This is a Moving Biography podcast, bringing together different perspectives to question disciplinary assumptions and decentre life writing. It is a collaboration between LAWHA at the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB), the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Global (De)Centre, generously funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. In this episode with Mahita El Bacha Urieta, Manuella Guiragossian and Hala Schoukair, the daughters of Amine El Bacha (1932-2019), Paul Guiragossian (1926-1993) and Saloua Raouda Choucair (1916-2017) - leading artists of Lebanon’s art world - talk about the responsibility of taking care of their parent’s legacy, what challenges they face and what it means to curate a biography that is intrinsically linked to their own. They are in conversation with Nadia von Maltzahn (LAWHA/OIB). This episode is an edited version of a live conversation that took place at the OIB in May 2023.
*CHAPTERS*
0:00 - Introduction
0:59 - Moving Biographies
1:22 - Panellist introduction
3:13 - Amine El Bacha’s estate
10:25 - Visions for the estate and foundation
16:46 - Paul Guiragossian’s estate
25:22 - Saloua Raouda Choucair
33:59 - Connected biographies & how involved were your parents in setting the visions for their foundations?
39:36 - The mixed emotions of preserving your parent’s legacy
42:04 - Beirut as an urban space and reimagining the city
47:12 - Pricing & selling masterpieces to fund this work
1:00:45 - How do you organize yourselves?
****** ABOUT LAWHA ******
LAWHA (Lebanon’s Art World at Home and Abroad: Trajectories of artists and artworks in/from Lebanon since 1943) is a research project hosted by the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB) of the Max Weber Foundation. LAWHA investigates the forces that have shaped the emergence of a professional field of art in Lebanon within its local, regional and global context. The project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 850760).
****** MOVING BIOGRAPHY ******
Moving Biography was a summer school organised by LAWHA/OIB, the American University of Beirut and the Global (De)Centre in 2022, generously funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The summer school brought together different perspectives to question disciplinary assumptions and decentre life writing. These podcasts are an outcome of the summer school.
****** ABOUT AFIKRA ******
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region - past, present, and future - through conversations driven by curiosity.