The Hangar
March Meeting 2011
The Hangar
Amanda Abi Khalil, Monika Borgmann
March Meeting 2011
The Hangar
Amanda Abi Khalil, Monika Borgmann
Overview
UMAM Documentation and Research was established in Beirut in 2004 as an organisation to collect, protect and promote evidence and artifacts of Lebanon’s history, with the aim of generating a collective reflection on the country’s past and present. Through the Hangar (a renovated warehouse space in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which hosts a residency programme and serves as an interdisciplinary project space) UNAM works to create a public platform for exchange and debate.
Presentation Proposal
Beginning in 2011, the Hangar will launch The last days of..., a series of cultural and artistic projects that embody UMAM Documentation and Research’s archival philosophy and practice. The series will exhibit urban landmarks from Lebanon’s history, spaces that are condemned for destruction and thus will be forgotten. UMAM will exhibit its own archives in addition to commissioning local Lebanese artists interested in creatively displaying Beirut’s rich urban fabric, consistent with the organisation’s philosophy that archives must be made available for perpetual public viewing rather than confined to library ‘dustbins of history’. UMAM has conceived of The last day of... as an interdisciplinary, three-year project that will bring together Lebanon’s artists, urban landscape and national community. UMAM has begun this project through efforts to acquire and sort the archives of Beirut’s Carlton Hotel, in addition to seeking local artists’ collaboration to creatively display the social history of this crucial urban landmark.
Monika Borgmann- UMAM (Documentation and Research)
In 2004, Monika Borgmann co-founded UMAM Documentation and Research (UMAMD&R), an NGO that addresses issues of civil violence and war memory in Lebanon. Borgmann is the Co-Director of the award-winning documentary MASSAKER, which portrays six perpetrators of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
Amanda Abi Khalil - UMAM (Documentation and Research)
Amanda Abi Khalil is a cultural event organiser and curator. At the Sorbonne, Paris, she studied cultural event management, sociology, and cultural anthropology, graduating with an MBA/Masters 2 in Curating Art for Public Spaces. Abi Khalil’s research analysed how ‘memory policies’ in post-war Lebanon have affected the country’s art scene. She has worked in leading cultural institutions in France, including Centquatre and the Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival. Abi Khalil currently works as a freelance consultant on cultural policy.