Beirut, 2017-2019
The weekly four-hour walking lecture stood as an intervention in Beirut’s urban, political, and epistemological landscapes. It generated a nuanced and critical account of the post-war privatized reconstruction process of the Beirut Central District, encompassing diverse dimensions such as the politics of memory, archeology, and of public spaces.
The systematic weekly grouping of individuals whom the urban design deliberately marginalized served as a form of protest. Furthermore, the tour was an attempt to transcend the traditional boundaries of academia’s reach, freeing scholarly knowledge from the confines of academia’s walls and transporting it directly onto the city’s streets.
Under the name Beirut urban Tours, the organized walking lectures took place every saturday from February 2017 till october 2019.
Photo credit: Dimitri Nassar
Marc Ghazali 