Havens: A Hybrid Collective Art Exhibition at Kulturnest

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Kulturnest is pleased to announce the launch of Havens, a hybrid collective art exhibition opening on Thursday, June 18, 2026, from 6 to 9 PM, bringing together 18 artists from Lebanon and abroad around one of the most urgent and intimate questions of our time: what shelters us, even briefly, when everything around us is unstable?

Curated by Kulturnest co-founder and CEO Dr. Pamela Chrabieh, the exhibition takes place in Sin-el-Fil, Lebanon, in physical form, and simultaneously in the metaverse in virtual form (to be accessed via a laptop or desktop for an optimal experience).

Creating Despite the War

Originally planned for April, Havens was postponed due to the ongoing war and the deeply uncertain situation that continues to affect Lebanon and the region, but despite the violence, fear, exhaustion, forced displacement, and daily challenges that shape our lives, we have chosen to move forward, not because everything is fine, nor because art can erase what is happening, but because creating, gathering, remembering, exhibiting, and supporting one another are among the ways through which we continue to resist fragmentation and stand together in solidarity.

What Does a Haven Mean Today?

In times of war, a haven is rarely a perfect refuge or a fully protected space; it is often fragile, temporary, almost invisible, found in a balcony plant still growing through the dust, a quiet corner of a room, a remembered landscape, light passing through a window, a shared meal, a neighbour checking in, a child’s drawing, a prayer, a song, a voice note, a group chat that stays alive, an object that carries memory, or the simple act of making something with one’s hands when the world around us feels as though it is coming undone.

The exhibition invites us to think of havens not as escapes from reality, but as small emotional, physical, symbolic, digital, and relational shelters that allow us to endure reality, to remain connected to tenderness, memory, imagination, and hope, and to continue dreaming even when dreaming itself becomes difficult. Through this lens, a haven may be a space, a body, a ritual, a relationship, an inner landscape, an imagined future, or a gesture of care, and each artwork becomes a way of making these fragile shelters visible, shareable, and perhaps inhabitable by others.

The Role of Art in Times of Crisis

At Kulturnest, we believe that in times of war and crisis, art and culture do not need to provide easy answers or offer false comfort; their role can be deeper, more complex, and more necessary, because art can hold contradictions, give form to silence, make grief visible without reducing it, protect beauty without denying devastation, question destruction without simplifying pain, and create spaces where people can meet beyond fear, isolation, and despair.

To continue creating in such a context is not a luxury, but a form of presence, solidarity, and cultural survival, because when artists continue to work, when communities continue to gather, and when spaces for expression remain open, even under pressure, they affirm that violence cannot define the whole story, that memory cannot be fully erased, and that our shared human need for beauty, meaning, connection, and imagination remains alive.

Featured Artists

Afaf Merheb, Crystel Samia, Faten Hamdan, Helen Serhan, Jana Hakim, Joseph Ghobeira, Katia Aoun Hage, Leslie Akl, Lucy Poshoghlian / ARDZIV, Mundi Ruptor, Nicole Yazbeck Moussalli, Omar Sabbagh, Rania Issam Hamady, Rima Ghanem, Rita Francis, Roula Freiha Bahsali, Tala Beydoun, and Wael Daaboul.

Through different media, sensibilities, and artistic languages, the selected artists in Havens explore the havens we build, inherit, remember, imagine, or carry within us, offering works that speak of intimacy and distance, rupture and care, fragility and soumoud, loss and continuity, while inviting visitors to reflect on what it means to seek shelter without withdrawing from the world, to protect tenderness without denying violence, and to remain connected when everything pushes us toward rupture.

Exhibition Dates and Visiting Hours

The physical exhibition is open to the public at Kulturnest until August 14, 2026.

Visits are open on Wednesdays and Fridays from 3 to 6 PM, Thursdays from 11 AM to 2 PM throughout June, July, and August; and Saturdays from 11 AM to 2 PM during June only.

The virtual exhibition is on view until July 25, 2026.

Havens Featured in Agenda Culturel