How is sound a tool within regimes of control while also becoming a means of collective witnessing and resistance? Listening here is treated as a deliberate political act, capable of transforming acoustic violence into shared attention and antifascist presence.

15:00–15:45
Lawrence Abu Hamdan with Amr Mdah and video designer, Busher Kanj Abu Saleh, Fabio Cervi
Zifzafa
AV performative lecture

16:00–16:45
Lawrence Abu Hamdan in conversation with Rachael Rakes

17:00–17:30
ILYICH
Listening Hymns: Sonic Antifascism
Performative spoken word archive

Moderated by Rachael Rakes

Zifzafa – an Arabic word describing a wind that shakes everything in its path – centres on the Israeli occupied Syrian Golan Heights, where 30 planned wind turbines will flood the region with a relentless mechanical roar. Framed as a ‘green’ energy project, the turbines weaponise sound itself, unsettling and exhausting local life. Lawrence Abu Hamdan, founder of Earshot – the first non-profit dedicated to audio for justice, whose investigations have informed landmark legal cases – brings this research to the stage. The performance is scored by Busher Kanj, who performs live together with saxophonist Amr Mdah and Fabio Cervi, a collaborator from Earshot. Through sound and visual models, they turn the imposed noise into an act of resistance – transforming acoustic violence into something that can be witnessed, felt, and collectively opposed.

Listening Hymns is a performative spoken word archive by ILYICH (Anton Kats) – the residue of the artist’s multi year research exploring sound and listening as generative practices within the research trajectory of Sonic Antifascism. The project asks: how can sonic practice articulate antifascist cultural work? The archive’s selections appear through radio shows, university lectures, sound meditations, listening sessions, theatre and music performances under the artist’s multiple names. Tracing ways of listening through the words of artists, musicians, poets, writers, cultural practitioners, meditators and activists, among others, the ever growing selection of voices traces the practice of listening through the performative and the sonic. Engaging concrete and metaphorical domains of listening, the archive draws on themes of anti racism and intersectional feminism, sonic and somatic practices, critical theory and abolitionism, spirit and ritual, allyship, community building, education, sound studies and politics among many others. The will artist stage a performative intervention; it begins with a.s.a.p. – a sonic antifascist prelude followed by the archive excerpts enveloped in an improvised modular synthesis set that acts as a sonic environment for collective listening. The audience is invited to enter a deliberately ambiguous space where listening is shaped by what can be heard and what remains silent.

The voices amplified in space in the order of appearance: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni, Rae Johnson, Dylan Robinson, Vaginal Davis, Paul Kivel, Ligia Lewis and Anton Kats, Busta Rhymes, Sister Tue Nghiem, Col. Bruce Hampton, Candice Hopkins.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s presentation will be followed by a conversation with Rachael Rakes.

Important notes for Symposium visitors

– With a Symposium ticket, visitors also have access to the Stedelijk Museum and its exhibitions for the entire day.
– To ensure a smooth check-in process, please arrive at least 15 minutes before the Symposium begins. Personal items such as backpacks and bags must be stored in the museum cloakroom, located in the basement.
– Laptops and tablets may be brought into the Symposium room if carried by hand or placed in a transparent bag.