These are unprecedented times.
We are all fragilized by economic, psychological and social collapses; summoned to continuously question our priorities. However, TAP and theOtherDada are no strangers to these challenges: it is because and in spite of this context of crisis that Art, Ecology and the Commons is more relevant than ever.
Can togetherness be harnessed as a practice? Can we use it to address the glaring needs of our communities, and in so doing, discuss and design alternate possibilities for our future going forward?
AEC: Art, Ecology and the Commons is an interdisciplinary program bringing artistic and ecological practices together in the aim of building a community on a 2,000-square-meter forest site along the Beirut River, in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.
Planted by theOtherDada in 2019 as part of an urban afforestation initiative, Beirut's RiverLESS Forest serves as host and muse.
This project will bring six participants together for ten days of experimental learning and exchange from and on a young forest site in Sin el Fil, punctuated by a series of commissions, public and outreach activities we have been stitching with individuals, collectives and institutions who share our values and positioning vis a vis our communities durduringting these times of distress. Our program seeks to harness this young forest’s interdependence and resilience to inspire and bring a community together under circumstances of undeniable agony in a gesture of persistence.
In collaboration with theOtherDada, this program is supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), the French Institute, SUGi, the Municipality of Sin El Fil, Advanced Car Rental and Bossa Nova Hotel.
