In the Blink of an Eye

TAP is commissioning ten artists to create context-responsive, socially engaged works that occupy the space of the billboard. Lebanon is currently facing a failure on a monolithic scale. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen the demise of the image, iconography, and representation in full juxtaposition of the failing political state. While the billboard format requires the contemporary artist to attempt to address a wide general audience and engage unsuspecting passersby with great visual clarity, the works would be a conceptual reflection and subversive commentary on the failure of the classic billboard image: the advertisement.

“If an artist infiltrates the banal billboard format with another kind of communication – the ‘wrong’ message appearing in a familiar context – then a glitch in the viewer’s assumptions might make her see this communication differently. This is how billboard art can cut through much of the white noise of our day”. (Laura Steward Heon, Billboard: art on the road).

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Billboard no.1: Charles Helou highway, next to Pastel restaurant 

Artist: Dalia Baassiri

Date: May 24

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Billboard no.2: Intersection of Jeanne d’Arc Street and Souraty Street, Hamra, Beirut 

Artist: Dia Mrad

Date: June 7

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Next billboards dates to be revealed soon!