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A Lebanese Blog

Tag: Beirut

  • Massive graffiti in Hamra street

    A Chilean artist called “INTI” who’s a member of “White Wall” drew this awesomely massive graffiti on a building in Hamra street!

    WHITE WALL, organized at Beirut Art Center in association with Fondation Saradar and a team of three curators, is an exhibition in which one of the main objectives is to give new impetus to the Lebanese graffiti scene. Fourteen international artists, from Europe, North America, South America, together with artists from Egypt and Tunisia, with diverse visions an

    d street art practices, have been invited to share their passion and expertise. Beirut Art Center will host an exhibition, while the show will also spread over the streets of Beirut, creating a dynamic interaction between the exhibition’s venue and the city.Nineteen Lebanon-based artists- the figureheads of the Lebanese street art and graffiti scene- will participate in the various WHITE WALL activities and outdoor interventions throughout Beirut.

    Since the Civil War, public space in Lebanon had been occupied by inscriptions and stencils related to war and sectarian politics. Western-style graffiti appeared infrequently as of the mid-1990s. It was not until 2005 that a new scene emerged, taking on the task to create a uniquely Lebanese style of this art
    form. This scene is now burgeoning and the streets of Beirut have witnessed the birth of new artists mixing caustic stencils, western influences and Arabic graffiti. These interventions contrasted with public expectations, since they promoted unity over division and maintained a humorous and often critical look at Lebanese society.

    One of the key issues raised by this event is to understand how it is possible to bring an inherently outdoor and accessible art to an indoor space like Beirut Art Center, without betraying the idiosyncrasy of this art. While the first graffiti exhibition was already held in 1976 in New York City, this remains a challenge until today. The title, WHITE WALL, confronts the white walls of the galleries with
    the streets of the city, a challenging prospect for a street artist.

    For more about While Wall, you can check their website here.

  • Lebanese Rocket Society – The Film

    In the early 60′s, during the cold war and the apex of Pan Arabism, a group of students and researchers enters the race to space and create the Lebanese Rocket Society. Sometimes, and specially nowadays, dreams can overtake a tormented history…

    You can check more about the film on its Facebook Page and official website.

  • A genius solution to the Fiat bridge

    You probably have all heard about the closure of the Fiat bridge a couple of weeks ago due to a defect in its structure causing some massive traffic jam for a few days.

    Shortly after restoring it the bridge was reopened again with a genius solution to prevent crossing trucks from crossing it, two huge and dangerous concrete separators were put at each of the two entries of the bridge, and they’re BARELY visible at night that I almost crashed my car into one of them a few days ago!

    So next time you’re at Corniche El-Nahr, just be careful when you’re about to cross the Fiat bridge.

  • Cafe owners protesting for their arguileh

    Lebanese tobacco control law number 174 which prohibits people from smoking in all enclosed public spaces went into effect as of today but cafe owners are as expected protesting against this law and calling for exceptions to be made!

    Those cafe owners had more than a year to adapt to this law, yet they chose to wait till the last day to express their concerns about it claiming that it puts their business at risk and might force them to fire a lot of their employees.

    What I believe these businessmen are missing is that the main reason for people go to coffee places for is basically to socialize, gathering around an arguileh is of course a reason, but I highly doubt people will stop going to restaurants if arguileh is banned as they will still need to get together over a lunch, dinner, dessert, or even a cup of coffee…

    Second, what I recently have noticed is that most of the people are missing the definition of an “enclosed public space” according to law 174. Here’s how the law puts, and below is an illustration of it.

    Enclosed public places include any of the aforementioned places that is covered by a ceiling and bounded by more than two walls, regardless of the type of materials used for the construction of the ceiling or the walls, and regardless of whether the construction was permanent or temporary. Source

    Taken from Smoke Free Lebanon FB page

    Now don’t tell me it was hard to get around that… I’m pretty sure cafe owners were generating enough profit to carry out a redecoration to remove some walls, install curtain glass instead, and leave them open during summer season.

    But NO, we love to make a drama out of everything!

  • Taking photos in Beirut now needs a special permission

    Group photography and big photo gear seem to frighten the government!

    According to this article from SK Eyes, a group of photographers were approached by police officers at Ain El-Mrayseh few days ago, and were forced to stop taking photos because they did not have a permission to do so from the authorities! One of the officers later explained that the governor of Beirut has forbidden taking photos in the area of Ain El-Mrayseh because big photo gear can frighten people.

    Burning tires and kidnapping people in broad daylight on the other hand don’t seem like they worry people that much for the governor of police officers to take any action about them…

  • Amir el 3azab

    Notice “Wakes Up” next to his phone number, I’m pretty sure he means WhatsApp!

  • Lebanese Film Festival 2012

    The 10th Lebanese Film Festival is kicking off tonight at Metropolis Cinema (Sofil) and will last till August 26th. Make sure to check their program here.

  • Beirut and plastic surgeries

    Marie Claire published yesterday yet another article on Lebanese women obsession with their look and how Beirut is becoming the new plastic surgery capital of the world…

    It’s not surprising anymore to see foreign magazines writing about this subject, but what really caught my attention is a comment made by Mr. Maher Mezher (Head of marketing at FNB, the bank that offers plastic surgery loans) on the matter:

    Maher Mezher of First National Bank says: ‘You cannot find a job in Lebanon if you are not good-looking. People will reject you socially.’

    Seriously?!

  • Boobs, Botox and the Babes of Beirut

    … that was actually the title of a recent article at the Huffington Post by David J Constable.

    I visited a nightclub one evening to witness the dolls and their dates myself. In Taïga Sky, a rooftop nightclub in Batroun (30 miles from Beirut) everyone is smoking, bouncing on the spot and eyeing each other up, not in a complimentary way but diamond gazes of fierce competitorship. The top trump card here is a tan and a good set of pins, and in that respect it’s no different from the techno cattle clubs in the UK, however in Lebanon the women look like Cleopatra, with a dark natural beauty beyond anything Max Factor can supply and into the billion dollar industry of plastic surgery. Their partners are a mixture of bodybuilders in Lycra t-shirts or fat, pony-tailed Arabic mafiosi. It’s as captivating as it is frightening.

    Back in Beirut, in the VIP corner of Le Capitole, another five-star rooftop bar, I see the wives and girlfriends of artists. They must be the better-halves of surgeons as surely no one can afford to spend that much of their own cash on reconstructive surgery and blow-me-up operations. There are benefits to marrying/dating/having sex with a plastic surgeon, as these well-ironed and unwrinkled faces suggest to me that they don’t reach the age limit of nightclub entry, such is their youthful appearance, bronzed with potions and powders.

    You can read the rest of the article here.

    It’s amazing how some foreign journalists are willing to judge the whole Lebanese society based on a few visits to some of the country’s posh bars and clubs!

  • Shake Shack is coming to Lebanon!

    I just learned Al-Shayaa is soon bringing Shack Shack to Lebanon! In case you’re not familiar with it, Shake Shack is a pretty famous burger joint in New York and several other cities in the states, and has expanded to the Middle East over the last couple of years with restaurants opening in Dubai and Kuwait.

    From what I read online by people who have tried the burgers at Shake Shack, it seems like they taste really good! So I really can’t wait for them to open here.

    Now of course the question is where will Shake Shack be located and when is the opening taking place?

    photo via GadgetLam

    Update:

    According to Raja, Shake Shack will be opening at Beirut City Centre.