An invitation to shine

BY RANDA ARMANAZI

Randa Armanazi has 42 years working experience in communications, advertising, marketing and public relations in London, Paris, Lebanon and the Middle East.

During her career, she developed permanent and temporary cultural, artistic, leisure and entertainment projects and activities to re-position the Beirut Central District nationally, regionally and internationally, as the regional cultural and artistic capital. She has also developed marketing strategies, promotions, communication, public relations, branding and advertising, for real estate development projects in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

In 2017, she founded the NGO Lebanese Cultural Festivals Association to promote Lebanese artists, musicians, designers and talents, in Lebanon, regionally and internationally, and in 2020 she founded the Beyond Your Limits Events company in Dubai to promote Lebanese talents in the fields of art, design, music and entertainment regionally and internationally.

One of my roles at Solidere was to create destinations for art, culture, heritage, children and family in the BCD. Since 1991, I helped develop permanent projects there, like the Beirut Central District Information Centre, the Children’s Science Museum, the Saifi Art District, the Beirut Exhibition Centre, the SV Gallery in Saifi Village, to name a few, as well as annual projects like the Dome City Centre Art Exhibitions, the Flea Market (Souk El Barghout), the International Music Festival (Fête de la Musique), and International Jazz Day, along with a number of music festivals and concerts, sports projects like Hoops and Beirut By Bike, and designer and art exhibitions. In addition to these, I made it my goal to discover and promote young artists and exhibit them in different locations and art destinations in downtown Beirut.

On a private visit to Rachana in March 2012, I passed by the Basbous family home to visit the recently developed Michel Basbous Museum and to meet Anachar Basbous, who introduced me to his recent artworks and sculptures. I immediately fell in love with these wonderful works of art.

The modern, geometric, metal shapes of Anachar’s works were placed alongside his late father Michel’s beautiful stone sculptures, side by side in the gardens of the Basbous family home. There was an abundance of gigantic sculptures. Each piece, however, was a statement in its own right and needed more space to be seen and appreciated for the message it wanted to relay. I turned to Anachar’s amazingly poetic mother, may she rest in peace, and told her that her son had his father’s amazing skills and his mother’s invaluable imagination, Anachar represented the new generation and the continuation of the Basbous family of sculptors. I then turned to Anachar and told him in these exact words: “Pack up your sculptures and follow me to the Beirut Central District, I have the best place for you to exhibit your works and to introduce your unique identity to the public, away from the cocoon and shadow of your father’s works.”

We set up a meeting the following week in downtown Beirut and I took Anachar straight to the newly developed, awardwinning Zeytouneh Square, next to Starco Building, where the landscape architects had chosen grey and white stone with beautiful ponds, waterways and greenery, providing a contrast to Anachar’s oxydised sculptures and where the streetscape’s colours would be reflected in his shiny metal pieces.

We set the date for Anachar’s first solo public outdoor exhibition to open on May 24, 2012, and scheduled it to last for two months to allow visitors, collectors, gallerists, media and art lovers to come and discover the artist. Zeytouneh Square was complemented by Anachar’s amazing works, and the exhibition was a great success, receiving tremendous feedback and media coverage. Thus, Anachar Basbous, the sculptor, was publicly born.

Part of my role was to acquire works for the public domain, and Solidere was very honoured to acquire two works from Anachar that, to this day, stand in the same location in Zeytouneh Square: one featuring round shapes that overlooks the pond and the other, featuring triangular shapes, on the upper side of a waterway. Both have been, since May 2012, a witness of times, both good and bad, but most of all have evoked eternal beauty.

Since that time, I am very pleased to have contributed to the making of Anachar Basbous, and to see the well-established international artist he has become. Anachar Basbous, you have my devoted and continuous support forever. You are truly an amazing sculptor.

This page – above – Floating Sculpture Resin, 2012

70 x 270 x 60 cm

Below – Solid Steel Diameter 2m, 2011

Opposite page – Copper 62 x 45 cm, 2012