Biography

Ghassan Salameh, a trilingual design curator, creative consultant, and cultural facilitator, holds a Master's degree in European Design Labs from IED-Madrid. Presently situated in Marseille, he is the founder of "Madar Design," a shapeshifting and adaptive cultural agency dedicated to providing equal opportunities for creatives and artists by proposing non conventional representation formats.

His self-taught practice focuses on cultural programming and curation in design, architecture, urban planning, public space interventions, design research and transdisciplinary design. Before transitioning to curatorial work, Ghassan founded a design studio (2012 -2017) specialized in lighting and spatial design, where he was featured in multiple design fairs including Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, London, Madrid, Milan, Venice, Rotterdam, Berlin, Lebanon and others.

He also served as production and operation manager at the Beirut Art Center in 2014-15, overseeing exhibitions by contemporary artists such as Giuseppe Penone, Kader Attia, Georges Didi-Hubermann, John Akomfrah, Zineb Sadira.

In 2018, he curated a collectively engaged edition of the Beirut Design Week’18, themed "Design & the City”. In 2019, Ghassan developed the design education and training program “Fantasmeem” for the Goethe-Institut Libanon. In 2020 and 2021, Ghassan was the Creative Director for Dubai Design Week, curating multiple public programs and exhibitions focused on design and architecture research and experimentation as well as design in public space and city making.


In January 2022, Ghassan was commissioned by the British Council in Beirut to develop a capacity-building and critical thinking workshop part of CATAPULT.visual’arts for emerging visual artists in Lebanon. In 2023, Ghassan curated a SWANA design collection at Dukkan42, 421 Arts Center in Abu Dhabi.
He also served as Senior Strategy Consultant for the UAE's Ministry of Culture and Youth (Dec 2022 - Jun 2023) and as a Senior Researcher at IED's Research Center for the New European Bauhaus project (Apr - Jul 2023). Additionally, Ghassan curated the Under Design Lebanon Research Exhibition at Salone Del Mobile 2023 and contributed as a design writer to Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council's publication, "Architecture of Culture," in Mar 2023.

Throughout his career, Ghassan curated and produced over 40 art and design exhibitions, managed three design festivals, and collaborated with 250+ Middle-Eastern and international designers, artists, architects, and cultural institutions.