Listen to the article
The exhibition Blooming Beirut, initiated by Christiane Tawil with the aim of supporting the committee of the Sursock Museum boutique, headed by Karina Hélou, is currently being held at the same location. This initiative seeks to transform the museum’s esplanade into a genuine cultural forum for the city of Beirut.
The Sursock Museum Boutique, with its exhibition titled Blooming Beirut, invites visitors to explore the museum esplanade starting April 19, 2024. It features a plethora of exclusive creations by talented designers, paying homage to the spring and the city of Beirut, which continually fosters a variety of creators, artists and artisans. These artists, bringing joy to the public with a multitude of works, showcase the cultural and artistic blossoming of Lebanon. This new artistic and artisanal bloom honors the most beautiful season of the year, one that revives bougainvilleas, reflowers laurels, and beautifies the streets with myriad scents and colors. A season whose magic fills the air with the fragrances of orange blossoms, jasmine and magnolia.
This spring exhibition, with nods to nature in full bloom, offers spectators a bouquet of cheer and freshness through original works in a variety of forms and materials. Gilded leaves and dragonflies delicately adorn beautiful copper or metal boxes. Decorative flowers unfold their grace, blending, like chameleons, with all materials and adapting to all innovations. These floral creations gracefully extend their long metal stems and unfold their leaves to transform into vases or candle holders. They feature on ceramic dishes, adding elegance and beauty. Elsewhere, candles shaped like rose or daisy petals decorate and illuminate table centers, adding charm and softness. Further on, the cheerful and flowery notes, yellow or white, of lilies of the valley, mimosa and magnolias merge with ceramic vases to create a beautiful chromatic bouquet. Anemones lend their round and generous shapes to aluminum tables. Artichokes, mushrooms and boletes transform into decorative objects in turn. Ceramics also engage in metamorphosis, adopting a pleated cardboard look, twisting and rippling, challenging the material, playing with its whims, inviting us to dream.
In front of the beautiful white facade of the museum, and thanks to this unprecedented exhibition, a holiday atmosphere prevails, where it is delightful to intoxicate oneself; a festive atmosphere where it is good to immerse oneself. An atmosphere that allows one to believe in eternal new beginnings, in the promise of buds ready to bloom, in the emergence of new talents, and in the flourishing of a city that will never cease to move and amaze us.
The exhibition features works by 32 renowned Lebanese artists and designers: Ritalynn Aanksoury, Zeina Abou el Hosn, Ramzi Abou Fadil-YOOK, Nicole Abou Farhat, Ghada Abela, Nayla Aoun, Il était une fois, Jacquot Ayoub, Bokja + Karim Chaya, Nevine Boueiz, Diana Bou Selman, Marine Bustros, Lama Chaouki + Dana Barchini, Henry Dakak Jr-HHD, Dorine Dahdah, Syma Debbané, Johanne Issa, Hana El Kaake, Elie Georges, Hala Ghorayeb, Yasmina Khalifé, Sarah Hanna, Miettes d’art, Mira Melki, Andrea Nassar, Simone Saikali, Joanne Sayad, Karina Sukar-Karina Sukar Design Studio, Eva Szumilas, Randa Tabbah, Minnie Tabet, Alain Vassoyan, Maria Yared, Nada Zeineh.
