The Notre Dame University in Beirut will create an installation offering an interactive experience through a pathway that may or may not lead to a destination. The pathway’s edges will foster interaction rather than segregate people, to echo the idea of inclusion.
w-ALL: Blurring Boundaries
Europe Readr spaces are popping up around the globe, but this one is very special and dear to our hearts. Throughout July, architecture students from the Notre Dame University–Louaize and the local NGO NAHNOO were designing a w-ALL installation, which will be situated in the Horsh pine forest of Beirut. Its position along the wartime demarcation line and different sectarian communities makes it a most promising space for cultural dialogue.
The project aims to find synergies between Europe Readr's objective to promote reading and public discussion on the one hand, and the social need for inclusion and interaction on the other. It is a reinterpretation of boundaries, negating the notion of separating walls, which can be found in the city of Beirut and in the park where the w-ALL installation will be located.
The project follows the three dimensions of sustainability – social, economic and environmental – as it meets the community's need for a reading oasis. It is designed to foster equality by addressing all social groups in the part of the city accessible also to the elderly and the physically challenged.
We hope to see it come to life soon.
Šindelka’s writing is truly something to behold, and that’s why the book is worth reading [...] what makes it work are the long passages in which the author describes train stations, flooded cities, greenhouses, and the plants therein [...] the language is crisp and clear and frankly quite beautiful, a tribute to both the author and Nathan Fields, the translator.