Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LAWHA (Lebanon's Art World at Home and Abroad: Trajectories of artists and artworks in/from Lebanon since 1943)
Período documentado: 2020-10-01 hasta 2022-03-31
LAWHA examines the forces that have shaped the emergence of a professional field of art in Lebanon within its local, regional and global context, against the background that Lebanon is regularly portrayed as a country with weak public institutions but vibrant cultural sector. The project proposes a shift of perspective in approaching Lebanon’s art world by focusing on the multi-dimensionality of artists’ individual trajectories. LAWHA aims to identify new methods on how to interrelate context and artistic production, to serve as a model for revisiting art histories in contexts where institutionalised local art histories have largely been absent. It strives to make a major contribution to the ongoing discussions about decentring the global art canon and history.
The first eighteen months of the project were spent setting up the project, building partnerships, establishing the research team and conceptualizing the database and digital platform (DDP). A project blog was created to introduce the project, announce events and positions, and share research results.
The main focus has been to set up the DDP, which forms the spine of the project. The aim is to create a tool and central and open-access repository for future research. This includes the localisation and preservation of artistic records with the aim of building up artists’ dossiers that draw on local and international networks. The database is guided by the project’s research questions, which revolve around the professionalization of Lebanon’s art sector, the impact of the social, political and economic environment on the art world and its protagonists, how artists are represented in relation to the nation, and the role of women artists and artists of Armenian origin in Lebanon’s art world. Throughout the period, LAWHA connected to a number of digital humanities projects and technical experts, art historians and archives in order to determine which software to use, how to organise the data, understand the needs of potential users and generally learn from other experiences. An ontology has been developed and the selected open source software (Omeka-S) was adapted to LAWHA’s needs in collaboration with the University of Bologna’s Dh.arc. A partnership has been formed with the VeDPH of Ca’Foscari University of Venice, a direct beneficiary of LAWHA, in order to host the DDP during its initial phase. A publication is under preparation to discuss the possibilities and challenges of the digital field to reconstruct art history in regions like Lebanon.
LAWHA collaborated with the Sursock Museum and the Arab Image Foundation on a series of workshops on Intellectual Property in spring 2021. The aims of this series were to understand common challenges and best practices of peer institutions in terms of copyright, rights and reproduction policies; to have a grasp on how to deal with risk mitigation in finding a balance between the aspiration to grant wider access to collections and archival material for the public and respect rights; to understand the legal frameworks and laws under which our institutions and projects currently function, and strategies for open knowledge.
In partnership with the American University of Beirut and the Global (De)Centre, LAWHA/OIB has successfully applied for funding from the VolkswagenStiftung to hold a Summer School exploring the topic of biography/sīra in June 2022, entitled Moving Biography.
The project team has begun fieldwork, including archival research and preliminary interviews with key figures in Lebanon’s art world. Team members have also participated in international conferences, workshops and other events to introduce the project and preliminary results to the scientific community, stakeholders, and wider public.
The main focus has been to set up the DDP, which forms the spine of the project. The aim is to create a tool and central and open-access repository for future research. This includes the localisation and preservation of artistic records with the aim of building up artists’ dossiers that draw on local and international networks. The database is guided by the project’s research questions, which revolve around the professionalization of Lebanon’s art sector, the impact of the social, political and economic environment on the art world and its protagonists, how artists are represented in relation to the nation, and the role of women artists and artists of Armenian origin in Lebanon’s art world. Throughout the period, LAWHA connected to a number of digital humanities projects and technical experts, art historians and archives in order to determine which software to use, how to organise the data, understand the needs of potential users and generally learn from other experiences. An ontology has been developed and the selected open source software (Omeka-S) was adapted to LAWHA’s needs in collaboration with the University of Bologna’s Dh.arc. A partnership has been formed with the VeDPH of Ca’Foscari University of Venice, a direct beneficiary of LAWHA, in order to host the DDP during its initial phase. A publication is under preparation to discuss the possibilities and challenges of the digital field to reconstruct art history in regions like Lebanon.
LAWHA collaborated with the Sursock Museum and the Arab Image Foundation on a series of workshops on Intellectual Property in spring 2021. The aims of this series were to understand common challenges and best practices of peer institutions in terms of copyright, rights and reproduction policies; to have a grasp on how to deal with risk mitigation in finding a balance between the aspiration to grant wider access to collections and archival material for the public and respect rights; to understand the legal frameworks and laws under which our institutions and projects currently function, and strategies for open knowledge.
In partnership with the American University of Beirut and the Global (De)Centre, LAWHA/OIB has successfully applied for funding from the VolkswagenStiftung to hold a Summer School exploring the topic of biography/sīra in June 2022, entitled Moving Biography.
The project team has begun fieldwork, including archival research and preliminary interviews with key figures in Lebanon’s art world. Team members have also participated in international conferences, workshops and other events to introduce the project and preliminary results to the scientific community, stakeholders, and wider public.
One focus of the DDP’s data modelling has been on controlled vocabulary and keywords, in particular exploring the feasibility of developing a contextual vocabulary to be used in addition to the Getty AAT for the description of artworks and supporting archival material. This approach is novel insofar as it links artworks with their intellectual, political, cultural, and artistic contexts and allows for a content-based analysis of art historical developments and trajectories of artists. Thus, a query will not only result in biographical information on an artist and his or her work, but also in contextual information and documentation, including press reviews, letters, diary entries, photographs, and audio/video interviews, in combination with digital surrogates of artworks. The expected result is that cross-referencing and a more inclusive look on art in its multiple contexts will be possible.