(28 Jan 2026)
LEBANON ART SHOW
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 4:30
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 24 January 2026
1. Wide of art exhibition at Beirut Art Center
2. Mid of art on display
3. Visitors at exhibition, looking at artwork on display
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Aya Zantout, artist and architect:
“Slow burn is really about our everyday life in this region. It simmers and doesn’t culminate in one big fire. The process by which we all used for the works took time. And it really deals with the concept of the difficulties we face, whether they were big traumas or small everyday encounters with our surroundings in Lebanon.”
5. Various of Zantout touching artwork on the floor
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Aya Zantout, artist and architect:
“Fire is something that we encounter in our everyday lives, not physically, but metaphorically. It’s there everywhere, wherever we go, in Beirut, in Lebanon, in Palestine and in the wider region. It’s something we got used to. And it’s not the way that things should be, but at the same time we deal with it, each in our own way. So, the exhibit really tries to think of ways to deal with this, to deal with our constant turmoil and to create visual works from this turmoil.”
7. Visitors entering exhibition
8. Artwork on the wall
9. Visitors taking photos
10. Visitors at exhibition looking at artwork
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic/English) Fatima (no full name given) visitor from Bahrain:
“We came here to Beirut, and we wanted to visit the Beirut Art Center to see what it has to offer and to see the artworks and the exhibition. And it’s been a wonderful visit and a wonderful experience.”
12. Art on display
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Baraka, artist:
“I decided to use the idea of the firewall as a way to talk about safety in Lebanon, and especially how regulations of safety are usually imported from abroad. And usually, they’re imported from France or from Europe or from America.”
14. Baraka looking through a peephole
15. Baraka looking at calligraphy text on the wall
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Baraka, artist:
“We also work the calligrapher on the text, for it to look like almost a certificate that’s blown up. And the text is basically what the wall is saying. And what the text is saying is that the wall itself (is) declaring itself as an architecture of safety, as a firewall that’s here to protect us, and that it’s the safest point of refuge in the building. We’ve also played on the term of the firewall as both architectural and digital. So, in the digital realm, it protects us from cyber threat. In the architectural realm, it protects us from real fire.”
16. Various of artwork on display
17. Artist and designer Elie Mouhanna looking at artwork
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Elie Mouhanna, artist and designer:
“It’s very important to approach fire as an element that is very common in Lebanon and in the region, and now around the world. It’s nice to see a lot of artists working on fire, at a time when we see them (artists) scattered in so many different contexts.”
19. Wide of art exhibition
STORYLINE:
An art show in Beirut explores the concept of fire and how it fuels creation in a reflection on the troubled region’s instability over recent years.
The “Slow Burn” exhibition at the Beirut Art Center probes the fiery theme from multiple angles, examining chronic wounds people have sustained, and learned to live with as a result.
The inception came through an open call last year, inviting artists to present their proposals on the theme.
AP video shot by Fadi Tawil
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/dd9f3b1cb0944541bc98bc49495226c7
Video Source
