Illustrations by Jaimee Lee Haddad
I’ve spent the last week back in the luxury of my parents’ house, where the fridge is always full and my mother completes a full day’s work before I’ve opened my eyes — both humbling and slightly unsettling.
It’s been a grounding few days filled with old routines, home cooking and the comforting hum of my dad’s radio in the next room. Fitting, then, that this week’s Breakfast in Bed selections center around the art of preserving memory… and recipes.
Art in the open
I’ve always thought that Beirut taxis’ surprising backseat conversations deserve their own anthology, and Ahmad Ghossein seems to agree. His new work is just one of many public art pieces popping up across the city this weekend as part of TAP’s anniversary event.
Displaying Syria’s history
Over in Damascus, Clara Hage and Gabriel Blondel reported from the opening of a new exhibition at the National Museum honouring Syrian detainees and disappeared — a huge moment of public reckoning.
Photos of bygone Lebanon
I often stumble across old images from Lebanon on social media, and love playing the “guess where and when this photo was taken” game (before giving in and reading the captions). But now, USJ’s Jesuit archives are opening up at the Arab World Institute in Paris, offering a rare chance to see the real thing up close and personal.
The art of the kitchen
Also in Paris, Sama Beydoun is serving up an installation that takes you right inside a Lebanese kitchen, tickling all the senses; visual, audio and even emulating the heavenly scent of fresh zaatar.
Lou Reed at Grand Factory
Sadly, I wasn’t cool enough to know about this event in advance, but at least I can pretend I was there after reading Clara Busin’s dispatch from Fred Nevché’s electric set at Grand Factory — a heady mix of ‘electronic poetry’ and field recordings from Karantina, spun into what he calls the “Unreal Story of Lou Reed.”
Repping Lebanon at the Venice Biennale
Last but not least, Lebanon is heading back to Venice! In 2026, for another year running, Lebanon (and its glorious cedars) will be proudly represented at the Biennale thanks to artist Nabil Nahas.
