🌃 What a night. Between conversation, food, and joy, we turned dialogue into connection. Bustan brought words to life; Across languages, across tables, across hearts. A celebration of stories, community, and the beauty of coming together. ✨
Habibi: @ustaz_marwan
Host: @athensinsidercollective
Wine: @eossamou
Editor: @creatiniks
Videographer: @juliandeblock
Support: @urok.shirhan
Photographer: @christianjohndyson@artsectgallery
Music: @mashrouleila
Fishbowl: @_ipadel@omikrosprigipakosofficial@stav.jpeg@ustaz_marwan & Alexandra Bouga
#TheQueerArabGlossary #BustanAthina #AthensInsider #BustanStudio #CommunityInTranslation
Greek:
Τι βραδιά. Ανάμεσα σε συζητήσεις, φαγητό και χαρά, μετατρέψαμε τον διάλογο σε σύνδεση. Το Bustan έδωσε ζωή στις λέξεις — πέρα από γλώσσες, τραπέζια και καρδιές. Μια γιορτή ιστοριών, κοινότητας και της ομορφιάς του να είμαστε μαζί.
#TheQueerArabGlossary #BustanAthina #AthensInsider #BustanStudio #CommunityInTranslation
SPOTLIGHT: 🌞🌚Yasmina Hilal, weaver of nostalgia 🛟🌌
glimpses of how it becomes shared, even by those who never held it as their own.
Η Yasmina Hilal, υφάντρα της νοσταλγίας—μας προσφέρει στιγμές όπου γίνεται κοινή, ακόμη και για όσους δεν την είχαν ποτέ δική τους.
🪁🪟
⸻
Post by the wonderfully talented @heyporterposter
#YasminaHilal #ContemporaryArt #ArabArt #MiddleEastArt #ArtInAthens #BustanStudio #ArtCommunity #DiasporaArt #NostalgiaInArt #EmergingArtist #CulturalMemory
Day 1 — The Gathering
A full house at Lexikopoleio for the Athens launch of The Queer Arab Glossary — and starting strong with a full sell-out! Between shelves of books and bursts of laughter, language, identity, and curiosity met in dialogue, marking a beautiful beginning.
Hosted at the charming @lexikopoleio
📸 by the talented @christianjohndyson
#TheQueerArabGlossary #BustanAthina #Lexikopoleio #athenslaunch
Day 2 — The Conversation
Gathered voices, questions, and reflections under pink and blue neon. The Fishbowl Conversation at Athens Insider brought together friends, thinkers, and curiosity from across languages and cities — reimagining how Arabic and Greek words can hold us, move us, and sometimes set us free.
Speakers:
@ustaz_marwan
alexandra.bouga
@Omikrosprigipakos@_ipadel
With a secret supper prepared by Hadi Al Khatib, who filled the table with warak anab, muhammara, hummus, and more — a true linguistic feast.
Helping hands @urok.shirhan
🥘 @hadi_khatib
Generously hosted by @athensinsidercollective
Wine provided by @eossamou
📸 @christianjohndyson
#TheQueerArabGlossary #BustanAthina #AthensInsider #FishbowlConversation
Day 3 — The Grand Finale ✨
A night of beauty, laughter, and unapologetic self-expression.
From mirror to stage, from Arabic to Greek, from heart to heart. drag truly knows no border. 💋
Thank you Athens for celebrating The Queer Arab Glossary with us, and to every performer, ally, and friend who turned the night into a moment of joy and liberation.
Thank you @okupa.athens for hosting us!
📸 @christianjohndyson
#BustanStudio #TheQueerArabGlossary #DragKnowsNoBorder #Athens #QueerCulture #CrossCulturalDialogue
A warm start to The Queer Arab Glossary Athens launch 💫
An intimate evening at Lexikopoleio with author Marwan Kaabour — stories, signatures, and shared laughter across languages.
Video by : @juliandeblock
Bookstore : @lexikopoleio
#BustanStudio #TheQueerArabGlossary #AthensLaunch
🌿 Bustan presents The Queer Arab Glossary — Athens Launch 🌿
Join us for a three-day exploration of language, identity, and expression across Arabic and Greek queer cultures.
📚 Monday, Oct 20 — Lexikopoleio
Meet & greet with Marwan Kaabour, writer of The Queer Arab Glossary.
💬 Tuesday, Oct 21 — Athens Insider
Fishbowl conversation exploring queer language and identity across Arabic and Greek.
💃 Wednesday, Oct 22 — OKUPA
A book signing and drag extravaganza: Diva Beirut meets Kangela Tromokratisch in a fiery cross-border showdown.
✨ Drag knows no borders — and neither does language.
🌿 Το Bustan παρουσιάζει τα εγκαίνια του The Queer Arab Glossary στην Αθήνα 🌿
Σας προσκαλούμε σε ένα τριήμερο αφιερωμένο στη γλώσσα, την ταυτότητα και την έκφραση μέσα από τις αραβικές και ελληνικές κουίρ κουλτούρες.
📚 Δευτέρα, 20 Οκτωβρίου — Λεξικοπωλείο
Συνάντηση γνωριμίας με τον Marwan Kaabour, συγγραφέα του The Queer Arab Glossary.
💬 Τρίτη, 21 Οκτωβρίου — Athens Insider
Ανοιχτή συζήτηση για την εξέλιξη της κουίρ γλώσσας και ταυτότητας στον αραβικό και ελληνικό κόσμο.
💃 Τετάρτη, 22 Οκτωβρίου — OKUPA
Υπογραφή βιβλίου και drag extravaganza: Η Diva Beirut συναντά την Kangela Tromokratisch σε μια εκρηκτική διαπολιτισμική παράσταση.
✨ Το drag δεν γνωρίζει σύνορα — όπως και η γλώσσα.
#BustanStudio #TheMarwanKaaboursary #AthensLaunch #QueerArabGlossary #MarwanKaabour #DragMeetsCulture #QueerLanguage #AthensEvents #LGBTQCulture #ArabicQueerVoices
💡 SPOTLIGHT: Beirut-born, Paris-based Yasmine Hamdan returns with a hypnotic third album of memory, loss, and defiance.
I Remember I Forget
بنس و بتذكر
Its self-directed title clip shows her dodging scenes of chaos—militarization, ecological collapse, war turning catastrophe into dark poetry.
From the brooding “Hon” to the encrypted Palestinian chants of “Shmaali,” she fuses classical Arabic sounds, subtle electronics, and global influences, carrying the heartbreak and resilience of Lebanon, Palestine, and the wider region into a music that feels both intimate and universal.
Michael Rakowitz, Iraqi-American artist, reanimates what has been erased—artifacts, memories, histories. In Allspice at the Acropolis Museum, Assyrian reliefs made from food packaging and his mother’s handwritten recipes are placed in dialogue with antiquities in a museum long associated with contested heritage and cultural restitution.
At Bustan, we see in this practice a mirror of our mission: to reposition the region’s narrative and foreground its culture as a site of agency, resilience, and imagination.
This exhibition is the first of a three part project organised by @neongreece and can be seen at the @theacropolismuseum until October 31!
✨ Spotlight: Marwan Kaabour ✨
Designer, art director, and cultural producer, Marwan Kaabour is celebrated for his bold visual storytelling and his role in shaping conversations around identity, language, and queer culture in the Arab world. He is also the creator of The Queer Arab Glossary — a groundbreaking project that archives and celebrates queer expression across Arabic dialects.
🌈 Keep an eye out — The Queer Arab Glossary coming to Athens this October 😉
