A conversation between Glenn Lowry, Director of MoMA, and Lebanese artist Marwan Rechmaoui June 2021

A conversation between Glenn Lowry, Director of MoMA, and Lebanese artist Marwan Rechmaoui

The webinar, held on June 30, featured a conversation between Glenn Lowry, Director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and Lebanese artist Marwan Rechmaoui on Beirut’s changing topography and the Lebanese cultural mosaic of places and identities.

Speakers

Glenn Lowry

Glenn D. Lowry is the sixth director of the Museum of Modern Art. He heads a staff of over 800 people and leads an active program of exhibitions, acquisitions, and publications. A strong advocate of contemporary art, he has lectured and written extensively in support of contemporary art and artists and the role of museums in society, among other topics. He is a member of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Board of Trustees, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a resident member of the American Philosophical Society. He also is a Trustee of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), an Officier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2004), and a member of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun (2020). Born in 1954 in New York City and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Mr. Lowry received a BA (1976) magna cum laude from Williams College, and an MA (1978) and PhD (1982) in History of Art from Harvard University.

Marwan Rechmaoui

Created from industrial materials such as concrete, metal, rubber, tar, textile, and glass, Marwan Rechmaoui’s work reflects his methodical study of cartography, demographics and urbanization. Focusing on the sociodemographic, architectural and cultural histories of cities and mirroring the sociopolitical structure and complex multicultural history of the Arab world, he has produced a variety of works, some of which incorporate maps of city streets, objects with references to urban domestic life and landmarks and histories of Beirut.

Rechmaoui’s work has been presented in a number of solo and group exhibitions, including Slanted Squares, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands (2019); Truth is Black, write over it with a mirage’s light, Darat al Funun, Amman (2018); Cycles of Collapsing Progress, Oscar Niemeyer’s Trade Fair, Tripoli, Lebanon (2018); Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); Home Works 7, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2015); Istanbul Biennial 13 (2015); Here & Elsewhere, New Museum, New York (2014); Cadavre Exquis, Suite Méditerranéenne, Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, France (2013); Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013); On the Edgware Road, Serpentine Gallery, London (2012) and Sharjah Biennial 7 (2005). His work can be found in the collections of the Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah and Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid. Rechmaoui is the recipient of the Bonnefantenmuseum Award for Contemporary Art, Maastricht, the Netherlands (2019).

He was born in Beirut, where he continues to live and work.