2018

Revisiting: Hold Your Breath

Revisiting: Hold Your Breath originates from an installation by Nour Sokhon, produced in collaboration with Lea Kirdikian and Xavier Baghdadi (Junk Munkez) and Ziad M. Moukarzel for the exhibition The Inconvenience of Silence (2018). This fictional film encourages people to fight throwaway culture, specifically in Lebanon. The soundscape reflects the impact that noise pollution has on the abiotic and biotic sounds present within the marine habitat.

 Videography: Moath Habli & Lea Zraika | Sound design: Ziad Moukarzel & Nour Sokhon | Color grading & editing: Nour Sokhon | Lighting assistant: Doris Artemis Rehban

Corridors 

“Corridors” is an experiment that reimagines the relationship between absent bodies, their traces, and the space they once inhabited, through sonic and visual interventions at the Grand Sofar Hotel.

 The project was co-written during an onsite research residency in collaboration with Youmna Saba.

The Ontological Daydream

The Ontological Daydream (Live Performance: opening act for Gurumiran at Radio Beirut)
An audio visual journey which invites the audience into an elevating meditative sphere composed of visuals, field recordings and electroacoustic music.
Vocal samples used are from Suzy Nairn

The Reverse of a Child 

The soundtrack of “The Reverse of a Child” is part of a project Nour Sokhon created for Radio Mansion in collaboration with Freya Edmondes. All the sounds in the track are from a sound bank recorded by people from the Mansion community documenting their auditory journey to Mansion and shared through a Whatsapp group. Nour and Freya were fascinated by how they did not know the identity of the people who did those recordings and by what they chose to share from their personal or daily life.

This notion inspired the creation of the film for “The Reverse of a Child” a nightmare lullaby .. the film will be shared with the public in due time. 

Excerpt from "Revisiting: Hold Your Breath"  for the Shame On Us Initiative

Excerpt from “Revisiting: Hold Your Breath” is a film that aims to encourage people to fight the throwaway culture and self reflect upon the international garbage crisis that Lebanon is facing. We are water, hence we must not destroy ourselves by contaminating our waters.

Director,Editor & Color grader: Nour Sokhon Videographers: Moath Habli and Leah Zraika Sound Designer: Shame On Us Initiative  Lighting Assistant: Doris Artemis Rehban

The Inconvenience of Silence

The Inconvenience of Silence is comprised of three parts, two installations and one performance which took place on the opening night on the 23rd of May at Haven for Artists. 

Auto

An auditory experience; recreating the passive act of humans as noise pollutants and their ability to maintain their sense of mental composure. “Auto” highlights intrusive frequencies which lead them to be apathetically assertive with their urban happenings without processing.

By Nour Sokhon and Ziad Moukarzel

There is Life Without T.V

City Complex performed a 30 minute set which introduces their first album “I don’t like it when there is other people around”, which will be released this year. “There is Life Without T.V” sought to take the audience on an audio visual journey, which comments on the age of disinformation and reflects upon the heavily obtrusive noises. These sounds present in cities induce high levels of auditory stimuli which affect people’s social interactions and daily well-being. 

“I don’t like it when there is other people around” is composed of field recordings which map-out the dense levels of noise pollution present in cities and towns in Lebanon. In order to highlight the evasion of sounds which travels into people’s homes without choice; they have recorded sounding objects in Oscar Niemeyer’s Dome to illustrate an unspoken narrative by voicing it through noise. 

​By Nour Sokhon and Ziad Moukarzel

Hold Your Breath 

An interactive shadow painting, which transforms trash into beauty through up-cycling a translucent pollutant known as “plastic”. Health cannot be bought. It does not matter which class in society one originates from, as we are all humans who breathe in the same air. “Hold Your Breath” encourages people to self-reflect upon an international crisis that Lebanon is suffering from, from within a creative environment. The creators of the installation, Nour Sokhon and Junk Munkez (Lea Kirdikian and Xavier Baghdadi) share common ideologies about the environment. We are water, hence we must not destroy ourselves by contaminating our waters. The soundscape of “Hold your Breath” composed by Nour Sokhon in collaboration with Ziad Moukarzel, reflects the impact that noise pollution has on the abiotic and biotic sounds present within the marine habitat.“Hold Your Breath” aims to encourage people to conserve Lebanon’s natural image for future generations to come.

Nour Sokhon in collaboration with Lea Kradokian and Xavier Baghdadi from Junk Munkez, and Ziad Moukarzel.

The Fantastic Plastic Submarine Workshop

The Fantastic Plastic Submarine Workshop was a part of The Inconvenience of Silence exhibition. The event took place at Haven for Artists and was documented by students from the film department in NDU. The aim of the workshop was to educate children about recycling and upcycling in order to preserve the natural image of Lebanon. Junk Munkez and Nour Sokhon provided them with the opportunity to create their very own underwater submarine mask of awesomeness and the winner was provided was the chance to see "Hold Your Breath" live before the opening of the exhibition.

A Different Approach to Hysterical Letters & Mental Warfare

 Live performance at Frequent Defect in collaboration with Dayna Ash.