#171 Takeover Beirut

Leen ElMobaddr, leva Saudargaite Douaihi & Josh Hall

3 May-1 Jun 2025 Thur-Sun 12-6pm or by appointment

Takeover is an artist-led project space in Beirut, Lebanon for dynamic and experimental programming with and for local artists. Our mission is to share the space with local and emerging artists; to nurture experimentation, collaborations and to encourage knowledge transmission through artist-given workshops.

Located in the heart of Ashrafieh, on Abdul Wahab el-Inglizi street, the space aims to activate the surrounding area and engage with the street and community through its programming.

Each "takeover" activates the space differently, transforming it from an artist studio into a gallery, from an installation into a workshop, from a screening room to an informal venue. Opened in the final days of 2022, Takeover is run by Ieva Saudargaitė Douaihi.

This project overlays the context of two parallel narratives:

Context A: Takeover’s events, exhibitions, and workshops, reinterpreted artistically.

Context B: Regional or national events occurring simultaneously.

The objective is to highlight the duality of creativity and socio-political reality within the same timeframe, emphasising the resilience and importance of art and multi-purposeful artist-run spaces like Takeover in the face of regional adversity.

Image by Gillies Adamson Semple