AGENDA

Embassy of Brazil launches art competition about the Tripoli Fair offering USD 3000 in prizes

Deadline October 29, 2023

In the context of the recent enlisting of the International Fair Rachid Karami, in Tripoli, as World Heritage and World Heritage in Danger by UNESCO, the Embassy of Brazil in Beirut and the Instituto Guimarães Rosa - Beirut are launching an art competition about the Fair, offering 3 prizes of USD 1000 each to the best works.

Free registration online, until October 29, open to Lebanese citizens living in Lebanon or abroad, and to non-Lebanese individuals resident in Lebanon, from 18 to 35 years-old.

Check the Rules and submission form

The International Fair Rachid Karami, in Tripoli, Lebanon (the Tripoli Fair) was designed by renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who is responsible for implementing several outstanding buildings in Brazil and abroad, including in the Brazilian capital Brasília. The Fair is his first project out of Brazil to be enlisted as World Heritage by UNESCO, in January 2023.

The Fair occupies a 70-hectare site located between the historic center of Tripoli and the Al Mina port. The main building consists of a huge, covered hall in the shape of a boomerang of 750 meters by 70 meters, a 2 flexible space for countries to install exhibitions. The Fair was the flagship project of Lebanon's modernization policy in the 1960s. According to UNESCO, the close collaboration between Oscar Niemeyer, the architect of the project, and Lebanese engineers gave rise to a remarkable example of exchange between different continents. In terms of scale and wealth of formal expression, it is one of the major representative works of 20th century modern architecture in the Arab Near East.

Heavily damaged during the Lebanese civil war, the Fair now faces severe degradation. Only small parts of it are currently used, turning it into a “white elephant” with which many people from Tripoli and Lebanon find hard to establish a positive relation.

Believing in the power of art to foster critical thinking and intercultural dialogue, the Embassy of Brazil in Beirut and the Instituto Guimarães Rosa - Beirut are launching this prize to raise awareness about the Tripoli Fair and the need to conserve it; raise awareness about the work of Oscar Niemeyer and about modernist architecture in Lebanon; and provoke a reflection about the role of the Tripoli Fair in the Lebanese context nowadays and in the future.

An expert jury was invited to choose the winners, composed of artists, experts and representatives of relevant institutions in the fields of art, architecture and photography: Dr. Elsa Ghossoub; Dr. Farès Dahdah; Mr. Firas El Hallak; Ms. Joyce Jouma; Ms. Karina El Helou; and Dr. Wassim Naghi. The criteria for evaluation of artworks will be creativity, technical quality, and adherence to the theme.

This is the second cultural project sponsored by the Embassy of Brazil in Beirut in 2023 promoting the Brazilian modern architecture heritage in Lebanon. Last June, for the first time, guided visits to the official residence of the Ambassador of Brazil focused on the architecture heritage were offered to a selected group of 80 students and professionals in the fields of architecture, arts and design. The residence was designed by Brazilian Modernist architect Olavo Redig de Campos and built in the 1960.