Artwork Details
- Artist Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
- Title Lebanese Rocket Society: The President’s Album
- Date 2011
- Medium 4 boxes with 8 items in each
- Credit Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation
Overview
In the early 1960s, a group of students led by professor of mathematics Manoug Manougian at the Armenian Haigazian University in Lebanon designed and launched rockets for the purpose of exploring and studying space. With the involvement of the Lebanese Army and other researchers, the programme expanded. Thus the Lebanese Rocket Society was born. The project was not militaristic; rather its aim was to promote science and research. The work came to a sudden halt in 1967 and has been completely forgotten since. Lebanese Rocket Society includes documents, archives, reconstitutions, and an art installation that explores this history. It asks whether it is possible to create a monument inspired from Cedar 4, the three-storey rocket that became emblematic of the riveting adventure of the Lebanese Rocket Society after its launch in 1963.
