In 2014 the In medias res project based in Beirut was initiated by an artist and curator Miha Vipotnik.The project worked as a platform offering young artists from Lebanon not only rare opportunity to exhibit but also to get experience and mentorship in realizing contemporary art projects. It resulted in the In medias res exhibition.

The second edition of interdisciplinary art platform happened in 2015 under the name Vertical Collisions.

Vertical Collisions' common thread is tension, as researched, artistically explored and presented by 23 artists from different international environments. Miha Vipotnik, video and multimedia artist, curator of the exhibition invited artists from around the world to present their voice. The participating artists include illustrators, painters and sculptors, animators, programmers, multimedia artists, researchers, performers, video artists, cineastes and musicians, all of whom present their personal views on the social clashes in the “administered” technological information reality of today.

Vertical Collisions are

interdisciplinary art exhibition
Majid Ahmadi (IR), Charbel Samuel Aoun (LB), Giorgio Bassil (LB), Sabine El Chamaa (LB), Jure Cvitan (SI), Mark Abou Farhat (LB), Ghenwa Abou Fayad (LB), Tadej Fius (SI), Melissa Gazale (LB), Elsy Hajjar (LB), Shoeib Kashani (IR), Stephanie Korab (LB), Elie Mouhanna (LB), Rami Moukarzel (LB), Helen Parkes (GB), Lisa Parks (USA),Mirella Salame (LB), Patil Tchilinguirian (AR), Miha Vipotnik (SI), Maud Zeiunon(LB)
live concert
Hans Koch, Gaudenz Badrutt (CH)
film projection and open discussion on collective memory

projection of the film Hamasat (Whispers) by Maroun Baghdadi

Shot in 1980 in the middle of the war, this road trip across all of Lebanon delivers the destiny of a lost generation and a state of places tainted by poetry, nostalgia, memory of decayed times, fears and anticipations for the future, where Baghdadi depicts a nation in ruins struggling for survival and hope, all through the words of a poet Nadia Tueni. Followed by open discussion on collective memory

Moderated by Tarek Joseph Chemaly hosting Farid Chehab, the film's producer

conference

with Lisa Parks and the authors of  installation. An insight into the process of creating the interactive installation Spectral Configuration and the background of the concept
shooting of the film Stratification of the moon
film documents the happening around the Vertical Collisions exhibition on one hand and also explores the questions of conflicts within the documentary genre on the other – these are the conflicts that arise during the installation and the conflict within the Lebanese society itself.

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PRODUCTION
Concept and production: Miha Vipotnik
Co-production: Station Beirut: Nabil Canaan, Rosie Karkari

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Gal Okorn (Opus Sec®)
Pavle Okorn (Opus Sec®)
Tadej Fius (Media Atlas)
Houran (Station)

Graphic design, corporate identity, PR: Mojca Zavolovšek

Coordination and production assistance, web-page editor: Renata Štebih
Web-master: Alen Ograjenšek, oblikoteka.si

SPECIAL THANKS

Swiss Arts Council
Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon
Ministry of Culture. Republic of Slovenia
ARTLAB Gallery
ASIST BLDTECH
Optimus IT
OpusSec
Khalifé Trading Co.