A performance on the first anniversary of the horrific event

The experience of the Beirut port explosion is translated into improvisational drawing and playing

The show, according to its director, Alaa Minawi, is related to the psychological repercussions of the explosion on everyone who lived through it.

AFP

With drawings of sad and distorted faces, and shadows of people raising or extending their hands, Ahmed Amer improvised, to the beat of live playing, the feelings of Lebanese who lived the experience of the explosion of the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, in a performance entitled “A Day That Doesn’t End”, less than two weeks ago on The first anniversary of this horrific event.

The show, which lasted three days, deals with the "collective trauma beyond imagination" caused by this experience.

The explosion, which the authorities attributed to the unprotected storage of huge amounts of ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people, injured about 6,500, and destroyed entire parts of the capital.

The show is linked to “the psychological repercussions of the explosion on everyone who lived through it, and everyone who is connected to Lebanon in some way,” its director, Alaa Minawi, told AFP.

The profile explained that Beirut "held its breath" at the moment of the explosion, "and many are still unable to get that breath out" to this day.

Minawi said: "This soul was stuck somewhere inside us, and we couldn't get it out, but it is still stuck due to the shock."

The director added that the show, which takes place at the Mono Theatre, located in an area near the port, which was damaged by the explosion, "poses one question: Can we breathe again?"

And how?” This presentation is characterized by its interactive nature.

The artists asked audience members, who were allowed to attend the show for free, to “share their personal stories with the bombing” by e-mail, so that Vladimir Koromlyan, on the piano, and Ahmed Amer, on the drawing platform, seek to improvisely transform it into “momentary musical experiences accompanied by drawings.”

The entire theater looked like a white canvas, with its giant screen, floor, piano, and even the clothes of the narrator and pianist.

On stage, the narrator (Minawi) reads the testimonies he received by e-mail.

Amer performs his drawings by computer from the control room, while Koromelian plays on stage.

And in the paintings that appear all over the exhibition space, frayed lines, bewildered swirls, tearful faces and eyes, hands raised in distress, or outstretched as if trying to save, the expression of tragedy reaches its climax when the black lines turn red.

Minawi explained that the show is "focused on transformation."

He believed that "words may not be sufficient except to describe the experience, while music and painting contribute to transforming them into works of art."

The employers, who are presented in cooperation with the German Heinrich Böll Foundation, which deals with “environment and sustainable development, democracy, human rights, self-determination and justice”, were keen to make it clear that they do not claim through the presentation to provide “any healing capabilities”.

They added: "Our work does not fall under the category of psychosocial support, and we are still trying, like (the public), to deal with the consequences of the tragedy, and most importantly, we firmly and unequivocally believe that recovery can only be achieved when justice is served."

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