.

Ayloul Festival (September Festival), was an annual festival taking place each September, but as Pascale, the person in charge of the festival, had to travel for studies, the festival simply stopped. This is an example of how great things can stop just because of the absence of long term objectives, based on institutional structure. Another version says that Pascale herself decided to stop the Festival, since she considered that it could have no further development.

Home Works: A Forum on Cultural Practices, organized by the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Ashkal Alwan, presents its third edition next April as "one of the premiere international cultural projects hosted in the Middle East, bringing together artists, writers, intellectuals, filmmakers, architects, critical theorists and philosophers". "Since 1994, it has been involved in developing art practices crossing a range of disciplines and media in Lebanon and internationally".

The European Film Festival in Beirut, included in its 2004 edition an experimental video night (Signes de Nuit Festival, Paris), similar to the way the Film Festivals in Turkey, Locarno or Pesaro did. This festival is organized by the European Committee, which has a large Office in Beirut. Films are proposed by the embassy of each participating country, which made the selection a little bit eclectic.

Beirut Cinematographic Days, run by Beirut DC association, also included an experimental selection. The last edition was from September 15th to September 25th, 2004.

Cultural centers

Supported by the respective states, these Cultural Centers often organize art events dealing with media. Examples: Goethe-Institut, French, Italian and Spanish Cultural Centers.

The government

A famous analysis in Lebanon says: "Lebanese people are rich, but the Lebanese government is poor". The government is poor, but individual efforts are maintaining the country active without an important public investment. On the other hand, it is known that the amount of money given by the government to support projects is clearly paid the way the minister of culture wishes. This is to say, that there are no rules for distributing public money. It is directly related to whom the minister would like to support. It is also known that the government yearly pays 8 million Lebanese Pounds (Lira) (5280 USD) to every Cultural Association.

Subventions

In order to get financial aid for cultural events in Lebanon, it is much easier to present the request as an association, rather than as an individual. Besides the governmental formal aid, subventions are often given by banks and insurance companies. As an advice, one should apply for the requested amount at many different places. This way, the amount (for example 8000 USD) will be divided, and has greater chances to be accepted.

The Press

The press is often related to the journalist who is writing, rather than to the journal itself. Sometimes the same Newspaper releases more or less interesting articles. So people in Lebanon follow the journalists rather than the journal.

An interesting thing to mention here is, that sometimes, the absence of a clear art position from the part of many journalists makes them write whatever they get under their hands from press releases, and thus, unintentionally participating in promoting avant-garde artist's positions. These positions are otherwise censored by formalist journalists.

On the other hand, some journalists are confronted with new art forms without knowing before that these forms already existed. This generates, even if rarely, articles that have no link with the reality of the exhibition. A media work becomes a painting work in the article! Examples exist.

Some journalists have there independent taste for art, and thus they analyze this or that exhibition the way it pleases them.

Many e-press like liban-mecenat.com and the Paper Agenda Culturel, distribute information and updated news about openings.

3. Individual Efforts

Zico House (http://www.zicohouse.com) already active for 15 years, "was especially drawn to experimental projects […]. So as early as 1990, Zico started sharing his living space with those who needed it and opened his home to small theater rehearsals, to experimental art projects, to exhibitions, etc...". Recently, Zico and his girlfriend Rola Kbeissy created what they called "Al Mawsam" or "The season", a cultural program that exhibits media art among other forms. They got a deal with a Theatre in Hamra Street in Beirut, Estral Theatre, to run the place and reactivate it. This old theatre was almost totally inactive before they got it. It is a place that needs updating in its physical and organizational structures.

Zico proposes now to welcome the next edition of the experimental film and video festival by ALBA and Goethe-Institut in his Theatre.

Video Nights is also a recent and interesting movement or energy developing in Lebanon. It is about people frequently organizing video nights or experimental art nights in their own homes. They invite friends to attend. In this way, a new audience for media works was recently introduced in Lebanon. They are not galleries or cine clubs. They are a kind of socio-underground activists. Many of such events started with ALBA students. To give some names, I would mention Hala and Nayla Dabaji, and Amandine Brenas, who are active in Achrafieh area Beirut.

Artémed (http://www.artemed.net), founded by Serge Séroff in Paris in July 2001, is an Association for the development of cultural relationships in visual arts and other areas, particularly in the Mediterranean countries. Artémed broadcasts information related to cultural facts and aspects through new technologies & communication.

4. Artists

On the International level, Lebanon has recently started to form movement in art. Before, there were some individual artists, who got their work known, such as Onsy, and Faroukh.

With the works of Walid Raed (Atlas Group), Walid Sadek, Tony Chakar, Jalal Toufic, Ghassan Salhab, etc. and the efforts of Christine Tohmé in Ashkal Alwan, as well as the intervention of Catherine David at the Venice Biennial, this group of artists got international attention. I would also say that politics did play a role to combine these artists together; as far as I know, they are all left wingers.

From my part, I would like to speak about some works of artists, whom I am in direct contact with. These artists are still from an emerging generation: Hiba Daroub, Amandine Brenas, Shawki Youssef, Bernard Haddad, Hanna Geara and me.

Hiba Daroub
She is a recent graduated artist from the ALBA school.
(Dés)attachement
Her interests focus on how the media is dictating socio-political icons to the public, and how these media icons can be rewritten in video works. Parallel to this social interest, a place for her personal memory is also given importance. The video I will show is done by Hiba in the frame of the video studies I give in the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts.
[Screening of (Dés)attachement, 9’ 15’’]

Shawki Youssef
Shawki is an example of artists working in many kinds of media. The first example, I have chosen to show from his last exhibition at Espace SD in Beirut, was done on canvas using digital prints.

Saida 1996
These are images from the media press accompanied by a text written by the artist. The work includes a text about media.
Untitled video
Another video work recently made by Shawki, proposes a way to satisfy Derrida’s statement about Arab Muslims who "did not reach or pass the Enlightenment yet".
[Screening of Untitled video, 52’’]

Bernard Haddad
Bernard Haddad is another example of artists inspired by the new media to install works reflecting social issues.
Being is Dynamic
This work, exhibited at Maraya Galery, Beirut in 2001, is rather about references or symbols for an existence that is supposed to be real. It is a virtual displacement from a place to another, or in other words from a link to another within the space of the gallery. Thus, the virtual or real characteristics of this movement is being questioned.

Hanna Geara
In 2004 Hanna Geara finished his studies in "Media for communities" in Rome. His research was about "video art: the image of the electronic body".
Shadow
This video questions one's physical existence and the territories one belongs to. Since the artist moved a lot during the Lebanese war and later as well, he considers that he can be totally existing in one condition, which is to be home - and better in his childhood home, while elsewhere, he is more identified by his own shadow, a two-dimensional projection of him, who lives in another dimension.

Ricardo Mbarak

I was raised in the Christian Lebanese right wing zones during the Lebanese "Civil" War (1975-1990). Between the different parties there were Geographical Red Lines, borders, check points, arms, dust, blood, dead bodies, hatred …
After 1990, these Red Lines were blurred on the ground, Beirut Downtown reconstruction started; Lebanese shared Auctions to rebuild Lebanon… Though sharing the same experience, space, time, territories, Lebanese people keep on communicating and presenting an identity/existing struggle in the Middle East in particular.
Since 1999, communication as problem became important in the work I do. This is the case in LebaneseGroup project in 1999, CONNECTED and VISITORS in 2003, as well as videos I made since 1999.

LebaneseGroup (1999-2001)
From November 8, 1999 to June 6, 2001, everyone who wished to contact and to converse with Lebanese people was invited by Ricardo Mbarak, to enroll in the discussion list: LebaneseGroup. The work is a creation of a context auspicious to exchanges and dialogues beyond the circumstances determined by a geographical territory. Main topics of discussion: the socio-politics and the daily news. Today, this project is frozen and discussions are suspended.

CONNECTED (Since 2003)
ricardombarak.com/connected
CONNECTED is a place where we can see a wide angle view on our virtual presence inside the Web. Internet also shows a real image of the physical space, as site, territories, time, communities, etc. While we are connected, we are able to know if we are alone or not. In this way we could define Internet as connected people instead of connected machines. CONNECTED is about a continuous action that never breaks, the individual exists, but if no longer connected he is "forgotten"; so connected becomes the real presence in the real time and field. The presence of people at the same time and place, while sharing the same experience is also a major element that goes alongside with communication: though not interacting with each other because of the borders we get to know of the presence of each other. Just like the Near East borders, some cannot be in close contact with their neighbors, but still they know about them.

VISITORS (Since 2003)
ricardombarak.com/visitors
VISITORS is about a visit that is still remembered after the time the individual leaves the site. Hence, VISITORS becomes the outer presence, in the outer time and field.
Though the differences, both of CONNECTED and VISITORS are about the explicit presence of the community, and the individuals, but in different ways.

Ricardo Mbarkho
* 1974 Beirut, Lebanon. New Media artist and University professor; lives and works in France and Lebanon.

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