Ashkal Alwan announces the names of our four grantees for this year’s Video Works. Congratulations to Mohamed Berro, Maeve Brennan, Stéphanie Ghazal, and Maxime Hourani. 

In addition to this selection, five other projects were commissioned this year. The commissioned grantees are: Haig Aivazian, Vartan Avakian, May Kassem, Nadim Tabet and Karine Wehbe, and Raed Yassine. Video Works 2015’s jury was composed of Ali Cherri, Maha Maamoun, Ghassan Salhab, and Corine Shawi.

The screening of the selected projects took place on June 9, 10 and 11, 2015.

Started by Ashkal Alwan in 2006, Video Works is a grant and screening platform aimed at supporting the development, production and diffusion of new projects by emerging artists and filmmakers working and/or residing in Lebanon.
 

Haig Aivazian (b. 1980, Beirut) is an artist and writer. Aivazian holds an MFA from Northwestern University and is a Skowhegan alumnus (2011). Using performance, video, drawing, installation and sculpture, his work weaves together personal and geo-political, micro and macro narratives, in its search for ideological loopholes and short circuits.

Vartan Avakian (b. 1977, Byblos) lives and works in Beirut. Avakian holds a BA in Communication Arts from the Lebanese American University and a Masters in Architecture and Urban Culture from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. Avakian works with video, photography and natural material. He is a founding member of the Beirut art collective Atfal Ahdath and a member of the Arab Image Foundation. In 2013, he was a recipient of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize.

Maeve Brennan (b. 1990, London) is an artist currently based in Beirut. Brennan holds a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2012) and took part in the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan (2013-14). Her practice is research-based and process-oriented, often taking the form of video installations. She is concerned with a material understanding of politics and history. She is a member and co-founder of Sharna Pax, an artist collective working between the fields of visual art, anthropology and documentary.

Maxime Hourani (b. 1982, Beirut) is an artist and architect. Hourani took part in the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan (2012-13). Hourani’s works are driven by chronotopic explorations that excavate and interweave layers of histories, forms, relations, and meanings while underscoring latent and evident power dynamics. Hourani was an artist in residence at the Delfina Foundation (2014) and the Scottish Sculpture Workshop (2014).  His work was shown at the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013), Beirut Art Center (2013) and the Jerusalem Show VII (2014).

May Kassem (b. 1975, Beirut) is a filmmaker, screenwriter and teacher. Kassem makes short 16mm films, videos, documentaries, and animated films. Her work focuses on themes such as: the impact of art on society, the plight of marginalized segments of urban population, and the struggles of undocumented immigrants. Kassem is currently working on a documentary on the life of her grandmother, actress and singer Nourhane. Kassem also presents two music programs on 96.2 FM Radio Liban: Poivre Noir, Piment Rouge and Champ Sonore.

Mohamed Berro (b. 1989, Beirut) is a filmmaker living and working in Beirut, Lebanon.

Nadim Tabet (b. Beirut) holds a BA in History and a Masters in Cinema from the Sorbonne University. He has directed numerous shorts filmed in Super 8mm and in HD. Tabet is one of the founding members of The Lebanese Film Festival (2001). From 2011 to 2013 he selected films for the Oberhausen International Film Festival in Germany. In 2013 he was commissioned by the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris to organize a Gulf Film Festival. He is currently preparing his first feature film.

Karine Wehbe (b. Beirut) holds a BA in Art Direction and Graphic Design from ESAG Penninghen in Paris, France. Wehbe’s work embeds intimate and public chronicles, drawing on adolescent experiences, cinematographic and musical influences, and the mechanisms of memory and nostalgia. Experimenting with diverse media such as painting, photography, and video, Wehbe reshuffles moments and geographies within artistic situations that are often staged, blending fiction and reality. Her last short movie Summer 91 co-directed with Nadim Tabet won the Prix du Pavillon and Prix SACEM de la Meilleure Musique Originale at the Festival Côté Court de Pantin.

Stéphanie Ghazal (b. 1985, Beirut) is an architect and filmmaker. Ghazal holds a Masters in Architecture from the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) and is currently working on her thesis for the Masters program in Film Research at the Institut d’Etudes Scéniques et Audiovisuelles (IESAV, Université Saint-Joseph), exploring the representation of war-torn cities in cinema. Her practice combines various means of expression to address personal experiences, communal interactions and one’s relationship to one’s territory.

Raed Yassin (b. 1979, Beirut) is an artist and musician. Yassin graduated with a BA in Theater from the Lebanese University (2003). His work often originates from an examination of his personal narratives and their workings within a collective history, through the lens of consumer culture and mass production. Yassin was awarded the Fidus Prize in 2009 and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2012. Yassin is one of the organizers of IRTIJAL Festival. He has released several music albums and founded the production company Annihaya in 2009. He is also a founding member of Beirut art collective Atfal Ahdath.