Art as startup in Lebanon
Lebanon鈥檚 economic crisis is one of the world鈥檚 worst since the mid-19th century. Poverty has reached historic highs. The country has been without a leader since October. Yet its people have now taken a step toward reviving Lebanon鈥檚 place as a cultural and intellectual hub in the Middle East.
Last Friday, curators in Beirut reopened the Sursock Museum, one of the most important archives of contemporary and modernist art in the Arab world. The restoration of the museum, severely聽damaged nearly three years ago by a massive chemical explosion in the Mediterranean port city,聽asserts聽the dignity of a region that for much of human history was shaped more by the vibrancy of ideas than by persistent conflict.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful moment of healing,鈥� Karina El Helou, the museum鈥檚 director, told Le Monde. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a symbol ... of the survival of cultural life鈥� 鈥� proof, she said, 鈥渢hat culture is essential when everything else is going wrong.鈥�
As a tool for liberation, art is getting plenty of work these days. The pro-democracy movement in Iran has stirred debate about using art centers as places for dialogue. The same is true in Sudan where a civil war has provoked a popular backlash. 鈥淪udanese artists have been at the forefront of [their country鈥檚] freedom movement,鈥� observed French rappers and writers in tribute to Tunisian and Sudanese filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival last month.
The Beirut museum鈥檚 revival points to a unifying aspect of art 鈥� its beauty and honest messaging cannot be suppressed. Long before the Sursock reopened, Lebanon鈥檚 National Symphony Orchestra found ways to play on through the pandemic and constant power outages.
Art also binds people across generations and cultures. The Caf茅 Yafa in Israel, for example, is a Palestinian-owned bookstore that welcomes dialogue among Jewish and Arab patrons.
Restoring the museum鈥檚 edifice and treasures required French artists skilled in stained glass as well as Lebanese wood carvers well studied in Venetian and Ottoman architecture. The project was financed by foreign agencies and private donors and coordinated through the U.N. agency for science and culture. All those involved have a shared stake in the project. The art in the Sursock reflects the diversity and commonality of values rooted in ancient civilizations from Greece to Rome, from Iraq to Sudan.
In 2011, the world witnessed the Arab Spring with its youthful protesters demanding civic equality and honest governance. While most of their aspirations were ignored, they endure in many aesthetic spaces, from bookstores to museums. The light of right ideas only finds new expressions.
