1994 Opening Exhibition

A large exhibition opened the doors of Zico House, defining it as a cultural space. This exhibition uncovered the work of Marwan Rishmaoui, Flavia Codsi, Gilbert Hage, Elie Khalife, artists who later became esteemed internationally.

1995 « HARIS »

« Haris », written by Boutros Rouhana, is the first performance to be presented at Zico House. This play had been especially created for the space, highlighting the fact that Zico House is a space dedicated to artists working in unusual sites.

1995 « CHORBA »

« Chorba » is an exhibition by Rafik Majzoub; it was the first time that the name Zico House was employed.

1996 « Al Khat Al Moubachar » or Direct Line

This youth association operated at Zico House for few years. They presented a number of weekly events, such as Libération Cinéma and yearly events like conferences, film festivals, etc… It was a very active association, and its members invited well-known persons from different fields, like Moustapha Barghouti from Palestine.

In Concert 2000

At first, “In Concert” was a musical project created by Zico. Its main idea was to enable emerging, small-scale, and unknown bands to perform in front of an audience. It also aimed at encouraging new groups and singers to move from the amateur stage to the professional one. The singularity of the concerts at Zico House was the intimate atmosphere shared by the audience and the musicians.

Soon the project grew up into an association and separated from Zico House.

http://www.inconcertleb.org

2006 Zico House during the Israeli attack

In 2006, during the Israeli invasion, Zico House was automatically transformed into an aid centre for refugees. A number of individual volunteers and of social organizations gathered in the building, creating a major support system for the country. In two days, Zico House was able to welcome refugees, associations, and volunteers; the space was transformed, adapted to the emergency and to the necessity to react.

In this context, a number of civil associations were born, namely:

Samidoun network refer to: http://samidoun.blogspot.com

Aid Lebanon began as a project during the war and and soon became a Lebanese non-governmental organization, founded on principles of culture and human rights. It is dedicated to providing relief to victims of war and deprivation in Lebanon as well as to raising awareness and promoting values in citizenship, democracy, education, and community-building. For more info, please consult: http://www.testdriveyourwebsite.com/aidlebanon/