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Join artist Gabrielle Lockwood Estrin for a three-hour drawing workshop inspired by the work of Rayyane Tabet. Attendees will work both individually and collaboratively to explore storytelling and automatic drawing. Using an initial ‘encounter’ of an object through touch, create drawings that respond to thoughts, feelings and memories. Suitable for 16+. All levels of experience welcome!

Join Flora Duley’s mini-sculpture studio for a fun-filled, hands-on workshop. Families can discover, build and experiment with a range of materials and take part in activities that investigate the themes running through the works of Rayyane Tabet. With artist educator Flora Duley. Children must be accompanied by a parent or carer. Please ensure you purchase an adult ticket when booking your child’s place. Kindly supported by GreatArt.

Professor Perring will reflect on his personal experience leading an archaeological team in a major project to rebuild post-conflict Beirut. Following the conclusion of 17 years of urban and civil war an ambitious plan to rebuild Beirut was set at the forefront of Lebanon’s national rehabilitation. The Solidere project side-stepped public regulation through the creation of a private real-estate company intended as a vehicle for profitable redevelopment. From the outset discussions about purpose of the project were framed with reference to past, drawing on the idea of an endlessly resilient ancient city destined to be reborn. Although sometimes little more than a marketing concept, a disputed archaeological past was placed at the forefront of arguments over ownership, control and legitimacy. The fabric and ideology of the urban heritage contributed directly to the reshaping of the city, but also encouraged the socially exclusive gentrification of landscapes that were supposed to give coherence to a divided city. For twelve years Dominic Perring, Professor at UCL Institute of Archaeology, led one of the archaeological teams employed on this project. Here, he will reflect on the lessons of a personal experience of the opportunities, conflicts and contradictions involved in the reinvention of Beirut’s past.

Poet and critic Will Harris will lead a poetry workshop in response to the work of Lebanese artist Rayyane Tabet. Tabet’s work looks at the way in which our day-to-day experience intersects with larger historical currents. Tabet talks about this as an ‘encounter’, a move ‘from the first person to the third person’, or ‘from “ME” to “YOU”’, and uses a variety of reclaimed objects, newspaper clippings and found materials to create this effect. During this workshop, participants will be given their own objects and clippings to respond to, and look at the work of poets who have found inspiration in the world beyond themselves. The end result will be to make poems that become encounters in themselves. Suitable for 16+. Writers of all levels and styles welcome – no prior experience with poetry necessary. Will Harris is a poet and critic from London. He was shortlisted for the 2018 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem and received a Poetry Fellowship from the Arts Foundation in 2019. He is the author of the chapbook All this is implied and the essay Mixed-Race Superman, published by Peninsula Press in the UK and Melville House in the US. His poems have been featured in the Guardian, the Poetry Review, and the anthology Ten: Poets of the New Generation. His debut poetry collection, RENDANG, is forthcoming from Granta in February 2020. Workshop co-produced with Poetry School for the Rayyane Tabet: Encounters exhibition. Founded in 1997, Poetry School is a national arts organisation providing inspiring tuition and opportunities for poets and poetry audiences.