Next Sunday
The film focuses on a group of teenage boys entering the space, who ventured inside every Sunday. They used to enter the space illegally through the opening in the surrounding fence or by jumping over the fence. The film explores an unrealized potential of the Rachid Karame International Fair for local residents of Tripoli, Lebanon. Locally called the Maarad (exhibition) it was designed by famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960s.
The space became more than this for them: they spent time, hanged around, showed off and practiced other rituals of every-day life inside the Maarad. It became an important part of their individual histories, hopes and dreams. Their energy gave breath of new life to the decaying modernist ruin of Niemeyer's gem, bringing back questions of social meaning of architecture. How did they use the space? What did it mean to them? How were they transforming it? Did it become a place of refuge? Did their ventures inside revitalize the space in subversive way? Can they be seen as transgressions or forms of resistance, even if unconscious? Poetic and reflective rhythm of the film amplifies this meeting between architecture and people, creating contemplative space for the viewer.
