Ricardo Mbarkho (25 January 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon), is a Lebanese contemporary artist, researcher, and assistant professor.
In the past, he has produced video and digital arts. Mbarkho's current work belongs to 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 in 2001, he explores the geopolitical environment that he uses as a de-aestheticized invisible medium. Today, Tabbouleh Day 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, as well as in his time-based work, he investigates multiple questions related to interactivity, language, communication, cultural industries, history of art as well as the visual representation within the sociopolitical sphere.
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. Mbarak, Ricardo (2015). « Pour une double définition des relations entre création médiatique et industries culturelles », in Al Hikma journal, 3rd period, Eighth year, Number 14 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