Fall 2018: Lara Baladi - Archiving As Resistance & the ABC of Revolting

FALL 2018 ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Special Workshop Title: Archiving As Resistance & the ABC of Revolting

Workshop Description: The fall 2018 workshop, Archiving as Resistance & the ABC of Revolting, mapped questions related to archiving a revolution in the digital age as a means of resistance with a focus on the language of rebelling.

Based on her ongoing project since 2011, Vox Populi, Archiving a Revolution in the Digital Age, the artist and the participants studied various revolts, revolutions and protests, past and present. Together they explored various archives initiatives in the global context and created artworks using the archive with a particular focus on language. The participants collaboratively and individually produced projects based on the material they researched.

Lara Baladi is an Egyptian-Lebanese artist, archivist and educator, internationally recognized for her multidisciplinary work. In her investigations into archives, personal histories, socio-political narratives and myths, Baladi’s work spans a wide range of mediums, photography—analogue and digital—collage, immersive video, sound and mutli-media installations, architectural spaces, sculptures, tapestries and perfume. Since 2014, she has been a Fellow at MIT’s Open Documentary Lab. In 2015-16, she was the Ida Ely Rubin Artist in Residence at MIT’s Centre for Art, Science and Technology (CAST). Currently, she is a Lecturer in MIT’s Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT).

Final Projects:

1001 Revolutions and Revolts

By Neo Yi Zhang and Gordiya Khademian

Our project borrows the frame narrative, the One Thousand and One Night's method of storytelling, to structure interconnected narratives of revolution. Shahrzad’s persistence and strength against a tyrannical king is mirrored in the narratives people tell about their own revolutions. This structure lends itself to a presentation of content spanning geographic locations, cultures, and time periods, just as revolution does. Just as these stories cannot be pinned down to a particular geographic location or time period, revolution is a fluid, moving entity, changing and evolving constantly by actors within and without. 1001 nights or revolutions is a way to understand multiple perspectives serving different ideals and agendas. Revolutions are not deemed important based on their failure or success; it is the simple fact that they happened that deems them worthy of telling.

A Revolution//A Return to the Beginning

By Shahab Taghipourteroujeni, Moneeza Burney, Sarah Blume, and Jess Rohan. Special thanks to Aso Mohamadi.

The video incorporates images and sounds from Koolbars, a group of Kurdish workers who transport goods across the Iran-Turkey border. It is illegal and dangerous work, which starts anew each morning.

ABCs of Revolution - Rap Performance

By Robin Jones

This rap performance was inspired by British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey's "Fire in the Booth" radio performances, which similarly use words starting with each letter of the alphabet and cover revolutionary political themes. Six letters were selected for this performance. The instrumental was produced by Abed Hathout and samples a Kurdish song selected due to its melancholy tone and relevance to themes covered in another workshop project ("A Revolution//A Return to the Beginning").

Lyrics and Performance
Robin Jones
Instrumental Music
Abed Hathot

Filmed and edited by

Sherief Elkatsha

Additional Camera

Mona Eldaief

Created during a workshop with Lara Baladi on Archiving as Resistance & the ABC of Revolting

The Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies
New York University, Fall 2018

Special Thanks
Helga Tawil Souri
James Ryan
Fidele Harfouche

Lyrics:

Authoritarians act as if alternatives aren’t available
Actually, an alternate actuality is attainable
Anarchists articulate alternative approaches
Our affliction is atrocious
AIPAC aid for armaments
Adolescents armless
As Assad attacks Aleppo and
Barrel bombs blast
We’re at the bottom of the barrel
And it’s breaking me
Bosses breaking bread with bombers
As bombs blast bread lines and bakeries
But we’re got bravery
Building back these buildings brick by brick
From Brixton to Beirut to the barrios it’s one battle
To beat Bolsonaro and Benjamin Netanyahu
They want me behind bars, but I’m bringing bars to get behind
Careful with the chatter, I could get confined
Cops putting children in cages, calling them criminals
Can you see why I’m cynical?
They’re calling it correctional
Correction – it’s based on your complexion
This concept is not complex
Color and class is the context
Of the carceral state
If you come from council estates it’s checkmate
So check yourself before you catch a case
A cold cell awaits so stay cognizant
Create class consciousness in your community
Capital constrains you and me
As corporations circulate carbon
Circumstances darken
Couple degrees different and we’re done for