Reem Shadid is to take the reins of the Beirut Art Center from next year. Born in Jerusalem, she was deputy director of the Sharjah Art Foundation from 2006 to 2020, where she worked on the organisation of the Sharjah Biennial.
Shadid arrives at a tricky moment for the non-profit institution, with structural strains that mirror those of wider Lebanese society. She takes over from artist Haig Aivazian and administrative director Rana Nasser Eddin, who had previously announced they were leaving after two years at the helm. In their farewell letter the pair wrote, ‘Relative to the gruelling struggle of everyday life in Lebanon, changing an institution like BAC, reclaiming it for a different audience, using it as a channel for causes we believe in, is a low intensity struggle’. They also detailed problems establishing the financial viability of the institution, tied into Lebanon’s ongoing banking crisis, including finding sourcing to pay both artists and themselves.
‘From day one we swam counter-current to the institution’s DNA and gradually put in place more ethical and sustainable funding sources and models, moving away from banks, reducing our reliance on private donors, and increasing our grant application efforts, all while figuring out more economic ways of doing things.
‘On a good day we tell ourselves we did a lot with very little. On most days, however, we are frustrated by how slow-moving change seems, and looking back we say we could have done more given the right support.’
Shahid will balance the demands of her new role with co-curating the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter Triennial and the 13th Taipei Biennial.
Previously, she worked in the socio-economic sector as an Executive Assistant for Hanan Ashrawi at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) and at the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Palestine, where she worked as a researcher and coordinator of projects to rebuild demolished houses and roads in Gaza.
Since leaving Sharjah, Shahid has also been producing her own radio program for Radio Alhara, Listening with Reem Shadid, and is a contributing editor at Infrasonica, a digital platform of non-western cultures.
