Dr. Frank Darwiche is a professor and researcher in philosophy with a focus on ontology, Heidegger, Lebanese appropriation of European thought, Lebanese thought, aesthetics, … He is also a poet and singer. 

Arleb by Nabad – Can you tell us more about your artistic penchant? 

Frank Darwiche – I have lived in Lebanon, the USA, England and France. I have always written poetry, usually to help me think out concepts which I couldn’t get my head round through philosophy or mathematics. I have also always been attached to lyrical poetry and song. Hence the creation of several bands, ever freer in their approach to music: from rock to free composition in contemporary music.

Arleb by Nabad –  What is, according to you, the impact of the Beirut blast, the social economic crisis, and the pandemic crisis in Lebanon on local arts and culture?

Frank Darwiche – When tragedies occur, along with economic hardships, attention is given to more immediate matters of survival. Local culture and the arts have thus obviously suffered. But art takes its distance from things, thinks about them, takes time to create, challenge and impel. This is definitely going to be the case here.

Arleb by Nabad – How do you think Lebanese artists will or should face this multiform crisis, and what are the new challenges that are ahead of them?

Frank Darwiche – They definitely should, especially since most other voices have been silenced. Artists should take the crisis as a challenge. I was recently reading about how artists have revived closed spaces (shops, markets etc.), due to Corona, in New York. People have started seeing those familiar spaces in a new way. This has been beneficial for everyone: shopkeepers, little-known artists who now had cheaper venues, people who really need to go out, etc. Something similar should be done with spaces in Beirut, though in a different way, fitting the occasion.

Arleb by Nabad – What are, according to you, the mid-term and long-term solutions to this crisis?

Frank Darwiche – I think eventually a true revolution could solve the crisis: so one which would upset the very foundation (otherwise it’s just a movement, something like what we saw). Then a gradual implementation of a highly secular education system, slowly transforming the mindsets of future generations.

Arleb by Nabad – What kind of support according to you is needed for artists, poets and authors to sustain and pursue their work in Lebanon?

Frank Darwiche – They need spaces, media exposure, media awareness,  financial incentives, openness to cross-disciplinarity.

Arleb by Nabad – What specific roles do arts and culture play in cultural resistance/resilience in Lebanon?

Frank Darwiche – They are very very essential, especially in a culture where empty and conservative rhetoric is in vogue. Arts and culture can teach youths to question the system they are in, reinvent their relation to others and critique the faulty social contract we’re living under.

Arleb by Nabad – What is your outlook for the future? Where do you think we are heading regarding developments in art, politics, and cultural resistance/resilience?

Frank Darwiche – I think a near-disaster is at hand. But, as Hölderlin says: “where the danger is, also grows the saving power.” Danger brings out resilience and the word, the challenging transforming word of culture coming to redetermine politics.

Arleb by Nabad – Finally, what is your message to the emerging and marginalized artists, poets and authors in Lebanon?

Frank Darwiche – Keep fighting. Keep saying no. And remember that Anarchists are the true challengers. Reinvigorate the tenets of anarchy!