A Scenographic Edition of the “House of the Milky Way” Project lands in Beirut by Antonello Ghezzi

“The House of the Milky Way” is an interactive, public contemporary art project that has travelled the globe, being activated in cities like Faenza, Cordoba, Santiago del Cile, Ramallah, and Beirut. The message of the project is that we are all citizens of the Milky Way galaxy, and that if an embassy was realized for this galaxy, we would all belong there. The project thus proclaims unity and peace at its core concepts. “If our galaxy were a single nation, how would its offices look like and what actions could be performed in its spaces?” Antonello Ghezzi put together this premise for the project from the start.

Antonello Ghezzi is an Italian artist duo comprised of Nadia Antonello and Paolo Ghezzi, and they are based in Bologna. They have been reflecting on the theme of peace and hope for years. The project in Beirut in November 2025 was realized as a 3-day workshop involving seven 3rd year students from the Institut d’Études Scéniques, Audiovisuelles et Cinématographiques at Université Saint-Joseph, directed by Professor Toufic Khoury. This version of the project is a scenographic edition, ending with a video and photo documentation of the embassy that the students built together. The project involved several steps, including: concept, design, construction, lighting, sound, video, photography, writing, and acting. It included students; Grace Nehmé, Lynn Haybe, Nour Ghnatios, Kay Romanos, Talya Haddad, Wadih Khairallah, and Dana Daher. 

The project was realized once before in Beirut in 2022, an exhibition curated by Maie El-Hage and with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Beirut. Maie’s collaboration with Antonello Ghezzi has been ongoing since 2019, and she has curated several shows for them, collaborating with the Italian Institute of Culture in Beirut on three occasions in the past. It is thanks to her support that the November 2025 workshop was realized in Beirut.