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"Portrait
and Nude", by Gibran Khalil Gibran. From the AUB Art Collection.
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The scene was the Lee Observatory building and its garden; the occasion
was the launch of the AUB Arts Center Project on December 7. The refurbished
Observatory had been converted from an ordinary conference center to a
contemporary exhibition hall featuring some 60 works of art from the University's
collection.
The brainchild of AUB President Dr. John Waterbury, the project
got rolling with the formation of a Steering Committee that includes Cesar
Nammour, Salah Barakat, Ramzi Saidi and David Kurani.
In an informal brief talk, President Waterbury explained that the
Art Center was the first step in a project that envisioned AUB as major
regional focal point for contemporary arts. The project anticipates the
eventual creation of an interactive arts facility including a Fine Arts
Department.
Dr. Waterbury thanked the many donors who have recently contributed
to AUB's collection, naming Ghassan Tueni, Saleh Barakat, Cesar Nammour,
Ramzi Saidi, Hani Farouk, Moussa Tiba, Salwa Raouda Chouceir, Helen el
Khal, Stelio Scamanga, Samia Osseiran Junblat, and Muhammed El Rowas.
The setting of the Art Center at the Lee Observatory building, tucked
away in an obscure corner of the campus, was an added attraction to most
of the guests. The Observatory, built in 1874, had been spruced up to
display the works of arists such as Gibran Khalil Gibran, Samir Thabet,
David Kurani, Mustafa Farroukh, Salwa Raouda Chouceir, Stelio Scamanga
and Farid Hadad.
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| Left
to right: Dean Khalil Bitar, artist Hussein Madi and President John
Waterbury. |
A surprise awaited those who ventured up the winding steps to the Observatory
dome, where an "installation" by Cesar Nammour featured the
dome rotating with blue filtered lighting. An arresting "Donations
Installation" downstairs, on the way to the garden, featured empty
canvases, empty frames and an empty safe, all enhanced by eerie ultraviolet
light and classical music. Also arranged by Cesar Nammour, the display
was a subtle reminder that the new project was an ambitious one that will
require substantial funding.
The ceremony and exhibition mark a theme that has continued at
AUB since 1929. In that year AUB hosted the first solo exhibition in Lebanon,
featuring the work of Lebanese artist Mustafa Farroukh.
The following year, AUB invited Farroukh to teach a studio course
and in 1935 he became a full-time art instructor. By 1954 AUB had opened
a Department of Art which recruited such visionary professors as Maryette
Charlton, Arthur C. Frick and John Carswell.
During this period AUB sponsored a wide range of exhibitions that included
student and faculty work, local crafts and visiting artists, among them
Henry Moore and David Hockney. In 1971 the Fine Arts Department sponsored
a Mini-Art Gallery in College Hall. Artists donated or loaned their work,
and the exhibits generated excitement from the public and the press.
Renamed the Department of Fine and Performing Arts in 1972, its
activities and those of the Mini Gallery came to a halt with the ensuing
civil unrest and war in 1975.
The current project has six main goals: to create an interactive
art institution; to re-establish AUB in its traditional role as an innovating
contributor to the art movement in Lebanon and the Middle East; to preserve
and promote works of art already at AUB, as well as future donations;
to provide one of the very few contemporary art museums and permanent
public collections in Lebanon; to emphasize contemporary art of Lebanon
and the region and establish a wider international art collection to span
other historical and geographic areas; and to organize exhibitions and
events based on the permanent collection and other works.
Constantine Zurayk Honored
on Founders' Day
The Founders' Day Ceremony on December 6, dedicated to the late
Constantine Zurayk, was notable for its sense of history and occasion.
The processional music, the entrance of the administrators and faculty
members in academic regalia, and the singing of the Lebanese anthem all
contributed to the atmosphere.
President John Waterbury began with a brief speech recounting Constantine
Zurayk's long and active history. Zurayk graduated from AUB in 1928 and
later returned as a member of the History Department, serving until he
retired in 1977.
"Zurayk has combined carefully the depth of the scholar, the
commitment of a public servant, and the wisdom of a philosopher,"
the President said.
Saamira Halabi, winner of the Founders' Day Student Essay Contest
and a sophomore business major, was next called to the podium. Her essay,
entitled "More Than a Legacy: the Intellectual Legacy of Dr. Constantine
Zurayk," expressed how a student today looks back at Zurayk's thoughts
and tries to accommodate them into the modern world.
"Dr. Zurayk was a seer," Halabi declared. The same dilemmas
that once faced students in 1968, as described in Zurayk's book More
Than Conquerors, appeared to Halabi as identical to the ones students
confront today: discontent with the University's inability to adapt to
the changes vital to student life, concern with national and international
politics, and disillusionment with society and its outmoded ways. Halabi
looked up to Dr. Zurayk as a savior who prescribes a cure for apathy--
the search for truth through knowledge, courage, and faith.
In her speech Dr. Huda Zurayk, Dean of FHS and the daughter of
Constantine Zurayk, thanked the President, AUB, and Saamira Halabi, "who,"
she said, "truly captured the essence of my father."
Huda Zurayk said that when her father was a student at AUB, he
changed majors from engineering to history. "How many of us think
in this direction today?" Zurayk asked her audience. She hoped that
people would learn from his example and find ways of benefiting humanity
through other means than merely meeting "market demands."
Introducing
Ghassan Tueni, member of the AUB Board of Trustees and Founders' Day guest
speaker, President Waterbury said he was well suited "to render justice
to Constantine Zurayk's commitment to Arab culture and thought."
The President said he found "no one better qualified to reflect Zurayk's
legacy" than Tueni.
Trustee Tueni spoke of Zurayk in Arabic, extolling the merits of
history. He read to his audience an imaginary play about the historian,
Herodotus, who asks six students the meaning of history before they can
qualify to enter his academy. For Tueni, this "Herodotus" was
Constantine Zurayk, an inspirational figure to every pupil he taught.
The speaker concluded by saying he would like to engrave the following
words on AUB's entrance gate: "There is no exit from this gate for
the one who does not know history."
After the singing of the Alma Mater, President Waterbury invited the audience
to gather outside Assembly Hall. Under the warm December sun faculty members,
administrators, and students then had the opportunity of meeting and talking
together.
It was in
these pleasant surroundings that Trustee Tueni was asked what he would
like to say to the AUB of today. His reply: "AUB is surging with
life. But we need to see more publications, more books." He did not
mind if they were published on the Internet. "I have nothing against
technology," he added with a smile.
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