In a city shaped by cycles of disruption, resilience, and reinvention, Beirut Art Center’s latest exhibition, “A Slow Burn”, captures the quiet intensity that simmers beneath Lebanon’s contemporary art scene. Running from November 13, 2025 to February 28, 2026, the exhibition emerged from an open call inviting young artists from Lebanon and the wider region to explore the theme of fire — not only as an element, but as a metaphor for transformation, instability, and latent power.
What began as a thematic inquiry quickly evolved into something far more intimate and process-driven. As Lebanon continues to navigate political volatility, economic hardship, and the fragility of everyday life, the participating artists found it nearly impossible to commit to static, predetermined artworks. Their ideas shifted with each passing day — shaped by personal circumstances, shifting emotions, and an ever-changing environment.
Recognizing this, Beirut Art Center made a bold curatorial decision:
the exhibition would focus not on finished artworks, but on the living process of creation itself.
Studios That Breathe, Spaces That Transform
Nine of the selected artists physically relocated their studios into the Art Center, turning its galleries into active laboratories of experimentation. Visitors who entered the space in the weeks before the official opening witnessed sketches forming, materials being tested, conversations unfolding, and ideas transforming in real time. For the remaining artists working remotely, open communication channels ensured that their shifting creative journeys remained connected to the collective momentum.
This approach introduced a rare transparency into artistic production, allowing the public to experience the vulnerability, uncertainty, and raw energy of the creative process. The galleries became places of negotiation — between artists and materials, between expectation and reality, between chaos and control.
Not About Fire, Yet All About Its Presence
While the exhibition originates from the elemental power of fire, it moves beyond literal flames. Instead, it highlights the interstitial states — the quiet heat before ignition, the tension between destruction and renewal, and the invisible forces that shape matter, memory, and meaning.
On the ground floor, works explore the relationship between violence and representation. Through the materiality of ash, shadow, charred surfaces, and heavy textures, artists reveal how trauma accumulates quietly, gaining strength before erupting into visibility.
The mezzanine level, in contrast, becomes a sanctuary for mourning, reflection, and intimate material practices. Here, a slower emotional temperature prevails: stitching, layering, gathering fragments, and piecing together shattered memories. These works embody the slow burn of grief — a heat that reshapes the self gradually, without spectacle.
The Power of the Slow Burn
A slow burn is not the absence of intensity. It is another form of fire — controlled, disciplined, and enduring. In this exhibition, the “slow burn” stands as a metaphor for creative survival in unstable conditions. It represents:
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perseverance under pressure
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energy held in reserve
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transformation without collapse
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the ability to remain molten, flexible, and alive
The works on display are neither fully settled nor fully formed, and that is precisely their strength. They reflect a collective state of becoming — an ongoing negotiation with uncertainty and a refusal to extinguish artistic momentum.
A Catalyst, Not a Conclusion
Rather than presenting finalized objects, “A Slow Burn” offers audiences an invitation to witness the forging of a new artistic temperature in Beirut. Visitors enter a charged environment where gestures matter as much as outcomes, where pauses carry meaning, and where creation is a continuous act of resistance.
In a region accustomed to sudden eruptions, this exhibition honors the understated strength of gradual, persistent heat — the kind that transforms landscapes over time, shaping new terrains of expression.
