Lebanese Rocket Society, 2011
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
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Lebanese Rocket Society: The President’s Album, 2011, 32 digital prints folded on wood, 800x120cm each, Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation, Installation view, photo by Alfredo Rubio
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Lebanese Rocket Society: Archives, 16mm films from 1960-1967, Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation, Installation view, photo by Alfredo Rubio
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Lebanese Rocket Society: Cedar IV, A Reconstitution. Launched on November 21, 1963, 2011, iron sculpture, corian, 800x120x100cm, Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation, Installation view, photo by Plamen Galabov
Lebanese Rocket Society: Cedar IV, A Reconstitution. Launched on November 21, 1963, 2011, iron sculpture, corian, 800x120x100cm, Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation, Installation view, photo by Alfredo Rubio
Project Description
In the early 1960s, a group of students led by professor of mathematics Manoug
Manougian at the Armenian Haigazian University in Lebanon designed and launched rockets for the purpose of exploring and studying space. With the involvement of the Lebanese Army and other researchers, the programme expanded.
Thus the Lebanese Rocket Society was born. The project was not militaristic; rather
its aim was to promote science and research. The work came to a sudden halt in 1967
and has been completely forgotten since. Lebanese Rocket Society includes documents, archives, reconstitutions, and an art installation that explores this history. It asks whether it is possible to create a monument inspired from Cedar 4, the three-storey rocket that became emblematic of the riveting adventure of the Lebanese Rocket
Society after its launch in 1963.
April 2011
This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 10
