Ralph Mahfoud, 20, Lebanese-born citizen of the world, graduate student in Communication Arts at La Sorbonne, trainee in the "creation of image" in Paris, is thinking up the image of Beirut. A cultured young man, a strong music lover, an "artiste dans l'âme", Ralph has the firm conviction that Beirut can regain its place as the Switzerland of the Middle East thru Contemporary Art. Just as Pollock, Rothko, and Newman reflected a free US in the 1950s, Ralph believes that NOW it is the time for Lebanese Artists to recapture a free Lebanon !!
From “Paris of the Middle East” to ashes, or empty streets, from city of culture to city of erotic exposure, Beirut’s image has heavily changed these last decades. For Arabs, Beirut became a sort of “Bois de Boulogne” or “Soho” of the Middle East; for Europeans, Beirut has been largely eclipsed by Dubai who stole the interest of the popular culture. As for Americans, Beirut rimes with Baghdad.
Rather than trying to search for the reason, we all know its due to socio-economical-political problems, I am trying to find a solution. I don’t want Beirut to be as it was 60 years ago; I want it to be ahead of its time. What does Dubai have more than Beirut? I would say just one word, money. On the other hand, what does Beirut have more than Dubai? I must say history, refinement, reality, art of living, hospitality, and the list goes on (things money can’t buy). What I want to point out is that, with the qualities we have, we can overpass all the cities that are buying themselves an image, which is definitely transient.
Dubai bought itself an artificial “Sunny Mountain Ski Dome”,artificial islands “the Palm Islands and the World”, the Sorbonne University, and the Louvre Museum (where should be exposed pieces coming form all the French museums). But wait a minute, am I missing something or are these symbols considered artificial or copies?
Indeed Dubai needs to buy itself an image because if we go back in time its pages are empty; whereas the more we go back in time in our country’s history, the richer it gets. However, we don’t need to look at our history, what we need is to create the future! My aim is to make from the word “Beirut” a reference in contemporary art in the Middle East and potentially the world.
I consider myself blessed because of the fact that the friends I made in Paris turned out to be impassioned by culture especially in modern art, which opened my eyes towards a new way of considering art and showed me the role of art in the image of a country. Chirac opened the museum of “Quai Branly” to show what the African society made in its early stages. We don’t need to show the world what our ancestors have made, they already know it (with the minimum culture they have). But what we should show is what Lebanese CAN DO or ARE DOING. Actually if you haven’t noticed, the fashion world is spelled by Elie Saab, Music is enriched by the jazzy Fairuz, and lately a "symphonic poem" was specially commissionned and performed at the opening night of the Jameel Gallery for Islmaic Arts in London was "Synergy", it was composed by non other than Oussama Rahbani, so let us give our artists a chance.
I think we should create events that show the implication of our society in contemporary art.
The buildings of Beirut’s downtown are beautiful yet empty, so why not expose in some of them the latest works of Lebanese artists. Lebanon has to create the event. One does not need 3 years of communication arts to understand that the media chooses what should be considered as a major event and what shouldn’t. I do not mind giving to Dubai the scene in international arts, Beirut has always been the capital of culture; now in order to show that this capital is still ahead of its time in the Middle East, it should start giving attention to its artists by encouraging them. This way the image of Lebanon that will be reflected would be that of a refined country remaining a major cultural influence in the Arab world despite all the conspiracies that are being constructed.
In the USA artists of the 1950’s adopted abstract art to overcome censorship, their paintings are still considered as a voice of freedom, so at least this way the free Lebanese voices can express themselves without expecting a bomb in their car, unless our neighbours have a well hidden refined taste in art.
/idata%2F1103943%2F%2Felie-saab-chef.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fassets.over-blog.com%2Ft%2Fcedistic%2Fcamera.png)