Institutional links:

Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts - Alba - Université de Balamand
http://alba.edu.lb

Sorbonne
Université, Centre André Chastel
http://www.centrechastel.sorbonne-universite.fr


Haut conseil de l'évaluation de la recherche et de l'enseignement supérieur- HCERES
http://www.hceres.fr
Gregory Buchakjian is an art historian and interdisciplinary visual artist. He lives and works in Beirut where he was born in 1971. PhD graduate at Sorbonne Université, he is director of the School of Visual Arts and Associate Professor at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA).
Gregory Buchakjian est historien d’art et artiste visuel transdisciplinaire. Il vit et travaille à Beyrouth où il est né en 1971. Titulaire d'un doctorat à Sorbonne Université, il est directeur de l'Ecole des Arts Visuels et professeur associé à l’Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (Alba).

Buchakjian’s practice is based on narrative, archive and archeology. Investigating on urban turmoil, dereliction and heritage engendered his PhD dissertation, the subsequent book, Abandoned Dwellings, A History of Beirut (Beirut, Kaph Books: 2018, Valerie Cachard, ed.) and the solo exhibitions Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems (Beirut, Sursock Museum, 2018 curated by Karina El Helou) and Abandoned Dwellings of Beirut (Brussels, Villa Empain, 2019).
La pratique de Buchakjian est basée sur les récits, l’archive, l’archéologie. À partir de 2009, il se consacre à une investigation des édifices délaissés qui se concrétise par une thèse de doctorat, l’ouvrage Habitats abandonnés, une histoire de Beyrouth (Beyrouth, Kaph Books, 2018, edité par Valérie Cachard) ainsi que les expositions  Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems (Beyrouth, Musée Sursock, 2018, commissaire: Karina El Helou) et Habitats abandonnés de Beyrouth (Bruxelles, Villa Empain, 2019).

In 2018, he was showcased in the first national pavilion of Lebanon at the Venice Architecture Biennale and he contributed to the Works on Paper accompanying Karina El Helou's Cycles of Collapsing Progress exhibition in Oscar Nimeyer's Tripoli International Fair. In 2019 he conceived the installation Where do filmmakers go? for the 2nd Alba Cinema encounters, "Filming in Times of War", which he co-organized. In 2021, he created with Valérie Cachard and Sary Moussa the video Agenda 1979 at the invitation of the Opera National du Rhin, and the installation Hercules and Omphale for the exhibition How will it end? (Villa Empain, Brussels, in partnership with Centre Pompidou), based on a painting that was damaged by the blast of the 4th of August 2020 he attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi. In 2022, he premiered at Fotofocus Biennial Cincinnati his long-term Record of an Ordinary Life and intervened with Temporary art Platform in the Roman Temple of Hosn Niha. En 2018, il fait partie des artistes sélectionnés pour le premier pavillon libanais à la Biennale d’architecture de Venise puis il contribue aux Works on Paper de l’exposition Cycles of Collapsing Progress de Karina El Helou à la Foire Internationale d’Oscar Niemeyer à Tripoli. En 2019, il conçoit l’installation Where do filmmakers go? pour les 2e ciné-rencontres de l’Alba « Filmer en temps de guerre », dont il est également co-organisateur. En 2021, il crée avec Valérie Cachard et Sary Moussa la vidéo Agenda 1979 à l’invitation de l’Opéra national du Rhin, puis l’installation Hercule et Omphale pour l’exposition How will it end? (Villa Empain, Bruxelles, en partenariat avec le Centre Pompidou) à partir d’une peinture ravagée par l’explosion du 4 août 2020 qu’il a attribué à Artemisia Gentileschi et qui a été. En 2022 il entreprend son Record of an Ordinary Life (Fotofocus Biennial Cincinnati) et intervient avec Temporary Art Platform dans le temple romain de Hosn Niha.

Member of the advisory committee of the Saradar Collection, he took part in many juries including Sursock Museum Salon d’Automne (2009), Boghossian Prize (2012), Beirut Art Center’s Exposure (2013), Beirut Art Residency (2017) and Arab Documentary Photography Program (2019). Membre du comité consultatif de la Saradar Collection, il a pris part à de nombreux jurys dont le Salon d’Automne du musée Sursock (2009), le Prix Boghossian (2012), Exposure (Beirut Art Center, 2013), Beirut Art Residency (2017) et Arab Documentary Photography Program (2019).

::timeline::
2024 (3) [publication] Artemisia Gentileschi | Collezione Rinascimento Sublime | Artemisia Eccentrica, Scripta Maneant, Bologna, IT
[view project]

2023 (12) [talk] Archives, Imprints, Memories - keynote speaker - Université Saint-Joseph USJ, Beirut, LB [view program]
2023 (10) [exhibition] Le Liban n'a pas d'âge, Bibliothèque Orientale, Beirut, LB
[news]

2023 (6) [talk] The politics of ruin, mudac, Lausanne, CH [view website]
2023 (5) [publication"Beyond Sisyphus, Moving Forward" for Beyond Ruptures, a Tentative Chronology, Curated by Karina El Helou, Sursock Museum, Beirut, LB [view text]
2023 (4) [exhibition] Beyrouth. Les temps du design / Beirut. The Eras of Design. Curated by Marco Costantini, mudac, Lausanne, CH [view website]
2023 (4) [consultancy] Evaluation of École supérieure d'art d'Aix-en-Provence Félix Ciccolini - ESA AIX, Haut conseil pour l’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur - HCERES, Paris, FR [view report]
2023 (4) [consultancy] Evaluation of École supérieure d'art et de design de Toulon Provence Méditerranée - ESAD TPM, Haut conseil pour l’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur - HCERES, Paris, FR [view report]
2023 (4) [exhibition] Bound Narratives. A Photobook Library. Curated by Roï Saade, Takeover.Beirut, LB [view website]
2023 (3) [talkContested (In)Visibilities And Memorial Cultures: Towards A Critical Reading Of Cultural Heritage And Conflict, Orient Institut, Beirut, LB [view website]
2022 (11) [publicationEsthétiques du désordre. Vers une autre pensée de l’utopie, Le cavalier bleu éditions, Paris, FR [view website]
2022 (11) [exhibition15 Years. Crossed Perspectives. Curated by Karina El Helou, Galerie Tanit, Beirut, LB [view project]
2022 (10) [exhibitionScratch the Surface, Touch the Sun. Curated by Nour Osseiran and Jad Karam, organized by Temporary Art Platform, Hosn Niha, LB [view project]
2022 (10) [exhibition] Bound Narratives. A Photobook Library. Curated by Roï Saade, Museo Novocento, Florence, IT [view website]
2022 (9) [exhibition] All Falls Down: Architectural Heritage Effaced. Fotofocus Biennial, World Record. Cincinnati, OH, US [view website]
2022 (7) [exhibition] Au bord du monde, vivent nos vertiges. Curated by Clémence Cottard-Hachem and Laure d'Hauteveille, Abbaye de Jumièges, FR [view website]
2022 (6) [exhibition] Stone Garden/Lina Ghotmeh Architecture, Designing Peace, Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, US [view website]
2022 (5) [residency] Institut Mémoires de l'édition contemporaine - Imec, Abbaye d'Ardenne, Saint-Germain-la-blanche-Herbe, FR [view website]
2022 (4) [publication] Beyrouth. Les temps du design / Beirut. The Eras of Design. Edited by Marco Costantini, mudac, Lausanne, and Kaph Books [view project]
2022 (4) [exhibition] Beyrouth. Les temps du design / Beirut. The Eras of Design. Curated by Marco Costantini, CID Grand Hornu, BE [view website]
2022 (2) [exhibition] The Place that Remains. Curated by Hala Younes, Beit Beirut, Beirut, LB [view project]
2022 (2) [talk] "Testimonies, artistic productions, archive and terrain", Actualité de la recherche sur le Liban en guerre(s) seminar, Ifpo - Institut français du Proche-Orient, Beirut, LB
2022 (2) [talk] "Tables of our past lives", with Camille Tarazi, Institut français, Beirut, LB
2021 (12) [exhibition] How will it end? Curated by Alicia Knock and Louma Salamé, Villa Empain Brussels, BE in collaboration with Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR [view website]
2021 (11) [publication] "A ordem de Adriano E outras narrativas da porta dos infernos", Revista Dobra, n. 8, "Fragilidade", Lisbon, PT [view website]
2021 (11) [talk] Guest Speaker at Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholars Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US
2021 (10) [film] Incertains États, Focus Cinéma et Art Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Cinemed - Festival International du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Montpellier, FR [view website]
2021 (9) [exhibition] A Yellow Sun. A Black Sun, curated by Karina El Helou, Martch Art Project, istanbul, TK [view website]
2021 (5) [exhibition] Stone Garden: Resilient Living, An Archaeology of the Future. Lina Ghotmeh Architecture. 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, IT [view website]
2021 (5) [publication] ReFocus: The Films of Jocelyne Saab. Films, Artworks and Cultural Events for the Arab World. Edited by Mathilde Rouxel, Stefanie Van de Peer.Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, UK [view website]
2021 (4) [exhibition] LEAF Limited Edition Art Fair, Brussels, BE [view website]
2021 (4) [talk] Italian Baroque Paintings in Beirut, Medici Archive Project, Florence, IT and New York, US [view recording]
2021 (4) [exhibition] Before the Cypress Broke, Void Gallery in partnership with Beirut Art Residency, Derry, Northern Ireland [view website]
2021 (3) [film] Festival Arsmondo Liban, Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg, FR [view website]

2020 (10) [talk] "Se reconstruire", with Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige and Zeina Arida, moderated by Anne Picq and Aude Adrien. Arts4society, New York, US, Milan, IT and Paris, FR [view video]
2020 (09) [exhibition] From Beirut Art + Design scene, curated by Joanna Chevalier. Piasa, Paris, FR [view website]
2020 (09) [talk] "Beirut, we care", with Carlo Massoud, Nada Debs and Hiba Kalache, moderated by Joanna Chevalier. The Art Circle, Abu Dhabi, AE
2020 (02) [exhibition] LEAF Limited Edition Art Fair, Brussels, BE [view website]
2019 (11) [exhibition] Abandoned Dwellings of Beirut, Villa Empain, Brussels, BE [view website]
2019 (11) [exhibition] Beyond. Modern and Contemporary Art and Design, curated by Elena Geuna and Zeina Raphael, Phillips, London, UK [view catalogue entry]
2019 (10) [exhibition] Beirut Lab: 1975(2020), curated by Juli Carson and Yassmeen Tukan. UC Irvine’s Universities Art Galleries (UAG), Irvine, CA, US [view website]
2019 (07) [talk] "Tales and misadventures of real and imaginary, legal and informal, famous and infamous, monuments", Gregory Buchakjian and Said Baalbaki. Workshop Socially Engaged Art. Design akademie berlin SRH Hochschule für Kommunikation und Design, Berlin, DE

2019 (06) [consultancy] Juror in the Arab Documentary Photography Program (ADPP); The Magnum Foundation, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Afac) and The Prince Claus Fund [view website]

2019 (04) [talk] "Collecting, Documenting, and Sharing Lebanese Art", BeMACC symposium, Rice University Humanities Research Center, Houston, TX, US
2019 (04) [exhibition] Where do Filmmakers Go? Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Beirut, LB [view project]
2019 (04) [consultancy + talk] 2nd Alba Ciné-rencontres: Filming in times of War 1975-1990.  Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Beirut, LB [view website]
2019 (03) [publication] Seta Manoukian. Painting in Levitation. Published by Kaph Books and Saradar Collection [view project]
2018 (11) [exhibition] Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems. Curated by Karina el-Helou, Sursock Museum Beirut, LB [view website]
2018 (11) [publication] Abandoned Dwellings, A History of Beirut. Edited by Valérie Cachard, published by Kaph Books [view project]
2018 (10) [talk] "Territoires Irreprésentables", with Catherine Cataruzza, Gilbert Hage Houda Kassatly and Hala Younes. Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Beirut, LB
[view website]

2018 (09) [publication] Cycles of Collapsing Progress, Tripoli, LB [view project]
2018 (09) [exhibition] Across Boundaries. Focus on Lebanese Photography, Beirut Art Fair, LB [view catalogue entry]
2018 (09) Acting Director of the School of Visual Arts at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA)
2018 (05) [exhibition] The Place that Remains, Pavilion of Lebanon, La Biennale di Venezia, 16. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura, Arsenale, Venice, IT  [view project]
2018 (05) [talk] "Architecture, an entire practice", with Rudy Ricciotti and Bernard Khoury, Résidence des Pins, Beirut, LB
2017 (11) [publication] Fouad Elkoury. Passing Time. Kaph Books, Beirut, LB [view project]
2017 (11) [publication] Abdel-Hamid Baalbaki, Saleh Barakat Gallery and Alarm editions, Beirut, LB [view project]
2017 (10) [publication] The lives and deaths of inhabitants in abandoned houses, 2017
[view project]

2017 (10) [talk] "2007: The Pavilion of Lebanon", Venice Biennale and the Arab World conference, Ca' Foscari, Venice, IT [view website]
2017 (05) [publication] "Les petits lits blancs" in Revue Le courage nº3: Age d'or / Age de fer. Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, FR [view project]
2017 (03) [talk] ARP Talk: Memories of Stones, conversation with Said Baalbaki. in partnership with ARP–ALBA-University of Balamand, Sursock Museum, Beirut, LB [view website]
2016 (11) [talk] "Refugee Crisis in the Levant", panel in Design, Culture and Societies, ARD 11, Ateliers de la Recherche en Design, at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Beirut, LB

2016 (06) [PhD defence] "Abandoned Dwellings in Beirut. Wars and Transformation of the Urban Space. 1860-2015", Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, FR [view website]
2016 (06) [publication] Confined Space by  Laura J. Padgett, text by Gregory Buchakjian. Published by Galerie Rautenstrauch and Anke Ehle-Barthel, Frankfurt, DE [view project]
2016 (05) [talk] Discussion with Ali Cherri following the projection of his films The Disquiet and The Digger, Sursock Museum, Beirut, LB [view website]
2016 (04) [talk] Discussion moderator with Antoine  Moreau,  Michel  Lasserre and Paola  Yacoub, International Conference: L’action d’art (The Action of Art), Sursock Museum, Beirut, LB [view brochure]
2016 (01) [talk] "Excavating ghosts from one's artwork", in Art and Ideology, Seminar at the Centre André Chastel / Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, FR [view brochure]
2015 (11) [publication] Wadi Abou Jmil. Artist Book by Saïd Baalbaki, text by Gregory Buchakjian, Berlin, DE [view project]
2015 (10) [publication] Beirut by Night. A Century of Nightlife Photography, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, BRILL, Leiden, NL [view project]
2015 (10) [publication] Last nights at the Holiday Inn in Litterature, art and contemporary world: narratives, history, memory, Colloquium papers, edited by Nayla Tamraz, Presses de l'Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut, LB [view project]
2015 (10) [talk] "Lebanon at war[s] in Contemporary Artistic Practices" with Marwan Rechmaoui, Mounira Solh, Fares Chalabi, Hachem Adnan, Lamia Abi Azar and Ghassan Maasri. Colloquium organized by Ifpo, Mansion, Beirut, LB [view website]
2014 (12) [seminar] Unintentional Monuments of the Lebanese War, Inalco - Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, FR
2014 (11) [publication] Michelangelo Pistoletto in Beirut, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, LB [view project]
2014 (09) [publication] Michel Basbous, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, LB [view project]
2014 (08) [talk] "Modernity out of the Center", Temporary Art Platform, Miziara, LB

2014 (06) [talk] "Art Practices Beyond the Contextual Narrative in the Middle East: Forms, Poetic Images and Other Aesthetics" with Umer Butt, Pascal Hachem, Basim Magdy and Amanda Abi Khalil (moderator), Art Basel, Basel, CH [view program on Artnet]

2014 (05) [talk] "Last nights at the Holiday Inn", in  Literature, art and the contemporary world: narratives, history, memory colloquium, Université Saint-Joseph (USJ), Beirut, LB
[view brochure]

2014 (04) [talk] "Aref Rayess and the 1960s-1970s Beirut Art Scene", round table with Catherine David, Amal Traboulsi and Joseph Tarrab, Artistic Research Practices (ARP) at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), Beirut, LB

2014 (03) [consultancy] Michel Basbous: A Modernist Project for Lebanon, collaboration with Agial Art Gallery, Art Dubai Modern 2014, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, AE
2014 (03) [consultancy] Huguette Caland: Bringing Life into Shapes, collaboration with Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Art Dubai Modern 2014, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, AE

2014 (01) [talk] "The Artist in the Arab World: Between Political Crisis and Petrodollars", in The artist's identity in European and International History, Seminar at the Centre André Chastel / Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, FR [view website]

2013 (12) [installation] Abandoned Dwellings from Beirut to Namibia, produced by Valerie Cachard, Kolmanskop, NA [view project]
2013 (11) [consultancy] Member of the jury of Exposure 2013 exhibition dedicated to emerging artists in and from Lebanon, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, LB  
2013 (09)
[consultancy] Pascal Hachem, You Always Want What the Other Has (Edition 2013), Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome, IT [view website]

2013 (04) [exhibition] Leningrad, Pellicula exhibition, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut, LB [view project]
2013 (04) [talk] "Ethics and photography", Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut, LB

2013 (03) [publication] Hanibal Srouji. Painting fire, water, earth and air [view project]
2012 (10) [publication] Art from Lebanon, Modern and Contemporary Artists, volume 1: 1880-1975, launching, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, LB [view project]
2012 (05) [consultancy] Member of the jury of the Boghossian Foundation Prize for Lebanese Artists 2012, Villa Empain, Brussels, BE [view website]

2012 (05) [publication] War and Other (Impossible) Possibilities, launching, Papercup Store, Beirut, LB [view project]
2012 (04) [consultancy] Member of the Advisory board of the Saradar Collection, Beirut, LB 
2012 (03) [publication] Art is the Answer, Villa Empain, Brussels, BE [view project]

2012 (01) [exhibition] Platform, Pictures of the Year, National Museum of Singapore, SG 
2011 (09)
[exhibition] Metropolis, City Life in the Urban Age, Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groniningen, NL [view website
2011 (03) [talk] Lebanese Contemporary Art and its Market, roundtable, Beirut Art Fair, Biel, Beirut, LB
2011 (05) [consultancy] Museum of Vine and Wine official launching press conference, Bristol Hotel, Beirut, LB

2011 (03)
[exhibition] Q Calling the Shots, vol. II, Narrative Photography, Q Contemporary, Beirut, LB
2010 (12) [exhibition] Sursock Museum Salon d'Automne, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, LB
2010 (11) [exhibition] Q Calling the Shots, vol. I, Architectural Photography, Q Contemporary, Beirut, LB [view project]
2010 (06) [publication + exhibition] De Lumière et de Sang, Fondation Audi, Beirut, LB, catalogue Alarm Editions [view project]
2010 (04) [publication] Esteban Lisa, Fundación Esteban Lisa, Buenos Aires, AR and Fundación Antonio Pérez, Disputación de Cuenca, ES [view project]
2010 (02) [publication] Convergence. New Art from Lebanon, Katzen Arts Center, Washington D.C., US [view project]
2009 (07) [exhibition] Under(the)line, Araman Factory, Bourj Hammoud, LB [view project]
2008 (08) [publication] Pieces Choisies, collection Bank Audi, Beirut, LB

2008 (06) [performance] Le franc tireur, l'architecte, le consul et l'arménien, IESAV, Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut, LB [view project]
2008 (05) [exhibition] Nighthawks, Comme des Garçons Guerilla Store, Beirut, LB [view project]
2008 (01) [publication + installation] Pending Piece, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, Beirut, LB [view project]
2006 (09) [film] What, Shoes, Festival de Genève La Bâtie, Geneva, CH; Beirut D.C., Beirut, LB; Nafas Beirut, Espace SD, Beirut LB; Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai, UAE; Sydney Arab Film Festival, Sydney, AU; Shorts and Shwarma, Institut Français, London, UK 
2006 (05) [publication] Halte, ed. Labor et Fides, Geneva, CH 
2003 (08) [installation] Points d'eau, Salima, LB, with Atelier de Recherche ALBA in partnership with Patrimoine Sans Frontières and Institut Français d'Architecture 
2002 (11) [publication] Pas de Place, with Atelier de Recherche ALBA, Beirut, LB 
2001 (09) [installation] Dialogue des Cultures dans un jardin de sourds, Centre Culturel Français, Beirut, LB, with Atelier de Recherche ALBA [view project]
2001 (07) [publication + installation] Lieux: 1 Acte / 2 Pièces, Fraykeh Silk Factory, LB, with Atelier de Recherche ALBA and Fraykeh Festival 2001 [view project]
2001 (02) [installation] 1 Acte / 2 Pièces, Théâtre de Beyrouth, Beirut, LB, with Atelier de Recherche ALBA and Shams 
2000 (05) [installation] Machines Célibataires, Beirut Hall, Beirut, LB,  with Atelier de Recherche ALBA [view project]
1999 (07) [installation] Bien Fonds 1237: l'architecte, le vernaculaire et le franc tireur, La Fabrika, Beirut, LB,  with Atelier de Recherche ALBA 
1998 (07) [film] Mois de la photographie au Liban, various locations, LB, with Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA [view project]
1997 (10) [performance] Hommage au Grand Théâtre de Beyrouth, Grand Theatre, Beirut, LB, with Atelier de Recherche ALBA and Companie Théâtre Ecarlate
1997 (05) [installation] L'ALBA Marque l'Espace du CCF, Centre Culturel Français, Beirut, LB,with Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA [view project]
1997 (04) [publication] Les maîtres du temps, for L'Agenda Culturel [view project]
1996 (04) [publication] Baron & Baron, www.baronbaron.com [view project
1995 (11) [publication] Le musée à l'école: Cezanne, for L'Agenda Culturel [view project]
1995 (10)
Starts teaching at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, ALBA, Beirut, LB

1995 (09) Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies (D.E.A.) in Art History, Université Paris IV, Sorbonne, Paris, FR

1993 (06) Maitrise in Art History, Université Paris IV, Sorbonne, Paris, FR

1987 (08) [performance] This is a slide of my House, Legacy International Youth Program, Bedford, VA, US [view project]
1971 (07) Birth in Beirut, LB