Lebanon 2021

Title: A Roof for Silence
Commissioner: Jad Tabet
Curator: Hala Wardé
Exhibitors: Hala Wardé with Etel Adnan, Paul Virilio, Fouad Elkoury, Alain Fleischer, Soundwalk Collective

Echoing the question “How will we live together?” as raised by Hashim Sarkis, Hala Wardé tackles the issue of coexistence through a questioning of the spaces of silence, and by putting into dialogue architecture, painting, music, poetry, video and photography. The project is based on the cryptic shapes of a group of sixteen olive trees that are a thousand years old in Lebanon. These legendary trees, whose hollowed forms are home to various species, are the tutelary figure of the Lebanese Pavilion. They are places of recollection or gathering, where peasants have convened for generations to decide on village affairs or to celebrate weddings.