2021

Tumultuous Convolutions

My ceiling fan morphs into a helicopter.
My ceiling fan morphs into distant gunshots.
My ceiling fan morphs into the dense soundscape of a city in rebellion.
Tear gas.
Rubber Bullets.
Water Cannons.
Helicopters.
Traffic lights.
Street Vendors.
Endless construction noise.
Church bells.
A sonic invasion from the past.
The habitual soundscape of the city is disrupted by the recurrent insistence of sirens, preachers, birds, generators, nomadic announcements by the state, and political parties.
These sounds become all the more ubiquitous as the city is calmer, as the electricity cuts more frequently, as the pandemic becomes ever more insistent, pervasive, with Easter Sunday on the horizon.
Vicariously living through the sonic intervention of the human, animal, and machinic other, embedded in a city at rest.
The ambulance sirens now pierce the air with an unprecedented intensity.
On April 4, 2020, my best friend’s partner burned his hand while cooking a late night snack.
A month later on May 4, 2020, I realized that I was not leaving the country for my fellowship abroad.
Two months later on June 4, 2020, I was unable to leave my bed from excruciating menstrual pain.
The nights leading up to July were sleepless, hot and dark. There was barely any electricity. Except for the concrete walls surrounding me, it felt like I was camping in my own home.
On July 4, 2020 I went to the Chouf valley to get some fresh air.
On August 4, 2020 at 2:00 pm, I started recording a voice over for a film with a poet. We shut down all the windows to block out the city noise. We finish at 5.30 pm. She leaves and I order a fried chicken burger. The windows are still shut.
At 6:08 pm, a bomb explodes at the port. It’s 2750 tons strong.
Six years in the making, if not thirty.
Reverberations.
An earthquake perhaps.
A rocket maybe.
A suspension of the audible.
A suspension of time.
Vibrations.
A shockwave.
A suspension of the suspension.
A sonic boom.
Shattered glass.
Alarm bells.
Not so distant cries.
Hysteria.
Sensory deprivation.
Sine waves.
Lighting up of the sensory cortex.
Sensation overtakes information.
Fight or flight.
Flight.
Intricate entanglements.
Deafening silence.
Brown noise.
A hum.
Tumultuous
Thunderous
Ear-splitting
Ringing in the ears
Tinnitus.
Ringing of phones.
Voices breaking up.
Still no information.
No sensation.
No signal.
The sight of the ceiling fan never evoked anything until I heard it.

Tumultuous Convolutions (sound & text): by Nour Sokhon
Neighbors (illustration) by Sarah Saroufim 
Guest Editor: Rayya Badran 
The Derivative / Reverberations - Beirut Art Center (online publication)

Nouvelle Nahda (episode 2)

“Nouvelle Nahda is an international art project between Neumarkt and artists from Beirut. It presents itself in different forms and works: with an online publication (click episode 1), a documentary film essay (click episode 2) and with a photo and sound installation by the Lebanese artists Myriam Boulos and Nour Sokhon. Nouvelle Nahda started one and a half years ago as a journey of a group of artists from Beirut and Zurich, who came together to explore and expand on the notion of Nahda. Nahda is Arabic for renaissance; an awakening; the act of rising up. In a historical context, Nahda refers to a cultural movement that swept a number of Arabic-speaking countries in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century; a time when a wave of artistic and cultural output gave birth to a new way of life. The coming together of artists under the umbrella of Nouvelle Nahda was meant to activate a collaborative, transnational, cross-disciplinary artistic process. The intention was to unpack the many different dimensions of Nahda and situate them within a broader conversation on the politics of (radical) change. Nouvelle Nahda was initially conceived for the stage, later found itself in a constant space of metamorphosis. As the world shifted on its axes, Nouvelle Nahda had to also evolve to capture new energies and shifts in politics, society and culture.”

Nouvelle Nahda – Episode 1 was released in April 2020 as an enhanced online publication and a video series of Artists in Conversation. This body of work documents and presents texts and artworks that were born at a time of revolution and great change.

Nouvelle Nahda – Episode 2 manifests in three different yet interconnected ways. First, in print with a text A Season of Migration to the Sun by Lebanese author Ibrahim Nehme, in the city through photo interventions by Lebanese photographer Myriam Boulos, and above all as a documentary film essay by the entire artistic team.”

To watch Nouvelle Nahda episode 2 click here.

By & with Yara Bou Nassar, Myriam Boulos, Hayat Erdoğan, Juan Ferrari, Anna Hofmann, Sophie Krayer, Ibrahim Nehme, Kenza Nessaf, Antje Schupp, Michel Steinberg, Nour Sokhon.

The Sky Oscillates Between Eternity and Its Immediate Consequences 

The Sky Oscillates Between Eternity and Its Immediate Consequences is Nadim Choufi’s winning project from Art Jameel Commissions: Digital’s open call in 2020. Set in a space colony on Earth, this new sci-film explores how the future of smart cities relies on the promise of “sustainable” closed systems in the face of health and ecological crises. Two protagonists narrate how the control and exploitation of environmental life cycles and organisms become a blueprint to achieve such futuristic visions.

⁠⁠The 18-minute film can be viewed exclusively online through Art Jameel’s online platform here. For an optimal viewing experience, viewing on a large screen is encouraged.

This project was made possible with the support of the following collaborators: Mario Hawat (Lead CG artist), Antony Maalouf (Editor), Dayna Ash and Jad Wadi (Voice actors), Nour Sokhon (Composer), Ziad Moukarzel (Sound Mixing), Roula Seghaeir (Translator), featuring Wake Island’s song Last Ruins.

I Prefer To Travel

I Prefer To Travel is commissioned by BAC in the framework of Micro-commissions no.4: The Bridge Cuts Ever So Close to My Balcony with the support of 21dB.

Sound Composition: by Nour Sokhon

Abou Farid’s War

Archaeology inspector and conservator Abou Farid shares with artist Omar Mismar part of his image library documenting the condition of mosaic works in the aftermath of several raids on Ma’arrat Al-Numan Museum in Idlib, Syria as well as the independent preservation efforts that ensued. The images give way to an aleatory conversation interweaving questions of cultural heritage and territory, preservation techniques and destruction, traceability and looting, and the production and circulation of images in times of war. 

This film reflects from a very human perspective on the stories and lifelines of the many people forced by different regimes to work and live under constant threat in a state of continuous crisis. It is a story of love and respect towards culture and commitment to one’s work, a fight for survival.

Created by Omar Mismar
‘Abou Farid’s War,’ 2021
Single-channel video, color, sound
31 min 20 sec
Music Composition Nour Sokhon | Sound Mixing Ziad Moukarzel | Coloring Belal Hibri | Editing Omar Mismar | Translation Ziad Chakaroun | Master Mosaicist Abou Amir | Animation file preparation Nadim Zablit
Commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary for st_age in collaboration with Ashkal Alwan

Eating The Copper Apple

Eating the Copper Apple is a soul-searching tale of identity by the prize-winning queer poet and writer Lisa Luxx. Shaped by her life, it weaves together politics and dreams, loss and fulfilment into a one-woman verse play that explores adoption and mixed-heritage. Taking audiences on a voyage from West Yorkshire to the borders of Syria through family, romance and culture, it asks a big question: how do we become who we are? Both funny and philosophical, this profound piece of theatre examines the immense impact of displacement on our sense of self. This collaborative project spearheaded by Luxx (writer, director, performer) brings together a team of Arab women artists: Nour Sokhon (composer), Tamara Al-Mashouk (visual designer), Diyan Zora (dramaturg), Scarlett Saad (sound engineer), and Alia Alzougbi (producer).

This show was developed and commissioned by Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, and funded by the Al-Omar family and Arts Council England.

A digital version of Eating the Copper Apple has been produced for audiences who prefer to enjoy the show from their homes. The online version features the show’s effects, including the visual and soundscapes that accompany the live show. It is best enjoyed using headphones.

Blue Spaces

هيHeya is an experimental music project, which aims to act as a bridge for women making music in the Middle East. For Liverpool Arab Arts Festival 2021, members Nour Sokhon, Yara Mekawei, Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu and Jilliene Sellner bring us Blue Spaces – a film event that raises questions about class, gender and colonialism and how they relate to the climate crisis.

Composed of voice, cello, sonic interventions, field recordings and video footage from Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul and Hastings, Blue Spaces is a stereo soundscape with an ethereal, fluid feel – existing in stark contrast to the realities of class, gender and the political and climate based traumas of the Middle East.

The climate crisis that the world now faces is largely down to industry and consumerism that is rooted in the Western world, yet a lack of responsibility for these realities still endures. The impact that this activity is now having across the Middle East falls mainly on the shoulders of women and the working class – themes that will be reflected in the sounds and visual work of Blue Spaces.

Expanded Turn

"Expanded Turn", is a project developed by sound artists Nour Sokhon (Beirut, Lebanon) and Jilliene Sellner (Hastings, UK) that explores the universality of sonic realities unfolding during the Corona Pandemic. They juxtapose the experiences of geographically distant people and places through different research methods. By collecting interviews, sonic and visual experiences, Sokhon and Sellner bring to life cultural assumptions, prejudices, understandings and commonalities. The research material is translated into a soundwalk, sound installation and video, a commissioned collection of works for Neue Kunstraum (NKR). The project would have not been possible without the anonymous contributors who shared with us their words, photos and videos. 

As a part of the exhibition they invited artist and filmmaker Lena Ditte Nissen to interpret the work with a tour and a workshop. In addition both artists reflected on their process with  Dr. Linnea Semmerling (intermedia art institute Düsseldorf) and Anne Schülke by discussing public, artist artistic archives, deleting archives, grief, lost time and mental health during the pandemic. 

Transcription excerpts from “it…feels like something from another life…” :

I don't feel like I am myself. I don't feel like anyone I know is themselves. I do have eye contact with strangers.It is the only contact you can have now.

As a teenager Beirut was pretty alive. 

You know the world around us is so absurd.  It's just been a year. The seasons change quite quickly. 

What do you understand about the physical world? What is physical about the world? 

I observe more people and how they are behaving but what I see is that people are avoiding eye contact with one another.  

I had to find refuge in the mountains because the air became too much to smell. For the longest time I wasn’t able to see nature anymore because the reality was too heavy on us. 

It was nice to see Beirut calm without the chaos.

I hear the tinnitus in my ears and that's about it. I had to find refuge in the mountains because the air became too much to smell. 

For me traffic noise these days is what really brings me down. 

I don't see or hear anything the same, I remember on a walk I did with you one of us stepped on a twig and actually the next day when I was walking I only remembered that twig when I was at that spot and it was weird because I just remembered the sound. 

I find myself observing details instead of looking at the big picture you know. 

I hear things louder than before.  If a car passes by I feel totally irritated by loud sounds. 

The air smelled different at first but then pollution came back. 

You know the world around us is so absurd. 

The hugs. The three kisses. It feels like something from another life.

A project by Nour Sokhon & Jilliene Sellner   Idea and organization: Detlef Klepsch und Anne Schülke                                     Illustration (Project): Hassan Issa                                                                           Illustration (Map): Ellie Jewell                                                                                     Sound Mixing and Mastering: Ziad Moukarzel                                                     Workshop and Talk Moderator: Lena Ditte Nissen                                                   Photos: Johannes Bendzulla

Vocal Bodies

Lebanon's recent history witnessed a series of traumatic events that drastically affected the country on a societal, and economical level. This resulted in a new Beirut, that is visually dark at night, and sonically less diverse. The cars that pass with their loud music are no longer heard, the chatter of drunken youth moving in Mar Mikhael has disappeared, along with some iconic buildings. Vocal Bodies is an 8 min soundscape which explores the relationship between abandoned spaces, and women’s voices, that have been affected by catastrophes, such as The Revolution, The Pandemic and The Beirut Port Blast. A site specific intervention was held in June 2021, gathering 7 Arab women from different backgrounds (ages 25-50) based in Beirut, to a historically layered location. Vocal Bodies explores their personal stories, and how Lebanon's recent events have impacted them.

Transcription excerpts:

“ We have to make use of our space and its efficiency. How a person lives in it as well. And also sitting as one family in a room reminds me of my past. When a space disappears you cannot relate to the… I mean even your memory disappears with it.”

“Violence is rooted in how people are dealing with their ideals. Because these are ideals, when we say solid, for us to be solid, we are tied to a system that really requires us to have self-awareness. When we are denying what we lived and are hiding it, we are accentuating the trauma. I didn’t even debate this destruction because in my opinion it's safe even though it is destruction.”

Project Director, Composer & Photographer: Nour Sokhon
Production Manager: Layane El Hajjar
Production Assistant: Marie-Joëlle Courson
Sound Recordist: Tania Kammoun
Mediator: May Obeid
Mixing & Mastering: Redbooth Studio

The work was commissioned by Irtijal in the frame of ISTIMRAR series.

Beirut in 1 minute

"Beirut in 1 minute" is a commission by AGYA for Beats of City Life. The soundscape was played with other sounds from Berlin, Cairo, Tunis, and Kuwait City. At the audio station in front of AGYA in Berlin, the city sounds were visualized by their corresponding waves in 3-D prints. The exhibit was produced in the FabLab of the Helmut-Schmidt-Universität in Hamburg. AGYA member Dr. Sonja Buxbaum-Conradi supervised the conversion of the 2D waves into a 3-D model and conducted the print of the object with her team at the FabLab.

Voyaging Through Silent Rumbles

Voyaging Through Silent Rumbles, is the continuation of Vocal Bodies. The latter is an 8 min soundscape which explores the relationship between abandoned spaces and women’s voices that have been affected by human made catastrophes. Silent screams are a constant active presence which accompany our daily lives in Beirut. One layer at a time Voyaging Through Silent Rumbles is a collaborative improvisation with classical musicians which explores our bodies' reactions to facing this normalized state of violence in which we are embedded. 

It was an honor to have been given the opportunity to collaborate with Ensemble Modern on this project.

Photos: Sebastian at Frankfurt Lab.

Revisiting: Vocal Bodies

“Revisiting: Vocal Bodies'' is an extension of “Vocal Bodies”. The latter is an 8 minute soundscape, which explores the relationship between abandoned spaces and women’s voices that have been affected by human made catastrophes, such as The Lebanese Revolution, The Pandemic and The August 4th Beirut Port Blast. Lebanon's recent history witnessed a series of traumatic events that drastically affected the country on a socioeconomic level. This resulted in a new Beirut, that is visually dark at night, and sonically less diverse. The cars that pass with their loud music are no longer heard, the chatter of drunken youth moving in Mar Mikhael has disappeared, along with some iconic buildings. Both works use material collected from a site specific intervention held in June 2021, gathering 7 Arab women from different backgrounds (ages 25 - 50) based in Beirut, at a historically layered location facing the Beirut Port.

“Revisiting: Vocal Bodies”, transforms “Vocal Bodies” into a multisensory interactive installation inside a reflective shipping container, that arrived to Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig in June 2019, approximately 3 months before the start of the October 17 Revolution in Lebanon / ثورة 17 تشرين الأول . The soundscape is deconstructed into travelling voices through various tape recordings.“Revisiting: Vocal Bodies”, resists the recurrent theme of disappearance present in Lebanon, by materializing “Vocal Bodies”  into physical objects, and allowing the spectator to interact with it by playing the tape recorders. The container being the archive that stores and transports the voices of these Arab women across the oceans and ports. Text, textures, light and sound are the storytelling elements used to induce a state of “flow” for the spectator to embody the voices of the women present in “Vocal Bodies''.

Multi-sensory installation, 6m x 230cm x 230cm Graphic Design: Farah Gamal  Spatial Consultant: Jerzy Goliszewski  Preproduction advisor: Yara Mekawei Special thanks to: Carla Müller, Hannah Waniek, Steffen Lischka, Elleen Becker, Janis Binder, Johanna Altgassen, Ingo Schulz, Karen Klauke and Uwe Bergmann. Photo documentation: Lexi Schnäbele