Gatherings
Commissioned by the Canadian Centre of Architecture for Joyce Joumaa’s exhibition L’inertie du vide.Tripoli, Lebanon, 2022
Gatherings is a photographic series that examines the socio-spatial dynamics surrounding the Oscar Niemeyer Fairground in Tripoli, Lebanon. Designed as a utopian vision of modernist architecture, the site stands as a powerful symbol of unrealized potential, its intended purpose as a communal space overshadowed by years of neglect and restricted access.
Over two weeks of immersive observation and documentation around the city of Tripoli in Lebanon, this project interrogates the ways in which the spaces adjacent to the fairground—primarily its parking lots and peripheral areas—have been informally appropriated by the public. These marginal spaces have transformed into vibrant arenas of social interaction: couples seeking moments of intimacy, friends gathering casually, driving lessons unfolding in improvised circuits, and families reclaiming Sunday afternoons with barbecues and collective leisure.
This paradoxical dynamic—the animated life on the periphery contrasted with the fairground’s inaccessibility—raises questions about the fluidity of public space and its contested boundaries. While the architectural masterpiece remains enclosed for most of the locals, its external environment becomes an unplanned, organic extension of communal life. In this tension between design and appropriation, Gatherings reflects on the agency of communities to reshape their environments, highlighting how the void left by inaccessible architectural grandeur can be filled with everyday acts of occupation and belonging.
The series positions the fairground as both a monument to idealism and a site of exclusion, inviting viewers to consider the relationship between architecture, social practice, and the evolving definitions of public space in urban contexts shaped by political and economic instability.
