Ashkal Alwan

Ashkal Alwan (Arabic: أشكال ألوان‎), The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts is a non-profit organization that promotes contemporary art practices in Lebanon and the broader region.

History[]

Ashkal Alwan was founded in 1993 by Lebanese curator Christine Tohmé. Since its establishment, the association has been committed to contemporary artistic practice, research, and modes of study. The association aims to facilitate artistic production, foster critical thinking around contemporary social realities, and engage in community mobilization.

Ashkal Alwan's mission is to create networks of exchange between artistic and cultural practitioners and institutions, build an archival record of artistic and intellectual endeavors in Lebanon and the region, support emerging and established artists by providing the necessary resources for the development of ideas and work, rethink art education, help enrich critical discourse in the Arabic language, as well as provide support for independent initiatives working in and around the civic and political realms.

Ashkal Alwan’s programs include Home Works, a multidisciplinary forum on cultural practices taking place every three years; Home Workspace Program, a tuition-free annual study program for emerging artists; Video Works, an annual video production grant, and a mentoring and screening platform; a Residency Program for artists and cultural practitioners; and the publication of literary works and artist books. Its educational and production platforms are accessible to the public. Facilities include auditoria, editing studios, performance spaces, a library featuring a unique collection on contemporary artistic, cultural, and textual practices in Lebanon and beyond, and an extensive audio-visual archive.

Public Programming, Workshops and Curated Projects[]

2021

Open-year format of the 10th edition of the Home Workspace Program

2020

Perpetual Postponement, an online bilingual publication platform
aashra, an online streaming platform

2019

Home Works 8: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Beirut ^[1]
Digital Earth Symposium

2017

Upon a Shifting Plate, an off-site project of the Sharjah Biennial 13, co-organized with the Sharjah Art Foundation
Video Works 2017

2016

Video Works 2016
Symposium on the Arabic Novel

2015

Home Works 7
Video Works 2015
The Arabic Language Today and Social Media (Symposium)

2014

Video Works 2014

2013

Home Works 6
Parallel Modernities: A Sweet Sixties Conference

2012

How Soon Is Now: A Tribute to Dreamers, an exhibition by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige

2011

Video Works 2011

2010

Home Works 5

2009

Video Works 2009

2008

Home Works IV

2007

Video Avril
Meeting Points 5 Festival

2006

Most Probably I Will Be Performing this Dream Tonight (Group exhibition and performance festival)
Travelling Is Impossible: Harun, Kodwo and I (Film retrospective and symposium around the works of Harun Farocki and the Black Audio Film Collective)

2005

Home Works III

2004

Laughter, in collaboration with LIFT (London International Festival of Theater)
My Neck Is Thinner than a Hair, a presentation by the Atlas Group (Volumes 1-21)

2003