URBAN INTERVENTIONS

L’abricocotier and El-Ankaboot reclaimed neglected urban spaces by repurposing the existing characteristics of the locations and the junk suffocating them .
They both rallied communities around the initiative and gave the locations a second life by organizing clean-ups, public workshops, jams and social gatherings. These actions revolved around building structures and setting up interactive installations which turn the location into a landmark.
El-Ankaboot also engaged with the residents and policymakers to communicate our vision of turning neglected plots in the city to cultural , community spaces but lacked the knowledge of how to lobby its way through the bureaucracy.

2017/201

Gathering to make repairs to l’Abricocotier on the Mar Mitr bridge after the rain damaged the original cardboard structure, Beirut (2017) The bridge was a remnant of an old discarded urban plan and it lead to nowhere.

Is the role of social practice to fill the gap left by the institutions? Or to use it to propose alternative utopias?
Should we aim for tangible, quantifiable impact? Or impactful metaphors?
How can creative actions build up momentum with different forms of activism and organizing?

El-Ankaboot intervention on a pedestrian bridge in Douar above the disaffected train tracks (2019) The intervention was the last action we undertook on that location after almost two years of ongoing discussions with residents and representatives