Home Workspace Program 2025

Introduction

The 14th edition of the Home Workspace Program (HWP), which ran from February to August 2025, has now concluded. 

Five fellows—Matthias Valigny Sabbagha, Aya Abdallah, Marwa El Rifai, Hrant Kalemkerian, and Zainab Aldehaimy—were invited to take part in formal, technical and theoretical workshops, group critique sessions, and one-on-one mentorship. 

Due to continued Israeli aggressions and widespread disruptions to travel, integral parts of HWP had to be cancelled. These unforeseen circumstances prompted the program to shift its focus inward, and to collectively reflect through recurrent exchanges on the conditions, and on the meaning, of sustaining an artistic practice today. The fellows introduced the public to their works and reflections resulting from the program at an open studios event, held at Ashkal Alwan on August 15.

Workshops were led by Haig Aivaizan, Mahmoud Khaled, Marwa Arsanios, Paola Yacoub, and Rania Stephan. Guest participants in critique sessions included Lamia Joreige, Mahmoud Khaled, and Christine Tohme, with one-on-one mentorship with Walid Raad.

Workshops

• Haig Aivaizan’s workshop opened this year’s edition with a series of individual studio visits, group presentations, and group readings to introduce the fellows to one another and initiate potential lines of inquiry through feedback and dialogue.

• Mahmoud Khaled’s workshop presented a selection of regional practices that engage archives as heterotopias and engaged one-to-one sessions with each of the fellows.

• Marwa Arsanios led a seminar on reading as a methodological practice, focusing on how theoretical texts can inform and transform artistic and political work.

• Paola Yacoub’s workshop around the question, “and now?”,  intoned in a moment shaped by instability, automation, and political control over culture, examined how artists reclaim intention and knowledge through doing.

• Rania Stephan’s workshop delved into her practice of film and montage, and worked through the rich and layered history of Arab cinema.