#10 WATER&THE CITY
The mediterranean: une histoire de faussaires
Why the talk is inspiring?
From the over-romanticized achievements of our supposed ancestors to the sad story of our failed state, the Mediterranean has always been given a leading role. From Porto Torres to Ras El Bar, from Lattakia to Ashdod, history has always given her the same part. Beware of the dangerous simplifications that breed fictitious definitions of a territory, its people and their identity. Beirut is too often portrayed in marvelous denial; desperately holding on to its Mediterranean’s idyllic past. The inevitable transition of my beloved city into a derailing modernity has however brought with it a violent and sour present. I am at war with the consensual clichés that confine me to the pathetic nostalgia of a Mediterranean that is not mine. Let us celebrate our catastrophes.
2013
Speaker
Bernard Khoury
How the speaker is exceptional?
Bernard Khoury studied architecture at the Rhode Island school of Design. He received a Masters in Architectural studies from Harvard University. Khoury started an independent practice in 1993, and now leads architectural studio DW5. He has lectured and exhibited his work in prestigious academic institutions in Europe and the U.S including a solo show of his work given by the International Forum for Contemporary Architecture at the Aedes gallery in Berlin and numerous group shows including YOUprison at the Fondazione Sandretto in Torino and SPACE at the opening show of the MAXXI museum in Rome. Khoury was a visiting professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, L’Ecole Speciale d’Architecture in Paris and the American University of Beirut.
