Fractions
of Memory is the public installation which took place in Beirut during
July and August 2003. The location was what used to be Martyrs’ Square
in downtown Beirut. Martyrs’ Square was destroyed twice, first by the
war, then by the reconstruction project. Nada Sehnaoui appealed to the public
to participate in the making of the installation by publishing the following
question in the press and on the internet: “Do you have a memory of
daily life in downtown Beirut before the start of the war in 1975? If you
wish to share this memory with the public, please: write a text recalling
this memory, on one white page or more, in the language of your choice, handwritten
or typed, signed or anonymous, and send this text to the following address…”.
360 structures were constructed using 20 tons of newspaper. Many structures
carried the public's responses to the appeal while other structures carried
blank pages for missing texts and lost memories.
