I have been interested in the current events taking place in Beirut over the past week or so. Home Works, the biennial forum on cultural practises in the Middle East, spands for approximately two and a half weeks and began Wednesday April 21^st and will continue until May 1^st.

The multidisciplinary platform for discussion and debate is run every other year by ASHKAL ALWAN for Contemporary Arts. They invite artists, cultural practitioners, writers, and thinkers to gather for ten days in order to share their works, which take the form of exhibitions, performances, lectures, videos, artists’ talks, workshops and publications. The participants are linked by their approach at answering some of the Middle East’s most common and timely questions, centering around political, social, economic, and cultural realities.

The program has been running since 2002 and every year the event takes place, a new set of topics and questions are posed to the performers, artists and thinkers. It has now become one of the most vibrant platforms for research and exchange on cultural practices in the region and further afield. I have been interested to see what topics have made up this year’s forum.

The first question participants have been asked to consider is: “In and out of education…what can we teach nowadays?” There is a recognised crisis in art education throughout the world; but despite there being several art degree granting universities in Lebanon, there is a widening gap between what is being taught in education and what is being practised professionally. “In and out of education…” asks how Lebanon can develop an experimental approach to art education that is challenging and creative but also responsive to the city’s issues.

The second topic: “Where is Beirut, Ramallah, Cairo…from the Saadiyat Island?” is a broad topic that may involve questions such as: ‘How does the Saadiyat Cultural District converse with and resonate through artistic practices in the region?’ and ‘What kind of economic effect could this project generate regionally and internationally?’ The idea is to get artists and thinkers to reflect on the future of art institutions, the global economy and the conditions of artistic production and circulation.

Sound & Citizenry is the third topic chosen for exploration. Looking at the relationships between citizens and sound, slogans and activisim, the politics of music and poetry and revolution. Such questions that could be asked are ‘how does sound relate to citizenery?’ and ‘what sounds do citizens make?’ The fourth area of debate is The Odd Years, a look at the events and experiences of the 1960s. Ashkwal Alwan has asked the performers, artists and thinkers to recreate work that shows how the 60s continually affects their contemporary modes of practise. Not only should they look at the disillusioned, dream-like and rebellious nature of the odd years (‘65, ‘67, ’69 for example) but they should give a more complex, detailed annalysis of the period that goes beyond the global student protests.

Lastly, Ashkwal Alwan has asked artists and thinkers to draw on the subject of Militarism, exploring how the army has a great influence over politics or governance in certain countries such as, but not limited to Syria, Turkey or Israel.

This year’s program has been packed with dance performances, exhibitions, lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, theatre and music performances and book launches that are running between 11am and 10pm in nine venues around Beirut. You can find a full run down of the program on Ashkal Alwan’s website and get an up to the minute scheduling of which performances and lectures are occuring by following the Home Works 5 Twitter.

Written by Fiona Davies

Images courtesy of Askwal Alwan: Home Works 4 2008