The rehabilitation project of the National Library is supposedly complete but it won’t be opening (officially) anytime soon because the cabinet has yet to appoint an executive board and director. Nevertheless, there’s an ongoing exhibition organized by the Lebanese Foundation for the National Library till November 20 inside the National Library from 11 am till 6 pm (excluding Mondays) so this is your chance to have a sneak peek visit before it closes down again.

The “Bitasarrof” exhibition at the National Library in Sanayeh “delves into our art, culture and heritage while bracing the project of the rehabilitation of the National Library” and is open to the public.

The premise for our theme was to find a silver lining to the pagination error that occurred in the printing of the book ‘Cent Ans de la Presse au Liban, 1859-1959’ , published in 2010 by the Lebanese Foundation for the National Library. This book – deemed unable to be distributed – was creatively transformed into an exhibition of which fifty five artists from different generations and creative practices have produced, with total creative freedom, a piece of work inspired by the book. They all have generously donated their artoworks to the Lebanese Foundation for the National Library, as a tangible contribution to the country’s art history and diversity while defending the freedom of speech represented by the book.

You can check out further information and pictures [here].