In 1962, the Lebanese city of Tripoli became the site for the construction of the Rashid Karami International Fair, a modernist project designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. However, the project remains unfinished to this day.

The documentary To Remain No Longer by artist Joyce Joumaa examines how this incomplete architectural project intersects with Tripoli’s socio-political history. Using the fairground as a lens, the film traces decades of economic and social crises, revealing how architecture, politics, and social transformations are deeply intertwined in shaping the urban fabric of Lebanon.

The film is in Arabic with English subtitles. The discussion will be held in Arabic. To register, please fill in the form here. 

Joyce Joumaa is a video artist and writer based between Beirut and Montreal. After growing up in Lebanon, she pursued a BFA in Film Studies at Concordia University in Canada. Her work focuses on microhistories within Lebanon as a way to understand how past structures inform the present moment. Central to her practice is an interest towards the political charge inscribed in spaces and the social psychology that unfolds out of this tension. Her work has shown at the Venice Biennial (2024), The 2nd Sharjah Architecture Triennial (2023) and the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal (2022).

Nadine Bekdache is a practicing designer and urbanist, and co-founder of Public Works Studio. She researches socio-spatial phenomena through multidisciplinary methods; including mapping, imagery and film as both processes of investigation and representation. As part of her research on urban displacement, she authored “Evicting Sovereignty: Lebanon’s Housing Tenants from Citizens to Obstacles”, and co-directed “Beyhum Street: Mapping Place Narratives”. Nadine is also a graphic design instructor at the Lebanese University.