ENTITRE
a tribute to physical matter in the digital age.
Inside A.MUSE.UM, Nadim Karam’s creative studio
Known for his dreamlike sculptures and installations, Lebanese architect and artist Nadim Karam is full of surprises and the opening of A.MUSE.UM in 2018 was definitely one of them. Situated in the village of Daroun in the vicinity of the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, A.MUSE.UM is a unique private museum and studio space dedicated to art and creation.
A Wild Cat, one of Nadim Karam’s Urban Toy sculptures in downtown Beirut
Imagined like an inverted space, A.MUSE.UM is a dream for dreams. Built below the terraces of Karam’s childhood home, the space naturally espouses the surroundings and stands as the embodiment of the limitless possibilities of the creative mind. It is architecturally breathtaking and calls to mind the stark and spiritual buildings of Tadao Ando, whose classes Karam followed during his doctorate in architecture at the University of Tokyo in Japan in the 1980’s.
As we slowly make our way down the ramp into the heart of Karam’s creative bubble our senses are heightened by the smell of paint and the sight of unfinished canvases left to dry. On the wall a black and white painting catches our eye. It depicts a beautiful Ottoman style house with Karam’s signature child-like figures sitting and fishing on large steps of a leveled garden. A slender creature hovers over the joyful scene. The painting is a magical reiteration of Karam’s family home and studio space and its discovery further enhances our dreamlike visit allowing us to deeply connect with the artwork and experience an intimate and refreshing artistic occurence.
A.MUSE.UM was inaugurated in 2019 with the exhibition “Shorthand, Nadim Karam, Notes from the Archive” curated by Rachel Dedman in association with the Beirut Art Fair. Known for his public art sculptures the exhibition showcased hundreds of the Karam’s preliminary land art drawings, paintings and performance art videos from the past 40 years.
