Filmed in Lebanon, Concrete Forms of Resistance is a documentary centred upon the abandoned ‘Permanent International Fair’ in Tripoli, designed by the Modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer in the mid-1960s. Encompassing international pavilions, theatres, museums, a landscaped park and social housing, the vast exhibition complex was to be a public realm, civic space for economic and cultural exchange, decentralising power from Beirut and healing sectarian divisions. Never completed or operational, the Fair’s iconic buildings were used by militia forces at the outbreak of Lebanon’s civil war in 1975, and served as a strategic base for many years for the occupying Syrian army. More recently, the abandoned guesthouse building of the Fair has been restored to provide a workshop facility for carpenters and furniture makers of the city.

Budapest150: How to give back the sense to our unused heritage buildings?

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Nick Jordan is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the interconnections between cultural, social and natural ecologies. Jordan’s hybrid documentaries present oblique, layered narratives, filmed and edited directly by the artist, with an intuitive, experiential approach to material, people and environments. Expressing an interest in reciprocity, shared agency and collaborative practice, Jordan’s work often features cooperative input from practitioners in specialised fields, including life sciences, anthropology, history, architecture and healthcare.