Lebanese Pavilion Opens with Portals and Pathways Exhibition

The Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion’s first show

Portals and Pathways, opened as the inaugural exhibition at Beirut’s Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion for Culture in September 2024. It presented modern and contemporary pieces on loan from artists and private collections. Exhibited together for the first time, the show included works from the Collection of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, cared for by BeMA (Beirut Museum of Art).

The exhibition was organised into four parts or “portals”: Memory, Myths, Perception, and Territory. Memory related to the relationship with time and our ability to remember. What endures? What disappears? Is it recognised or forgotten? The next section, Myth, focused on stories and imaginary tales that transcend time. Perception meanwhile, asked the viewer to think about their experience of reality and illusions. And the final section, territory, looked at natural forces, the elements, water and earth.

The exhibition’s theme was no accident, BeMA’s collection of antiquities were protected by its first director - Maurice Chehab - by four wrought iron portals that were hidden behind a concrete wall. This idea of four walls was replicated in the design for the Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion by architect Raed Abillama. So, the four “portals” in the exhibition took their inspiration from the original historical doors of the museum and the new doors of the pavilion. From before the viewer even stepped inside the pavilion doors, Portals and Pathways literally saw them forming connections between old and new as they entered the building.

The inaugural exhibition featured young contemporary artists like Alfred Tarazi and Rayyanne Tabet as well as favourites of modern Lebanese art history like Saloua Raouda Choucair, Helen El Khal and Aref El Rayess. The show asked how artworks from various periods anchor themselves in a shared geography. It asked questions about places of transition and connection between worlds, people and temporalities, open pathways that stir emotions and reflect the human experience.

Portals and Pathways opened with a site-specific installation from Alfred Tarazi called "Hymne a L'amour". The immersive installation marked a first symbolic passage between reality and the imaginary, where the four portals that made up the exhibition were embodied. It prompted the viewer to think about their perception of time and space. Through this installation, Tarazi also invited viewers to consider the weight of our own histories through the presence of familial material objects.

In an interview with SELECTIONS magazine, co-directors of BeMA - Taline Boladian and Juliana Khalaf - as well as the exhibition’s curator - Clemence Cottard Hachem - reflected on the exhibition. They explained that the themes of the portals were chosen because they were identified as invisible threads tying many of the artists together. They also stated that: “Memory, Myth, Perception and Territory were chosen for their capacity to cover a century of exploration and Lebanese dynamics which inspired the imagination of and presented themselves as sources of interest for artists in Lebanon. Linking and weaving the artworks together, they offer a picture of Lebanon, perhaps of a reconstructed reality and perhaps of an embellished fantasy.”

Moreover, as the exhibition opened in September 2024, an especially turbulent time for Lebanon, the Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion and the BeMA issued a joint statement, summarised as follows: “The inaugural exhibition…embodies its true and primary objective: opening doors and creating passages to immerse the public in a journey through culture and imagination. Today, it is more than ever a testament to the strength, richness, and diversity of artistic practices in Lebanon, instilling in every visitor a sense of pride and a glimmer of hope. Far beyond what we had imagined, this exhibition stands as a benevolent and silent bridge connecting people, and shielding them against time…At a time when our country is being bombarded daily, our people are suffering, our land is being ravaged and entire families are being displaced, the doors of this pavilion and those of the National Museum of Beirut remain open to guarantee the continuity of Lebanon’s cultural heritage. Today, staying open is a way to defend and preserve the links and the places that bind us to the present and the future, as well as all the cultural practices and professions associated with them. Indeed, let us not forget, that it is not just objects that are at risk, but entire creative and cultural ecosystems that shape thought, as much as all the individuals who embody and nurture these aspirations of transformation and hope; it is mainly for them, that we keep our doors open, at their request and that of the public’s.”

The Portals and Pathways exhibition is an exciting step forward for the Lebanese art scene as it recovers from a period of instability. The collaboration with BeMA is also promising as the construction of a dedicated building is underway,