Takeover
Beirut
seed PROGRAM
Takeover is an artist-run project space based in Beirut and founded in 2023 by Ieva Saudargaite Douaihi. It showcases works by emerging artists, invited to use the space as a stage for experimentation, presentation, and encounters with the public. The space hosts multi-disciplinary projects and exhibitions, curated through Open Calls, commissions, and spontaneous requests, and offers new programs every two to three weeks. The fast-paced rhythm, DIY spirit, and small size are Takeover’s essential features, ideal for the presentation of work-in-progress, durational performances, and first-time exhibitions.
Artists at Swab:
Abir Kobeissi, Ieva Saudargaité Douaihi, Marie Obegi, Mayssa Khoury, Mohamad Kanaan, Petra Serhal
Gallery run by Ieva Saudargaite
Abir Kobeissi
Dajjeh
Silkscreen print on velvet stretch over a wooden frame
20 x 15 cm
Marie Obegi
Aim for pain
Oil on wood
76 x 51 cm
Mayssa Khoury
I choked on a strawberry as I was lying down
Oil pastel on canvas paper
24 x 18 cm
Mohamad Kanaan
Equations on return
Pastel and pencil on paper
66 x 48 cm
Petra Serhal
Over There, by the Scent of Oranges: Beit Lid - Tulkarm
Scented textile with natural colours of plants and flowers
Ieva Saudargaité Douaihi
Dictionary of the past and current self
Olive tree bark, tree of heaven branch, nylon thread, clay, wax, shells, photo paper, oak leaf, polyester thread, damselfly, cosmetics, slime
Variable sizes
Through a selection of works by artists from Lebanon, the booth of Takeover transports us to a myriad of times and places that viewers can only glimpse partially. Transmuted bodies, organic hybrids, uninhabited rooms, smells, and colors generate an eerie feeling of what was and what could be. Using different strategies and mediums, the artists question overt meanings associated with specific aesthetics, geography, language, and experience, inviting a journey of ‘return’ and ‘reconciliation’ with what has been sectioned by displacement, conflict, or life’s ebbs-and-flows.