Dead Duck Revival

This exhibition by Henri Asmar tells a story of change. Inspired by his journey of moving from Beirut to Berlin in 2020, the exhibited works transcend the personal to explore a shared narrative of human growth and transformation. The show brings together paintings created in Beirut and Berlin between 2019 and 2025, tracing recent years of exploration and expression. Curated photographs, chosen from about 47,000 images taken over six years, accompany the artworks and capture the moments that formed each one. Every painting becomes a stage of transition, reflecting a personal yet universally resonant story.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider the transitions we all undergo, whether moving through different life chapters, adapting to new environments, or evolving within ourselves. Each piece captures a stage of flux, a space that exists simultaneously in the past, the present and the future, encouraging reflection on the continual process of becoming. Fear, death, exaltation, release, confusion and excitement are all emotions involved in the process of self-growth; this show, in turn, celebrates the beauty of the struggle required to evolve into new versions of ourselves.

“Moving from Beirut to Berlin has been nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster. How can one feel like they belong in two places at the same time? And how can time suddenly cease to exist? Memories of the past exist now, thoughts from years ago find their solutions today, and it feels as if the past and future have merged into one long and everlasting present. I’ve come to the conclusion that everything coexists in the now, and we exist simultaneously everywhere in our minds. All phases of transition exist at the same time in the moment.”

It is in that mentality that the artworks are not presented in chronological order, and that the photographs come from moments before, during and even after the creation process had been completed.