Bodies of Waves is a new iteration of the site-specific sonic art project Bodies of Waves by Razan Sabbagh (SY/DE).
Bodies of Waves uses sound as an artistic tool to delve into the complex interplay between language devices in mass media and the profound issues of migration, colonialism, and climate change. Bodies of Waves appropriates, collages, and examines audio from media outlets’ use of water as a linguistic metaphor to frame refugees and migrants. Terms such as “flood” and “wave” not only evoke images of overwhelming natural forces, but also subtly perpetuate colonial attitudes, reducing individuals to faceless masses and increasing notions of “otherness”. Bodies of Waves also confronts a modern form of colonialism: climate change.
This is the third episode of the ongoing program S for Sound, S for Solidarity (SfS, SfS) - an audio infrastructure for artists co-founded by f.eks. and artist Yazan Khalili in 2023. SfS, SfS seeks to utilize sonic and radio programming to highlight artistic, socio-political, and cultural conversations in relation to localized power dynamics and broader geo-political contexts, launching public sonic artworks, listening sessions, and radio broadcasts that connect Northern Denmark to wider global contexts in collaboration with partner Radio alHara راديو الحارة.
A special thank you to Radio alHara, Huset i Hasserisgade, Korma, Thomas Birket-Smith, and Morten Poulsen for helping in the realization of this project.
Bodies of Waves uses sound as an artistic tool to delve into the complex interplay between language devices in mass media and the profound issues of migration, colonialism, and climate change. Bodies of Waves appropriates, collages, and examines audio from media outlets’ use of water as a linguistic metaphor to frame refugees and migrants. Terms such as “flood” and “wave” not only evoke images of overwhelming natural forces, but also subtly perpetuate colonial attitudes, reducing individuals to faceless masses and increasing notions of “otherness”. Bodies of Waves also confronts a modern form of colonialism: climate change.
This is the third episode of the ongoing program S for Sound, S for Solidarity (SfS, SfS) - an audio infrastructure for artists co-founded by f.eks. and artist Yazan Khalili in 2023. SfS, SfS seeks to utilize sonic and radio programming to highlight artistic, socio-political, and cultural conversations in relation to localized power dynamics and broader geo-political contexts, launching public sonic artworks, listening sessions, and radio broadcasts that connect Northern Denmark to wider global contexts in collaboration with partner Radio alHara راديو الحارة.
A special thank you to Radio alHara, Huset i Hasserisgade, Korma, Thomas Birket-Smith, and Morten Poulsen for helping in the realization of this project.
Thursday, June 26th:
Listening Session from 2:00 - 3:30 pm
*Online Broadcast Event with Radio alHara راديو الحارة
(Access the digital link here)
Listening Session from 2:00 - 3:30 pm
*Online Broadcast Event with Radio alHara راديو الحارة
(Access the digital link here)
Razan Sabbagh’s practice explores identity, sociopolitics, and questions oppressive power structures, such as investigating the infrastructure of institutions, prisons, and other liminal spaces. Sabbagh often collects oral narratives and stories or appropriates and reconfigures existing texts, interviews, and testimonies as a starting point for her work. Through installation, video, sound, and performance her work explores the relationship between art, activism, aesthetics, and power. She has participated in numerous exhibitions globally, including at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Kampnagel, and Thalia Theater, Hamburg (DE), Simian, Copenhagen (DK), the Sharjah Art Museum (AE), the Goethe Institute, Paris (FR), Kunshalle Bremen (DE), f.eks., Aalborg (DK), and Casino Display in Luxembourg (LU).