‘The Wishing Fountain’ at the Beirut Street Festival 2014

The Beirut Street Festival is back in 2014 for its 10th edition.

Whether you encounter some of these urban interventions by chance, or intend to follow the schedule for specific shows, the aim is to restore outdoor culture through participatory street theater and dance. Take a moment to enjoy the cosmopolitan creative artistic atmosphere in the city with the Beirut Street Fest.

‘The Wishing Fountain’ is a public art installation on Hamra Street by Raafat Majzoub that allows people of the city to share money with each other while raising awareness about the escalating phenomenon of street beggars and the increasing privatization of the urban sphere in Lebanon.

The sculpture borrows its form from female street beggars sitting on sidewalks, wishing good fortune for passersby in return for minimal amounts of money. Beirut’s wishing fountain sits on its dry sidewalks with her lap filled with water. Like her sisters, she is constantly waiting to become visible. ‘The Wishing Fountain’ is intended to create a visible and accessible point of departure for discussing the rapidly privatized Beirut. It is owned and shared by everyone on the street. Beggars, people looking for parking meter coins, night owls looking for change to buy a man’oushé and others can pick up the amount they need whenever they need it. It aims to start an active, local conversation about and between people, each other and their city.

All performances are free of charge and open to the public.

Please Note
All performances start at 5:00 p.m., and are about 35 minutes long, except for “Beirut Clown Attacks”, a promenade that lasts for two hours and starts at 4:00 p.m.