Doha, Qatar: Al Markhiya Gallery is opening an art exhibition titled “When Beirut Was a Cinema” by painter Yervant Hawarian on Tuesday.
The inauguration will be in collaboration with the Daloul Art Forum, and the exhibition will run for three weeks at Fire Station: Artists in Residence.
The exhibition showcases 15 paintings that revisit a chapter of Beirut’s cultural memory, reimagining a number of cinemas and theaters that once served as prominent landmarks in the city’s public life, including Cinema Royal, Piccadilly, Rialto, Byblos, Cristal, Hollywood, the Grand Theatre, and the National Theater.
The exhibition revisits a time when cinema in Beirut went beyond the theatres, beginning in the streets, with illuminated marquees and monumental hand-painted film posters, buses, taxis, cafes, and crowds gathering before screenings, making cinema part of the city’s architecture, rhythm, and public life.
