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Ricardo Mbarkho
Ricardo Mbarkho
	Ricardo Mbarkho in 2011
Born	25 January 1974 (age 50); Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality	Lebanese
Education	Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, USA; École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France; Institut supérieur des beaux-arts, Beirut
Known for	Invisual Art

Ricardo Mbarkho (25 January 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon), is a Lebanese contemporary artist, researcher, and assistant professor.

He has produced video^[1] and digital arts.^[2] Mbarkho's current artwork remains exclusively Invisual Art practices. In his work, he explores and theorizes the aesthetic, economic, political, and social conditions and measures of an art that emancipates itself from the idea of the artwork, the public, and the context; an art without a material or immaterial object. In an ideal type, there is a research-creation of an art without art.

As an artist and founder of the Tabbouleh Day^[3] in 2001, he explores the socioeconomic models that he uses as an art medium. Today, Tabbouleh Day^[4] is celebrated by millions of people around the world, privately or publicly, or as a state of mind. This work does not stem from a contemporary tradition of art, but from an approach that follows the aesthetics of information, communication, and relational art. It is a post-immaterial art.

In his digital images period,^[5] as well as in his time-based work,^[6] he investigates multiple questions related to interactivity,^[7] language, communication,^[8] cultural industries, history of art as well as the visual representation^[9] within the sociopolitical sphere.^[10]

Mbarkho received his art diplomas from Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and École supérieure d'études cinématographiques, Paris, and from Institut supérieur des beaux-arts, Beirut. He also completed an exchange study program at Carnegie Mellon University - College of Fine Arts, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

He lives and works in Beirut.

Publications

Mbarkho, Ricardo (2021). « En marche vers une idéologie neutre de la politique culturelle », in incertains regards, Presses Universitaires de Provence, France. ISBN 979-1-03200-345-9
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2021). « What Is at Stake in the Interaction between Media Arts and Cultural Industries in Lebanon », Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, Volume 54, Number 6, The MIT Press. 714–716. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02098
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2016). « L’interdépendance dialectique entre création artistique médiatique et industries culturelles », in Fann wa imarah journal, Issue No. 6, Institute of the Fine Arts – Lebanese University.
Mbarkho, Ricardo, Dussolier, Claudine, Nawar, Abdo (2014). Presentation of RAMI Platform in Lebanon
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2012). Response to With the benefit of hindsight, what role does new media play in artistic practices, activism, and as an agent for social change in the Middle East and North Africa today?], Ibraaz online forum
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2013). « Trauma Stimulated Art, or the Embodiment of Affect in Lebanon: An Allegory », in Traumatic Affect. Cambridge Scholars Publishers
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2012). « On New Media and Creativity in Lebanon », Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST), Volume 45, Numéro 2, The MIT Press
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2011). On New Media and Creativity in the Lebanese Setting: 2008–2011, published by The MIT Press in Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) (Leonardo/ISAST)
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2011). Lecture in « Conferences on the History and the Future of the Internet » – WJ-SPOTS
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2010). « A different kind of media creativity in the Lebanon », in Cultures and Globalization Series 2009 : Cultural Expression, Creativity & Innovation. SAGE Ed.
Mbarkho, Ricardo (2008). Introduction to Art and New Media in the Arab States, with a case-study of Lebanon, in Visual Narratives from Arabia – Online Master Module on Art, Design and Technology. © UNESCO

References

^ TURBULENCES VIDÉO #69 by VIDEOFORMES, October 2010
^ Windows Upon Oceans – Cultural Observatory of the Middle East - Artos Foundation. Cyprus, 2009.
^ Chutaux Mila, Corina (2021). Esthétique de l’art invisuel. Les Éditions du Panthéon.
^ Moineau, Jean-Claude (2023), Pour un art invisuel, inouï, inesthétique, inœuvré, pluriel... – Biennale de Paris.
^ Al-Soufi, Hind (2016). Visual Movements in the West and Arab World - From the Renaissance till the 21st Century - 1500 - 2015. Tripoli.
^ Forest, Fred (2000). Fonctionnement et dysfonctionnements de l'art contemporain. Edition l'Harmattan.
^ Costa, Mario (2012). Ontology of the media. Edition postmedia books.
^ Ricardo Mbarkho - Communication, Language, Cultural industry. Crypt Publishing - Edition Hardmod Carlyle Nicolao. 2012.
^ Brickwood, Cathy (2009). Mapping E-Culture, Virtueel Platform, Editor.
^ Stener, Christophe (2010). Dictionnaire politique d'Internet et du numérique. La Tribune.