Port Fiction

In August 2020, a massive explosion destroyed the port of Beirut and devastated large parts of the city. Nearly 300 people were killed, almost 300,000 left homeless. In the wake of the catastrophe, the political elite failed to support the Lebanese people and living conditions continued to deteriorate due to hyperinflation and the pandemic. To date, nobody has been held responsible for the event.

The interdisciplinary artistic research project PORT FICTION explores the relationship between the port cities of Beirut and Hamburg. After the explosion, a group of artists from both cities began to reinvestigate their personal relationship with the port. Based on an understanding that the two cities cannot be compared, they nevertheless asked: How are they linked to each other, where do they touch?

PORT FICTION is also a model project for the composition of artistic contributions in the form of a digital long read. On the multimedia website, the works of all different artists are interwoven into a collective overall composition.