Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige's Lebanese Rocket Society at Galerie In Situ

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige present The Lebanese Rocket Society at Galerie In Situ Fabienne Leclerc in Paris from February 21 to April 18, 2013. The long-term project originated from a chance discovery of a 1964 stamp featuring a rocket. In 2001, the artists learned of a space exploration attempt led and abandoned in the 1960s by scientists at Haigazian University (Armenian University of Beirut). In 2009, they found a photo album documenting this forgotten history, offered to the Lebanese president. They had a monumental sculpture of the rocket built, shown at the 2011 Sharjah Biennial and later donated to Haigazian University. The exhibition includes photographs of the city reflected on the rocket, folded and encased in plexiglass boxes; a large tapestry woven in Armenia depicting the stamp; documents on the early 20th-century Armenian community of Beirut (ancestors of the scientists); and a gold disc with music and voices from 1960s Beirut, rotating in a video. A film of the same title has just been released, tracing this poetic journey through time and space.