Located off Corniche El Nahr Building, the Beirut Art Center niches in a previous warehouse, redesigned to host various contemporary art exhibitions in a large and airy space, consequently taking art exhibitions to a new level. The Monthly interviews Sandra Dagher, co-founder, for inquiries about the center.

Why did you choose an industrial area to open your gallery? What is the concept behind your center?

We are not strictly a gallery. The project was initiated in 2004 and aimed to create a non-profit, non-commercial space for art exhibition. At that time, I had a gallery of my own and I met with artist Lamia Joreij and we discussed the need to have a space for today’s artists, local and international, to display their work because many galleries today are constrained by commercial issues. We witnessed a lot of creativity amongst Lebanese artists and we thought that it is important to maintain such creative initiatives and provide them with a platform to be shared.

Following this trail of thought and extensive research, the Beirut Art Center was opened in January 2009 in Jisr El Wati, which we selected because it is an industrial zone equipped with buildings with big spaces. We were looking for an exceptionally large space for our center to give it a ‘museum’ feel and a unique architectural interior. With this structure of 2 floors shaped by high ceilings, irregular divisions and numerous rooms, we consider the center to be a unique experience that may hold several exhibitions simultaneously while still having enough space to host activities. We also have a coffee shop on the second floor for visitors.

We hold about 2 exhibitions per year and we host 2 other exhibitions per year for other institutions that do not have enough space. Our artists are from Lebanon and around the world. Not only do we provide a space for exhibition, we also organize events and activities.

What sort of activities?

We organize parallel events to the exhibitions we hold, such as: screenings, which include programs organized around specific themes; talks and round table discussions, which include discussions and ideas shared by artists, critics, historians etc.; concerts and performances by alternative artists underrepresented in traditional theaters and concert halls.

We will participate in “the Meeting Points”, a biennial event organized by the Young Arab Theater Fund, where a selection of artworks produced by Arab and International Artists are exhibited.

We are also interested in Art education and organize several activities in this regard.

Are there specific criteria of the Art that you choose to exhibit?

We do not have any restraints concerning the genre, quite the contrary, we are seeking richness and variety. However, we prioritize ‘new media’ used in arts, such as videos and installations, because they are not widely exhibited around galleries in Beirut due to the lack of space and necessary equipment. We think that it is important to provide these artists with a space to display their work and for the public to access and experience this new direction in Art.

What are the main topics that Lebanese artists tackle?

There are a wide range of personal and social topics. It is difficult to pinpoint them. But we see a lot of topics that re-emerge in direct and indirect ways, such as the war, memory, identity, history, etc. through various media such as painting, photography, installations, etc.

Can you tell us more about the educational side of your project?

We took an interest in the educational/documentation area of the Arts so we organized an outreach program in collaboration with schools and universities that exposes youth to the Arts through guided tours to increase their knowledge of contemporary art and cultural practice.

We also organize workshops throughout the year on various contemporary subjects and their interpretation through different disciplines such as photography, video, multimedia, art history and art theory in particular. These workshops may be thematic or relevant to exhibitions currently in our center. Sometimes the artists give the workshops themselves.

We have a bookshop that offers a collection of Art and literature books and there is also the mediathèque project, which has a documentation and archiving function. It is a station equipped with a comfortable seat and a computer with a search engine that includes our database, which we are constantly updating to include more artists, art and events. You can also make use of the headset to watch videos. This mediathèque is the first of its kind in Lebanon and we are developing this project for it to become a reliable research tool for students and researchers.

Being a non-profit center delving into new grounds, do you find difficulties in your projects? What are the steps you are taking to grow?

Of course, there are plenty of challenges, primarily concerning funds. We have donors and contributors but due to our meager income, we constantly find challenges when we are starting projects.

Another challenging aspect of this center is the difficulty of promoting the Arts amongst the public. Although we do have a good and growing number of people who follow our events and exhibitions, visiting a gallery is not yet an activity your average Lebanese citizen would do on a weekend. Arts are perceived as restricted to a certain group of people. Coming to our center is a new and educational experience and we are striving to popularize exhibitions and Art.

Beirut Art Center has created a digital multimedia library, a unique resource on contemporary art production in the region, which is open and accessible to all. It contains images, videos, sound pieces, and texts by artists, writers and theorists. It also includes video and sound archives of the parallel events at Beirut Art Center. This material is collected and listed in an electronic database that is available for consultation through two computer stations located in the upstairs area of the center.