THE OUTPOST

A post by Andrea Leonardi

The Outpost

a magazine of possibilities

 Beirut-2013 

I recently came back from Beirut, with the excitement of having discovered a hidden treasure, for sure till then hidden to me, one of those things you want to share with your good friends. That is why I am here writing about “The Outpost”, my new favorite magazine!

The Outpost is presented as “a magazine of possibilities”. Possibility is a very widespread word and dense with meanings in a region which, in the past few years, has seen turnovers of long-established governments and dictators. The situation of void resulting from the fall of a powerful leader always creates a very delicate situation; it has been so inspiring going through the pages of the magazine and feeling that the youth, such as the team behind The Outpost, is taking upon themselves the responsibility to help shape the future of the Arab world; you really feel their pride, vision, potentials and optimistic view on a world where possibilities are endless, all feelings that in Italy lately we are not so much familiar with.

The Outpost is an example of a new breed of Middle-Eastern/Arab magazines, it immediately hits you for being somehow “unexpected and different”: a really well designed publication with attention to the smallest details: typography, structure, amazing info-graphic, the quality of paper, all features that makes it feel “refreshing” from the really first glance. “well… it is just the Lebanese version of one of the many cool-looking magazines, too cool to have insightful information, where content ends up being secondary to its appearance” somebody may think.

Oh well, that is indeed the most important part of the “discovery”, to realize that the visual appeal of ‘The Outpost’ is highly complemented by a rich content: socio-economical, life-style, design, music and various other topics presented in 3 main parts: “What's Happening” (a picture the current state of the Arab world), “What's Not Happening” (highlighting what's not working) and “What Could Happen” (envisioning ways of improvement), a powerful and stimulating journey through the state of possibilities of this intriguing region. The Outpost is published four times a year in Beirut; the inaugural issue, the issue 00 “The Possibility of Possibility” was released in September 2012 across the Middle East. A diverse team of investigative journalists, information designers, illustrators and photographers from different cities from around the region came together to produce the first edition framing the magazine route.

The issue 01, “The Possibility of Moving Forward” grounded the concept of possibility in a tangible framework of thought and action, an opportunity to examine where Arabs are today and how they can move forward from there.

The second issue 02, “The Possibility of Living Here” is based on different World Makers whose creations, energies and activism are changing the Arab world upside down. These World Makers were numbered, indexed and rearranged, then connected to each other based on what they are working on. The result is a network showing the world that is constructed due to each of them making change in different clusters of activities and their interconnections. As defined by its editors “The Outpost is a magazine of possibilities. It identifies, understands and analyzes the conflicts, morals, energies and opportunities of a changing Arab world and lays down possible futures. It aims to ignite a socio-cultural renaissance in the Arab world through inspiring its readers to explore a world of possibilities” I truly wish to all The Outpost crew all the best and the good they deserve for such a stimulating project, hoping that those sparks igniting the socio-cultural renaissance for our brothers in the other side of the Mediterranean will soon hit our lazy and dormant soil.