Union unfolds as a poetic site visit. Karim Nader and Atelier 33 invite you to step into the Immeuble de l’Union—suspended in a rare state of becoming. Neither defeated ruin nor pristine completion, it lingers in-between, shimmering with possibility. The journey begins with the unveiling of the restored façade of this 1952 modernist masterpiece by Lucien Cavro and Antoun Tabet, a gesture that anchors the building’s rebirth.
From façade to roof terrace, the journey reveals the building under a new light—exposing its scars and reawakening its spirit.
Light here does not merely illuminate; it remembers, heals, transforms. It slips through cracks, follows voids, animates stillness. It listens to structure, allowing the building to speak—through scars, edges, shadows. Memory becomes visible. This is Beirut’s truth: a city that does not erase the past but grows through it.
The passage is marked by interventions from local and international creators. Each uncovers a hidden facet, a fragment of awakening. From the dark red of the basement where memories ache, to the pale blues of the terrace, atmospheres shift into a narrative of hope. Shafts breathe, stairs undulate, corridors thrum. Each threshold becomes a chapter in Union’s story—a journey of light.
This is not restoration. It is resurrection. From scar to sky, Union carries history into a radiant future.
Basement FRACTURE - Featuring: Alfred Tarazi - Lebanon The City of Musk
When I walk in the scrapyards, across the mountains of copper, aluminum, steel, tin, and plastic, I dream. It is not uncommon to find there the steel residues of every war that shatter our lives. Textures and hues speak of time and endurance, of the earth and its secrets. At one point, I stumbled on two hundred aluminum canisters of perfume shining under the sun. It took countless hours to turn them into a sculpture: Musk City, a perforated prayer for life.
GF THRESHOLD - Featuring: Moataz Nasr - Egypt Radiant absence
Moataz Nasr’s interventions at Immeuble de l’Union transform absence into presence. A three-meter perforated steel mala, crafted from reclaimed gas canisters, evokes resilience through its industrial form. Alongside it, backlit mosaics rise where columns once stood, projecting delicate shadows across the floor. Together, they merge memory and light, reimagining architectural voids with fragility and strength.
Preciosa – Czech Republic Ascencion
Preciosa’s installation in the Union lobby embodies reversal and renewal. Suspended as a radiant sphere of glass and light, it transforms descent into ascent, fracture into harmony. Inspired by Dante’s turning point, the work overturns gravity and reflects transcendence—an illuminated passage from shadow to clarity, carrying the soul upward toward purpose.
F1 REBIRTH Patterns of the Past
Forgotten patterns return, luminous with memory. Through an artisanal technique translated into light, motifs once fading are reawakened. Each projection carries the hand of craft while opening new dialogue with the present. More than ornament, the gesture honors heritage, turning memory into radiance and allowing the ephemeral to linger as a whispered inheritance within architecture.
F2 AMBER SUN The Union Project
At the heart of the exhibition, the Union model stands upon a map of Beirut, anchoring the building within its wider urban fabric. Around it, photographs from the past and from the site under construction trace a continuum of memory and becoming. Suspended above, a solar eclipse encircles the volume—an artificial light technique that transforms the space into a moment of cosmic stillness. Shadow and radiance meet, mirroring the city’s own tensions between loss and renewal. The installation becomes both testimony and prophecy: Union at the center, Beirut unfolding all around it.
F3 BRIDGE - Featuring: Moataz Nasr - Egypt Petro Beads
It is a pause thick with feeling. not through permanence, but through its very fragility, held delicately in the space between what was and what is becoming. The familiar becomes elusive, and yet more vivid. Memory, form, and feeling blur, and in that blurring, the ephemeral finds its strength. Moataz Nasr’s “Petro Beads” lives within this fragile threshold. Comprising a string of orange gas canisters, perforated with delicate patterns and lit from within, the installation mimics the form of prayer beads, casting luminous motifs onto walls and floors. The glowing surfaces speak not only of devotion, but of danger, fuel, and fire.
F4 RESONANCE - Featuring Spread - Japan Much Peace, Love and Joy
Much Peace, Love and Joy by SPREAD is a vibrant installation that radiates optimism through color, light, and playful geometry. Immersive and uplifting, it transforms space into a field of positivity, inviting visitors to pause, reflect, and embrace a universal message of harmony. The work celebrates human connection while evoking a sense of shared hope.
F6 AWAKENING - Featuring Christian Pellizzari - Italy Cyclamen
The Cyclamen Glass Light Installation is a sculptural play of transparency, reflection, and luminosity. Using layered glass elements, it captures and refracts light to create shifting atmospheres that echo the Mediterranean spirit of Syracuse. The installation bridges tradition and modernity, turning glass into a poetic medium of movement, radiance, and spatial transformation.
F7 SKY The Purple Venue
On the 7th floor of Immeuble de l’Union, our Purple Venue embraces raw authenticity. Walls, floors, and ceiling remain untouched concrete, preserving the building’s industrial essence. Vertical cuts of blue neon, encased in steel cages, punctuate the space with rhythm and tension. The result is an atmospheric setting where minimalism meets intensity, blending austerity with electric vibrancy.
With the generous support of AH Developments.
Designed by Karim Nader and Atelier Trente Trois - Jad Cortas and Noura Hakim.
Artists Christian Pellizzari, Alfred Tarrazi, Spread, Moataz Nasr. Collaborators Setsystems, Quadrature, DGA, Preciosa, Imad Traboulsi, Vitrumm Chadi Fakhri, Flying Submarine, Bluerose, PlanA, Smartervolts.
With Soumer al Kamand, Nathalie Saade and Mia Chaptini. Video by Ramzi Hibri. Photography by Youssef Itani and Marwan Harmouche.