Melissa Ghazale (Lebanon, 1992) is a video and performance artist and researcher whose work deeply investigates the nuances of language, particularly in the context of algorithmic censorship. Through video and live performance, their work explores how language shifts according to the different spaces of enunciation. Beyond their personal practice, they are an independent curator who experiments with community-centered exhibitions that respond to social crises, emphasizing collaborative, non-hierarchical production methods. Her main curatorial works were in Beirut ARCANA I, II, III: the witch gatherings, I Don’t Want to Talk, But… at Zico House and Art Education in the Middle-East I, II along with Miha Viptonik.
They are currently based in Switzerland and have recently showed their works at Bureau des Questions Importantes #8 Eeeeh! (Nyon), Space Invasion #3 Fabienne Levy Gallery (Geneva), Just In Time Live in Your Head (Geneva), and participated in the table ronde on Diversity and Institutions with Noemie Michel at CALM (Lausanne).
video/ installation-video,
2023-2024
17 min 11 ;
unfinished works
Artist At Work* by Melissa Ghazale, is a screen recording
revealing the process of the artist attempting to make a work in a time of crisis.
It was supposed to be the documentation of a performance she made
in 2016 that was put on hold because
of the political climate.
extra credits:
The Incompetents (Tabbal/Yared)
Firas el Hallak
Aelia Hazil
performance/ installation-performance,
2025
25 min ;
HEAD Genève
(no documentation available yet)
Now the game was originally about him.
About how to speak of him, without speaking of him,
in a place where am not allowed to speak of him.
Each character, each friend would reveal an aspect of him
To finally map a portrait of him…
or the other way around…
Is this map his? Or mine?
Or is it just a pretext to talk about them, my friends.
I don’t really know anymore.
Notes on “Friendship’s Death” is not about the film “Friendship’s Death”
nor about the argument we had in class about “Friendship’s Death”.
Notes on “Friendship’s Death” might be about friendship and death,
but it’s definitely not about AI joining the resistance.
Notes on “Friendship’s Death” is first and foremost an attempt to historicize the past while the past still remains -present, in an interminable effort to put time back in its place.
extra credits:
Alaa Mansour
My dear friends
performance/ text-performance,
2025
So while I was working on this I was thinking of the people who would find this funny,
are they laughing because they’re broken, or sad?
Irritated in their daily lives? Like me
Then I started thinking of the people who won’t find this funny.
Why are they not laughing?
Are they perplexed?
Offended?
Attacked?
Or are they just worried that other people could find this funny?
Are they afraid of the people laughing?
Anyway you’ll see for yourselves,
I decided to write myself a stand up comedy bit that doesn’t make people laugh but rather deeply aggravate them.
I called it, “Sorry, This was Meant to be Funny.”
Or, “A Joke Gone Terribly Wrong.”
extra credits:
The Art Of Boo
Amour Sale
performance/ installation-performance,
2024
HEAD Genève
The title of this piece is:
I am very reluctant to show you this work, but there’s an urgency to it.
Or,
I want you to get to know me.
Or,
This is not about Gaza, Particularly…
Or,
I present you: The Magician.
Or,
Please stop me, I’m a Narcissist
Or,
Something begging in the brain, begging the mouth to stop.
Or,
My best work will go undocumented,
Or,
Incorrigibly yours, by yours truly
Or,
The artist is NOT present,
Or,
I was never diagnosed with ADHD,
Or,
Can you relate?
Or,
When will this performance end?
and finally, or,
I wish I was a pop star!
<3 UwU