‘Pulsing Grounds’

An attempt to map the processes and acts behind Lebanon’s ongoing revolution.

Computed based on a compilation of crowd-shared data, it aims to analyse the variety, intensity and scope of the collective actions that have charged the ground of Beirut since October 2019.

Through different layers of data mapping, the research composes a spatial and temporal narrative that retraces the momentum and hardship of the grass-root efforts.

The narrative covers acts of one year and mentions different external factors that impacted the responses in terms of their frequency, type or location.

The aim is to offer a macro reading of the bottom-up actions in order to understand the underlying mechanisms and triggers of the pro-activeness and responsiveness of the grass-root efforts, and question their potential to scale, ripple and mature to long term systemic change.

Extract of work presented as part of Beirut Shifting Grounds, Co-habitat exhibition, 17th Venice Architecture Biennale.

Computational mapping by Joanne Hayek in collaboration with Balsam Madi, with the help of Hussein Zaarour, Stephanie Achkar, Mahmoud Baghdadi, Hisham Ismail, Hawraa el Husseini.

References: Daleel Thawra, Liveuamap, Emerge Beirut, the961,  Megaphone News, Akhbar el Seha.