Aïshti Foundation

Encompassing more than 2000 pieces by various artists, the Tony and Elham Salame collection has grown at vertiginous speed throughout the last decade, establishing the Aïshti Foundation as one of the most energetic institutions in the Middle East and beyond. The new building of the Aïshti Foundation comprises 4.000 square meters of exhibition space. With its red aluminum tubular structure, the façade – one of the most distinctive features of the architecture designed by David Adjaye – envelops the edifice in a scrim of multiple layers and geometric patterns which open onto vistas of the costal landscape and the bustling urban life of Beirut. 

At the core of the Tony and Elham Salame collection is a group of artists who have chronicled dramatic changes in the cultural and artistic history of America from the 1980s to today. “Growing up in Lebanon, for me and for many people in my generation, America had come to symbolize an idea of freedom and power which was incarnated in a life style we both wanted to embrace and refuse” says Tony Salame, the CEO of Aïshti and the founder of its contemporary art foundation. “So when I started collecting, it came quite natural that I would gravitate towards artists who equally celebrate and criticize the American dream”.