At the still point of the turning world, there is the dance



Chafic Abboud
Yvette Achkar
Etel Adnan
Huguette Caland
Saloua Raouda Choucair
Simone Fattal
Farid Haddad
Helen Khal
Aref Rayess
Dorothy Salhab Kazemi


Curated by Rachel Dedman and Carla Chammas

17 October 2019 - 1 March 2020



The exhibition was commissioned for Ashkal Alwan's Home Works 8: A Forum on Cultural Practices.

It was exhibited at Sursock Museum, Beirut.

The exhibition was named among the best 15 in the world in 2019, by Hyperallergic.

Artist and writer Helen Khal (1923-2009) was at the centre of her generation of artists in Lebanon in the 1960s and 1970s. A prolific painter, co-founder of Gallery One, art critic for The Daily Star, and author of a book on the female artist in Lebanon, Khal left a quiet mark on the art landscape in Beirut. Underwritten in history, Khal’s life and practice are the catalysts for exploring the work of those artists to whom she was close, in life and in art: Chafic Abboud, Yvette Achkar, Etel Adnan, Huguette Caland, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Simone Fattal, Farid Haddad, Aref Rayess, and Dorothy Salhab-Kazemi.

The exhibition addresses themes of love, sexuality and motherhood; the relationship between the visual art and literary landscapes of the time; and the galleries and studios in which public collaborations and private kinships were forged. Taking an intimate approach to a fabled period, At the still point of the turning world, there is the dance unfolds a rich picture of the friendships, connections, modes of exchange, common concerns, and differing approaches of some of the best-known and least-remembered artists of the mid-twentieth century in Lebanon.

Listen to our interview with Hyperallergic about the exhibition here: https://hyperallergic.com/526397/helen-khal-sursock-museum/










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