AUB Art Galleries and Collections

AUB Art Galleries invites you to the opening of Open Walls: The AUB Art Collection—Chapter 3 on Wednesday, October 29 at 6:00 PM in the AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery (Ada Dodge Hall). This exhibition displays artworks from AUB’s permanent collection in dialogue with other institutions and departments. In this iteration, we will host the Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation, the Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut, and the Kamal A. Shair Central Research Science Laboratory at AUB.

Join us for the opening of our latest exhibition curated by Bassam Kahwagi ( ) . The exhibition Against the Window offers the most interesting painterly manifestations in Beirut and Lebanon today, according to Bassam’s personal view. A committed painter himself, he is firmly convinced that painting remains one of the means of expressing one’s humanity—our innermost feelings, doubts, uncertainties, and emotions. Bassam enthusiastically took on most of the roles in this exhibition: initiating the dialogue with the painters, selecting the works, writing the curatorial statement, designing the poster, creating the labels, and installing the exhibition. For all of this, we are deeply grateful.

📍Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum, Sidani Street, Hamra. (AUB off campus women’s dorms) (Link available in our bio)
🕓 Exhibition Opening: 6:00 PM
🕐Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, 12:00 PM to 6:00PM
*closed on official and AUB holidays*

Only one month left to see our current exhibition 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐲𝐦𝐧: 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦, curated by Amin Alsaden (.alsaden ) , on view at the Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum, Hamra (April 8 – July 15, 2025).

This exhibition is a speculative survey that sheds light on an important yet overlooked tendency: Beiruti artists’ experimentation with the Arabic language, or the calligraphic possibilities of the letter more specifically. Many of these works are being presented publicly, and grouped together, for the first time.

We also still have a few copies of And you remained distant when we arrived, the stickers booklet reimagining Beirut’s name, published alongside the exhibition. Copies are sold at the door, with all proceeds donated to local art initiatives.

📍Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum (Check our bio for our location)
🕛Opening Hours: Monday-Friday from 12:00-6:00PM
𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬

In the second lecture of the seri​es, Professor Rico Franses will interpret Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1893) with the audience. He will break down the specialized language of art, making it accessible and relatable for all. This event is part of the 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, supported by the Philippe Jabre Lecture Series and organized in collaboration with the AUB Neighborhood Initiative.

📆Thursday, April 9, 2025
🕕6:00 PM
📍AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery (Ada Dodge Hall, near the cafeteria)

This event is part of the Art for Everyone series, supported by the Philippe Jabre Lecture Series and the AUB Neighborhood Initiative.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain fresh insights into
modern art!

Join us this for the opening and launch of two interrelated projects guest-curated by Amin Alsaden. The exhibition, 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐲𝐦𝐧: 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦, presented at AUB’s Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum, sheds light on a barely examined tendency within Lebanese modernism. It brings together artists whose practices have drawn on the Arabic language, or the calligraphic possibilities of the Arabic letter more specifically. A speculative survey, it elucidates the impressive breadth of Beirut’s discursive experiments, which challenged Western hegemony during the second half of the twentieth century.

The exhibition serves as a historical backdrop to a new wave of interest in the Arabic script, with contemporary lettering artists gravitating toward the language’s arresting appeal and building on the explorations pioneered by their predecessors. The second project,𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 , is an exhibit-in-a-booklet that pays tribute to Beirut at a particularly challenging time. Commissioning a group of contemporary Lebanese artists and designers who tackle the complex meanings invoked by the city today, it also underscores the unique aesthetics, expressive capacity, and astounding versatility of the Arabic script.

📍Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum, Sidani Street, Hamra. (AUB off campus women’s dorms)
🕓 Exhibition Opening: 5:00 to 8:00 PM
Welcoming Remarks: 5:45 PM
Booklet launch, and curator’s discussion with participating artists: 6 pm

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Join us for “Starry Nights & Silent Screams: Understanding Modern Art,” an engaging lecture with Professor Rico Franses. This session will explore how to interpret modern art through Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Munch’s The Scream, breaking down complex artistic language to make it accessible to all.

📅 Thursday, March 13, 2025
🕒 3:00 PM
📍 AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery (Ada Dodge Hall, near the cafeteria)

This event is part of the Art for Everyone series, supported by the Philippe Jabre Lecture Series and the AUB Neighborhood Initiative.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain fresh insights into modern art!

Please join us for the second chapter of the ongoing exhibition Open Walls: The AUB Art Collection. For this next iteration of the project, we have invited three local art institutions: the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA), the Gibran Tarazi Estate, and the Temporary Art Platform (TAP). Delegates from these institutions will provide an overview of their important cultural work.

This exhibition puts on display artworks from the permanent collection of the American University of Beirut (AUB). It showcases some of its most valuable samples, arranging them in a manner that enables fragments of walls to also host artworks from other collections. As the title suggests, Open Walls brings to the forefront the idea of cooperation in the arts. In choosing this mode of display, our aim is to foster dialogue not only between different artistic epochs, styles, schools, and traditions but also among various generations of artists. We also seek to facilitate exchange and interaction between art institutions, foundations, and collectors from Lebanon and the region.

📍AUB Campus; Byblos Bank Art Gallery, Ada
Dodge Hall
Feel free to pass by Monday - Friday from
12:00-6:00 PM
*Closed on official and AUB holidays.*

museum

This exchange on the 20th of July brought together former AUB student activist´s from the 70s, current students, historians, researchers, political activists, and artists to explore the recurrent theme of student movements and uprisings from 1974 to 2024.

The encounter was filmed and will be produced into an experimental essay by the directors of the docu-drama “74: The Reconstitution of a Struggle” .rafei and .

Curated by , .gehrt,

During spring 2024, graduate students from the American University of Beirut’s Art History and Curating program (Cohort 2), in partnership with HGB University in Leipzig, embarked on a captivating trip through Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden.

This tour included visits to numerous art and cultural institutions, museums, and galleries, fostering an exchange on art and curatorial practices during crises. The adventure delved into the possibilities art creates amidst challenges, highlighting the ongoing struggle for freedom of expression.

The AUB Art Galleries present “Open Walls: The AUB Art Collection,” opening this Wednesday, April 17th at 6 pm.
Join us for an evening of artistic exploration and discovery of the AUB Art Collection.
Check out the curatorial statement link in our bio!

🗓️ April 17th
⏰ 6:00 pm
📍 AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery - Ada Dodge Hall

P.S. Share the experience with a fellow art enthusiast.