Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad.
Every day is made by the day before it, and the one before that, and every other day before that. It's easier to ignore how much we are really ruled by our pasts, because it's frustrating to be forced to carry things we've gotten over. But it's freeing to learn how to carry its hand like a friend.
This week's events jog our memories and bring back practices we had thought were long-gone from today's culture. Namely: glass-blowing, the art of Persian carpets and going to mass.
Every Thursday, L’Orient Today, in partnership with The MYM Agenda, guides you through events across the Middle East that are actually worth your time.
What to do this weekend in Beirut:
Unironically, Pope Leo's visit to Lebanon and his mass on Tuesday might be the most highly anticipated (and attended) event this year. Over 120,000 people have already registered to attend.
Beirut Waterfront is going to be packed with an overwhelming energy of people from the entire country, united by their 4 a.m. alarms, who have all joined by Beirut's beach to see one of the most famous people in the world. Also, Catholic outfits are ridiculously, beautifully crafted.
I never expected this space to become one where I would urge people to go to mass, but Tuesday's mass is quickly turning into something I wouldn't want to miss, mainly because I'm curious to see how communion is going to work.
Read our article on everything you need to know about Tuesday's mass.
In my mind, Mikhael Fadel works hunched over, using the tiniest brushes to make his paintings. He's showing his latest exhibit, "Mounamnamat," at Kaf Gallery in Achrafieh.
His art is built by ritual, repetition and the slow accumulation of gesture. His work draws from the ancestral blueprints of Persian carpets, Damascene crafts, and Byzantine sacred geometry.
It looks beautiful and precise, yet leaves you feeling disturbed and confused. To me, these are never contradictory. If anything, it's a normal human response to question perfection, and to know that it always comes from inner turmoil, not peace.
For more information, click here.
What to do this weekend in Dubai:
Paper, glass and military headgear: material that is both resilient and inherently delicate. Multimedia artist Ali Kaaf explores their histories and limits in his latest exhibition, "Fire's Edge," showing at Ayyam Gallery in al-Quoz.
As hard as we try (and we do try so hard), we just don't live in a world we can control. Relishing in this frustration and finding inspiration in pre-industrial societies, Kaaf uses primal elements to explore the tension between our need for control and the natural force of material.
Still, the exhibit comes off as open and raw, mainly because it puts its finger on all the sore points in your body.
For more information, click here.
What to do this weekend in Amman:
Painter Fouad Mimi's latest exhibition at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts turned the space into a garden of growth. Portraits of people and landscapes of greenery play against each other beautifully, showing how we grow with the world around us.
For more information, click here.
What to do this weekend in Riyadh:
Riyadh is transforming from a city to an art gallery, turning its streets and alleyways into experiences. Riyadh Art is one of the largest public art programs in the world today, and this month it's setting up over 1,000 original public art installations across the city created by local and international artists.
For more information, click here.
Didn't find what you were looking for? Stay up to date with all these events and more everywhere in the Arab world through the MYM Agenda, available on our website here.
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