Ashkal Alwan

Ashkal Alwan, 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
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
Home Works II
Possible Narratives, as part of Videobrasil
2002
Home Works I
2001
Audio Workshop with the British Council
Missing Links at the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt
2000
Hamra Street Project
Contemporary Art from Lebanon at the Borusan Sanat Gallery in Istanbul, Turkey
1999
Corniche Project
1997
Sioufi Garden Project
1995
Sanayeh Garden Project
References
External links
Arts organisations based in Lebanon
Non-profit organisations based in Lebanon
Education in Beirut
Buildings and structures in Beirut
Art museums and galleries in Lebanon
1994 establishments in Asia