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Beirut - Warsaw. Re - birth
A unique collection of photographs of war-torn Beirut by Fadi Zabad, who photographed his destroyed city on a school trip in 1993 at the age of 14. Looking at the 14 year-old Fadi Zabad’s photographs of destroyed Beirut from 1993 one cannot but get a strong sense of déjà vu raising haunting images of a devastated Warsaw from 1944. This unexpected juxtaposition of different spatio–temporalities, implied by the timing of the exhibition on the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, invites the viewer to reflect on the uniqueness and repetitiveness of urban traumas and their role in organizing the memory and identity of a city and its reconstruction. Fadi Zabad’s photographs engage the palimpsestic nature of Beirut; a city that had been torn apart, divided, but never erased - a city that rises again after the fall and destruction of war – with and against its traumatic history. The 'Beirut. Warsaw Re-Birth' exhibition, displayed in one of the few remaining pre–war buildings of Warsaw, is an invitation to shift the vantage point and adopt a more peripheral view on looking at one's own past, history and identity. A Private viewing with special guest Fadi Zabad, the author of the photographs, will take place on Aug 1st at 7.00 PM The ‘Warsaw. Beirut. Re – Birth’ exhibition will be accompanied by a series of cultural events reflecting on the memory and re-construction of cities after catastrophes, engaging in dialogue on contemporary urban identity and space, the role of photography in ‘arresting’ a city’s imagination as well as series of video screenings and urban walks related to re -construction. Curated by: Dominika Blachnicka - Ciacek [email protected] Design: Piotr Drewko Co - organizers: BarStudio, Dom Towarowy Braci Jabłkowskich, Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, Fundacja Projekt: Polska, Le Monde Diplomatique - Polish edition Project supported by the the City of Warsaw Catering for the opening night: La Farine |