In the exhibition Beirut, Beyrut, Beyrouth, Beyrout, the North meets the Middle East. The exhibition highlights and queries a socio-politically complex society and its history, with sharpness, gravity, heartache and humour. The title points to the cultural diversity that Lebanon, and the Middle East as a whole, represent – marked by long traditions of being a multicultural and multilingual region.

The exhibition includes work by Mounira Al Solh, Monira Al Qadiri, Ziad Antar, Ali Cherri, Ahmad Ghossein, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lamia Joreige, Mazen Kerbaj, Stéphanie Saadé, Lucien Samaha, Helle Siljeholm, Suha Traboulsi, Raed Yassin and Akram Zaatari.

Recent years’ fascination for the Beirut art scene is interesting. It embodies a geo-political perspective and an enthusiasm for a scene which is unique and which includes a great number of solid artists, over several generations who all know each other well and support one another. Many of the artists are multilingual and possess double citizenships. We dare to characterize this sense of unity as one of a kind. The art scene is experienced as – at least from the outside – an inclusive one.

Discussions surrounding art, art’s agency in society, and how one should relate to the art world are constantly present. There’s room for differences. Values are constantly scrutinized. By having one foot planted in the Middle East and the other in Europe, similar to the historic lines of Lebanon, this questioning becomes a natural ingredient in every discussion.

The exhibition is curated by Marianne Hultman and Ýrr Jónasdóttir with Birta Guðjónsdóttir. It will be shown at Oslo Kunstforening, Norway; Ystads konstmuseum, Sweden and Listasafn Íslands, Iceland.

Beirut, Beyrut, Beyrouth, Beyrout includes a collaboration with Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival and Cinemateket, Oslo.

The exhibition has received support from Nordic Culture Point.

The opening is kindly sponsored by Oslo Ice Cream by Nayla Audi, which has found a temporary presence in the city of Oslo for the occasion. The artisanal ice cream shop has a long history of close ties to the artistic community in Lebanon.

Mazen Kerbaj will present one of his unorthodox solos for deconstructed trumpet. He cannot tell us more about it since it will be, like most of his works, completely improvised.