Mawred and Beirut Art Center are pleased to announce the opening of Made With Your Magic – Beirut, curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh, on Thursday, 30 July, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Beirut Art Center.
Made With Your Magic – Beirut is part of an ongoing artistic project unfolding across several Arab cities. Its inaugural chapter launched in Tunis in the fall of 2025 with an exhibition initiated by Dream City, a festival organized by L’Art Rue. A new chapter now lands in Beirut through an exhibition and a public program developed specifically for the city, before continuing in the coming months with new chapters in Damascus (in collaboration with Ettijahat – Independent Culture), Jeddah (in collaboration with Art Jameel), and Baghdad.
The exhibition borrows its title from a mnemonic phrase traditionally used to memorize the eight principal Arabic maqāms. Each letter corresponds to the first letter of one of these foundational musical modes: Saba, Nahawand, ‘Ajam, Bayati, Sika, Hijaz, Rast, and Kurd. More than musical scales, the maqâms are aesthetic structures that have shaped musical traditions across the Arab region and neighboring geographies, extending as far as Central Asia, for centuries.
The project draws inspiration from the signs and connotations conveyed by the histories of the maqâms beyond their sonic forms, in an approach that considers the contemporary moment in the region from which they emerged. In light of the geopolitical upheavals it has been witnessing, it is unavoidable to revisit questions of identity and territory, and to look at these shifts from within the sphere of art. The exhibition ponders questions related to the history of the maqâms as they reverberate into issues of minorities and identities, art and authority, and connections to land and other beings.
The Beirut exhibition brings together 22 artists, presenting works commissioned specifically for the project across its various chapters. The Beirut edition features seven works originally produced for last year’s Tunis exhibition, alongside seven new commissions produced for its Beirut and Damascus chapters with the support of Mawred. Together with earlier commissions developed throughout the project, these works form an expanding constellation of artistic practices that continues to evolve with each new chapter.
