The Silent Echo

For the first time, the UNESCO world heritage site of Baalbek will host a contemporary art exhibition in its museum and the Temple of Bacchus, with works by Ai Weiwei, Ziad Antar, Danica Dakic, Laurent Grasso, Susan Hiller, Theo Mercier, Marwan Rechmaoui, Paola Yacoub, and Cynthia Zaven.

Composed of a triad of temples (Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus), the site dates back to 27 BC and is located 90km from Beirut, Lebanon. Historically known as Heliopolis during the Hellenistic period, it is considered to be one of the most important Roman sites in the Middle East.

The exhibition sheds light on the importance of on-site museums and explores, in the context of Baalbek, how monuments and artifacts become symbols of an obsolete past, subject to destruction during war and victims of iconoclasm. The silent archaeological findings are echoes of a lost time, while contemporary artworks echo the archaeology displayed in the museum.

The Silent Echo is under the patronage of the Lebanese Ministries of Culture and Tourism, the UNESCO Beirut Office and the Mayor of Baalbek.

STUDIOCUR/ART is a Paris-based, non-profit curatorial platform specialized in contemporary art.