My friends who work at ad agencies know how much of a headache I am, and how unimpressed I am with most campaigns. I’ve managed to keep this blog free of press releases for the past 9 years, and only share and comment when I really like something, or really don’t.
The Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Lebanon campaign is one I am particularly fond of. It so happens that I was an intern at Leo Burnett Beirut when it was being made, so that made me appreciate it even more. I’m sure most of you in my age bracket and above remember that black and white ad with Bernard Khoury narrating, and images of his most infamous creations serving as a backdrop for his story, that quite frankly is perfect for a “keep walking” example.
I can’t believe that that ad was 10 years ago, an entire decade. This year, and over the past ten months, Johnnie Walker decided to give today’s university students and rising artists a chance to demonstrate their progressive ideas, and help them develop them in the run-up to the expo.
The Process
Architecture, interior design and fashion design were the disciplines targeted for the project. The idea was simple: what’s your interpretation of Keep Walking Lebanon?
Mentors were tapped to help develop each idea over the course of 4 months. Bernard Khoury, Azzi & Osta, Nada Debs, Wissam Smayra and Bechara Mouzannar helped the 14 teams selected from the initial 200 submissions.
The Expo
What started out as 200 submissions by university students from across Lebanon, ended up being 14 finalist projects that will be exhibited on February 7, 8, 9 at KED in Karantina.
The public will help choose the top 3 by voting when they visit the exhibit, and the 3 finalists will get a cash prize, apart from exhibiting their diverse projects. They also get internships with the pioneer mentors in each of their fields.
With the always-deteriorating bad news we’re bombarded with, the severe hopelessness most of us feel, the tough living conditions we endure and the desperate wish of many of us to leave, it’s easy to lose some of our love for Lebanon.
However, despite the garbage, the poor urban planning, the dumping of toxic waste in our sea, rivers, mountains and valleys, Lebanon remains gorgeous with its many hidden gems and constant contradictions.
Rami Rizk is an aerial photographer, and his feed on Instagram is full of breathtaking photos from across the country. I selected a few of his photos to share with you here, you can see the rest of the 450+ here.
Of course, my favorite one was a bit biased, but it was taken in my beloved hometown of Ehden, with an almost daily event where the clouds rise up and settle at the foot of the town. Rami was lucky enough to find a clearing that looked like a heart ❤ (it’s the photo at the top of this post)
Anyone who relies on Google Maps in Lebanon, knows that it’s far from perfect. Roads that don’t exist, an inability to tell one-way streets from two-lane ones and the absence of newly established roads on the app that has become an integral part of all our lives. Don’t use it much? Well, if you ever order a cab with ride-hailing apps, you’ll know that your driver will get lost at least half of the time when they rely completely on the Google maps navigation.
However, the Google Maps “Street View” option is now available for a couple dozen important landmarks in Lebanon. Those include the Baalbak, Jeita, Tyre and Sidon, Beaufort Castle, the Chouf Cedar Reserve, the National Museum as well as AUB, LAU and LIU campuses, among other locations across the country.
The difference between that and panoramic photos or 360 panoramas, is that you can “walk” along the paths and streets by tapping further along the road. This lets you actually walk around the locations and monuments, not just see them from one vantage point. In many cities around the world, you can see almost every street, which if you’re trying to make sure a restaurant’s address is correct on maps, really helps, cause you can street view it and make sure it’s still there.
So, the next time you wanna try and convince someone that we’re not just deserts and camels here, maybe send them a link of one of your favorite spots now available on Google Street View.
The massive BBXWeekender is happening this week! It’s a collaboration between the Goethe Institute in Lebanon and The Grand Factory. This year, the aim it to further expand the BBX Platform that was launched last year, further exploring the landscape of modern Berlin from a cultural perspective, and how it compares to Beirut’s.
Sven Marquardt is bringing his legendary photo exhibition to Beirut. For those of who you don’t already know the iconic Sven, he was a passionate photographer long before he became known as the intimidating face of Berghain/Panorama Bar.
Sven Marquardt’s black-and-white portraits document former East Berlin’s Prenzlauerberg scene of the late 1980s and the evolution of the city’s vibrant Techno culture after the fall of the Berlin wall till this day.
For the first time, Sven’s large-scale photo exhibition “Rudel” will be shown along with an audiovisual installation called “Black Box”.
“Rudel” is an exhibition that consists of large-scale portraits, which combine formal severity and clear imagery with bleak impermanence. They impress through interaction of ease, severity and the dramatic art of monochrome contrasting. The ever-changing metropolis of Berlin has shaped Marquardt’s sensibility for striking characters, his sense for the unusual in humanity and his artistic subject.
“Black Box” is an audiovisual installation, which combines Sven Marquardt’s black-and-white portraits with the rough, dark and intense Techno sounds of Marcel Dettmann, a German producer and resident of the iconic Berghain. The two artists met for the first time at the legendary Ostgut Club in the late 90s but it was only in 2014 that they decided to combine their artistic talents and create Black Box.
The exhibition will run:
Thursday 7:00–10:30 PM, and the artist will be present!
Friday 4:30–10:30 PM. At 7PM sharp, Sven will have a 1-hour long talk about his work
After a jampacked 2 months, the final comes down to Pomme Rouge and Ziad Moukarzel. The winner will get to fly to Berlin and work on and record an EP with Berlin’s legendary Tobi Neumann during an entire month. The night will wrap up with a set by David Jach.
Later at night, the none other than DJ Tennis will be the main room of Grand Factory, and Berghain resident ETAPP Kyle will be in Reunion, wrapping off the Techno Culture weekend extraordinaire in style.
Moophz (Maroun) is a dear friend of mine, and when I’m busy at a club or festival in Beirut or Amsterdam, Moophz is busy zipping across continents to remote regions with the loads of equipment trying to capture our cosmos in a way our eyes never could.
Today, his epic “Breaking Time / Bending Space” image was selected as NASA’s APOD (astronomy picture of the day). You can check it out here.
This is the explanation a NASA astronomer gave below the image:
Is it possible to capture the entire plane of our galaxy in a single image? Yes, but not in one exposure — and it took some planning to do it in two. The top part of the featured image is the night sky above Lebanon, north of the equator, taken in 2017 June. The image was taken at a time when the central band of the Milky Way Galaxy passed directly overhead. The bottom half was similarly captured six months later in latitude-opposite Chile, south of Earth’s equator. Each image therefore captured the night sky in exactly the opposite direction of the other, when fully half the Galactic plane was visible. The southern half was then inverted — car and all — and digitally appended to the top half to show the entire central band of our Galaxy, as a circle, in a single image. Many stars and nebulas are visible, with the Large Magellanic Cloud being particularly notable inside the lower half of the complete galactic circle.
Making us proud Moophz! Thank you for putting in all this work, above and below the equator, over a period of 6 months to create this masterpiece.
Check out loads more amazing photos of the night sky on his website.
I’ve been falling in love with my mirrorless camera, and whenever I go to hinterlands of Lebanon, I try to capture as much of it as I can. I’ve also grown fond of mirroring effects for these captures, and I try to capture with my superzoom lens photos that I can later mirror. Here are five examples that I posted on my Instagram:
Maher Iskandar is a good friend, and he’s taken up a new hobby of aerial photography. I tried to fly a drone for the first time this month, and I must say, it was quite the exhilarating experience, and I keep checking AliExpress every couple of days toying with the idea of buying my own! Till then, if ever, enjoy these awesome drone shots from Maher.
Batroun Coast
Who among us hasn’t walked on the massive ancient Phoenician Wall on the old part of Batroun? It’s also the area where most of us like to get our toes wet in the Mediterranean!
Mar Mikhael
Everyone’s favorite happy hour street for the past few years, as seen from above!
Jbeil (Byblos)
I love this shot of Jbeil, where you can see one of my favorite churches in the world, St. John with it’s gorgeous courtyard full of ancient mosaics, as well as the ancient “mina” port and the blue stuff are the seats for Byblos Festival!
Downtown Beirut (Place De L’Etoile)
Most of out childhoods involved a lot of time spent with family and friends here. Sadly, for the past few years, it’s been the scene of several crimes by Lebanon’s government against unarmed, peaceful protesters with righteous demands. It’s sad this place is a ghost town now, but what else would you expect with politicians like this? You do get a glimpse of Capitole on the bottom left though!
Jaziret El Araneb (Rabit Island, Off the Coast of Tripoli)
As far as hidden gems ago, this is one of my favorites. It’s a small archipelago right off Tripoli, a few minutes boat ride away. It’s sandy beaches are usually nice, clean and quiet, but try to stay away from them during the weekends if arguileh and Lebanese folk music isn’t your thing.
St Georges Hospital (Achrafieh)
Above Mar Mikhael, and beneath Sassine, you can see lots of neighborhoods of Achrafieh in this gorgeous shot from above, with the St Georges Hospital’s helipad clearly visible at the bottom.
The New Sky Bar
Most of you have probably seen endless hours of Instagram stories of the new Sky Bar, here’s a view from above!
Metn (Beit Chabeb, Bikfaya)
This is a view I’m very fond of. I grew up and went to school in Metn, and spent a lot of time in towns like Beit Chabeb, Bikfaya and many others you can see in this shot. In the distance, you can even see parts of Kesserwen, like Ajaltoun and Ballouneh!
I love abandoned places and Berlin has a LOT of them. Blogs like Abandoned Berlin are my favorite resource for abandoned site hunting, which I highly recommend.
One of the nicest sites I’ve visited while living in Berlin was the US NSA Field Station which was a huge “listening station” spying facility in the Cold Wars days. Its location is as important as its practical function, since its large space-age-like orbs sit on top of a man-made hill, 80 meters above the rest of Berlin. This made it a powerful psychological weapon as well, with Soviet forces constantly seeing the white orbs in the distance, knowing (or at least believing) they’re listening in on their every conversation and move.
The hill, Teufelsberg (devil’s hill), is man-made with the rubble from post-WWII Berlin. Apparently, a Nazi college that was being built at that site proved too difficult to demolish, so instead the allies decided to burry it under the millions of tons of rubble to prevent it from becoming a shrine for modern-day facists (same was done with places like Hitler’s Bunker, which today is just a parking spot walking distance from the Holocaust victims memorial).
Getting There
While on the way, I realized the trip there is half the fun. It’s inside the massive Grunewald forest, which like many of Berlin’s parks is massive and feels wild. You won’t find manicured flowerbeds and tended mazes here, just clear (and sometimes not-so-clear) foot and mountain bike paths that snake through the forest and up the Teufelsberg hill.
The way up (while a bit lost)
To be honest, I got a bit lost and Google Maps was being wonky because of the dense forests, so, I am not ashamed to admit I used PokemonGo since the only things it shows are the paths (even the walking paths) and the Teufelsberg field station had a handful of pokestops and gym I could navigate towards. Sadly, I just caught a couple of Weedles, but I’m not complaining, it got me un-lost and helped me guide a lost French dude who also had G-maps trouble. Plus, the half an hour I spent figuring out where I was proved to be the nicest part of my trek. I also came across GORGEOUS drangonflies, beetles and a couple cute wild rabbits on my way!
A bench with a view to rest your tired legs after getting lost
The Site
Once you get to the top, you follow a heavily patched-up fence with signs that point towards the “Eingang” (entrance). I wasn’t sure if it was accessible at this point, but when I saw these signs, I did like a good European and I followed them. The gates were open, a handful of German millennials were having beers and playing a card game. Entrance was 7 euros for a non-student and you could pick up a few beers from the fridge nearby if you didn’t get some with you.
The site felt more like an anarchist music festival venue, with weird, grungy, steampunk installations and murals everywhere with organic greenhouses and orchards littered between the dilapidated buildings and disused construction equipment. Lots of the art had a political message to it, especially with regards to the Cold War and the American presence there.
Plenty of gorgeous murals in and around the station
Inside the actual spy station, it feels more like a museum exhibit for street art, with hastily-erected walls with fresh murals on them dividing the large, high-cielinged floors and other visitors admiring and trying to decipher the meanings of each. What’s nice is that the floor-to-cieling windows are mostly gone and you get breathtaking views of Berlin in the distance on one side, and en expansive forest with a lake on the other.
Once you reach the top, you’re next to the two big bulbous globes, with the middle one a few floors higher. The views from up there are awesome, especially with the orbs (which are still largely intact somehow) inside your frames of the nearby lake and forests, or Berlin and its TV tower in the distance.
Panoramic view from the top
Worth the Visit
If you like urban exploration, but wouldn’t mind some nature too on your urbex forrays, then this is a must when you’re in Berlin. I know some people prefer breaking into a dirty place that doesn’t charge an entrance fee for a somewhat kept clean, safe and tidy space. But, hey, it’s better than falling into a manhole full of broken beer bottles and used needles. I didn’t mind paying the 7 euros, especially since you can get your own stuff with you and have a picnic or bbq or just a few beers there. Plus, with all the rich history, contemporary art and ruins, think of it as a more relaxed version of a museum where you’re allowed to drink beer and have a smoke.
The Jounieh Bay fireworks show has become a yearly tradition many people look forward to. Those with boats anchor them in the bay, others meet up at friends, or book a table at a restaurant or pub that overlooks the iconic bay.
This year’s show is this Saturday, and starts at 10:00PM and will last for a whopping 11 minutes straight. If you feel like something cool, or have a camera and wanna try to capture the semi-circular bay lit up, then you might wanna go to your favorite place overlooking the bay.
Beware though, traffic will be a bitch, both before and after, so plan accordingly. Jounieh traffic is already notorious, on Saturday, and in the lead up to the Eid el Fitr holiday, it’ll be significantly worse than it usually is. Maybe it’s time to brush up on your bike skills?
Also, let’s hope the municipality doesn’t attack anyone for playing loud music this Saturday!
Check out more awesome shots by Georges Asmar below:
I love this station because it’s still largely unknown and untouched. The other abandoned train stations, from the time when Lebanon still had public transport, are usually close to roads and highways. This means they’ve been vandalized and abused by people for decades, without an effort to protect or maintain them. Some people steal the steel railways that cost a fortune, others use the station as a public restroom or somewhere to keep cattle.
Fortunately, this station is nestled under a small road between the towns of Araya and Chouit, just above Jamhour and under Aley. This means that not a lot of people know it exists, which is awesome to go get a glimpse of what it must’ve been like there before.
Sadly, since my last visit, part of the main building has collapsed, and it seems someone stole the iconic clock that people would look at to see when the next train was due… But, it’s still gorgeous, and here are some photos I took.
I love abandoned places, and try to go there and snap some photos whenever I can. Follow me on Instagram for live coverage, cause it takes me a while to post them on here usually!
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