The group attempts to research and document a contemporary history of Lebanon and in turn to perform this archive in certain ways.  While researching and documenting historical information, the group also produces audio, visual and literary artefacts that reveal a contemporary history of Lebanon.

“the project runs a convoluted line between fact and fiction, replacing unitary power with fragmented assemblage” (Mark Beasley, Frieze, March 2006)

The work pulls us towards the contradictions within historical records and subverts what Foucault would call ‘meta narratives’ created by traditional historicism. They do so in part through the use of fictional characters of many forms. These characters are used to highlight conflicts within historical narratives. The Fadl Fakhouri File documents 226 notebooks of a fictional historian, said to hold written evidence taken from a fictive car bombing investigation.

http://www.theatlasgroup.org/data/TypeA.html

"Secrets in the open sea" : twenty-nine photographic prints that were found buried under rubble in the commercial districts of Beirut in the 1993 demolition. These are large monochrome blue prints with a small b/w picture in the corner. It is said that once taken to a laboratory it was discovered that portraits could be found underneath the blue images. It is unclear whether this is presented as fact or fiction but the photographs represent a rupture or discontinuity that has been found through research and archaeology.

Susan Meiselas: In History
September 19, 2008–January 4, 2009
International Center of Photography

An American photographer best known for her work covering the political upheavals in Central America in the 1970s and '80s, Susan Meiselas's process has evolved in radical and challenging ways as she has grappled with pivotal questions about her relationship to her subjects, the use and circulation of her images in the media, and the relationship of images to history and memory. Her insistent engagement with these concerns has positioned her as a leading voice in the debate on contemporary documentary practice.

"A clay cylinder covered in Akkadian cuneiform script, damaged and broken, the Cyrus Cylinder is a powerful symbol of religious tolerance and multi-culturalism. In this enthralling talk Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, traces 2600 years of Middle Eastern history through this single object." -- courtesy of TED.com