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Micro-Commissions

For our online Micro-Commissions series —as with much of our thinking— we have been seeking prompts of a small scale, as entry points into at times overwhelmingly complex and urgent issues. The themes are formulated as restrictive assignments that are open and evocative enough for respondents to unfold varying interpretations. As the country exited an extended period of solidarity and collective organizing and into its first lockdown, we launched All Hands on Deck examining our renewed relationship with our own hands. Following the explosion, when we were paralyzed by the sheer scale of government neglect and criminality, we launched I Draw the Line Here asking comic artists and illustrators to help us come to with daily drawings. Insecure consisted in asking 4 filmmakers to make a short film using only the center’s CCTV cameras. This was meant as a reflection on the profound instability in a security state run amok. In The Bridge Cuts Ever So Close to My Balcony we invited 4 sound artists to celebrate and respond to the collective sonic practices that emerged in Beirut’s often alienating urban planning, from the euphoria of rebellion to the isolation of the pandemic. Though Micro-Commissions have so far mainly taken place online, we continue to try and find ways to give physical lives to the submitted works, be it through integrating them into screening programs, exhibitions or solo presentations.