"The bullet was the means of physical subjugation. Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation." - Ngügi wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind (1986)

"أسكت [Uskut] emerges from an inquiry into language as both a site of memory and a terrain of resistance. Developed during an artistic residency in Tunis as part of the Slash Transition Creative Europe cooperation program, in collaboration with L'Art Rue, the project navigates the sonic, spatial, and political dimensions of speech, listening, and embodied communication within the مدينة. Through sound, resonance, and fragmented vocal gestures, the work reflects on how language carries histories, social relations, and forms of collective survival.

For the artist, language is not approached merely as a system of words or translation, but as an embodied practice - one that transmits culture, struggle, intimacy and care. To learn a language is not only to reproduce sounds, but to encounter the worlds, memories and emotional realities embedded within them. In this sense, أسكت proposes listening as an act of solidarity.

The work draws from the dense sonic fabric of Tunis: the أذان echoing through the city , sermons at جامع الفتح, Sufi breathing practices, the coded calls of street vendors, megaphones repeating prices in نهج إسبانيا, graffiti-covered walls, and everyday exchanges woven into the narrow streets of the مدينة. These voices - public, hidden, amplified or whispered - form a living archive of the city.

Beginning within the intimate architecture of دار الضياف, at L'Art Rue, the performance activates the resonant frequencies of the space itself through self-stabilising feedback tones, as though searching for the "voice" of the room. Moving through Dar Bach Hamba and toward the rooftops, the piece shifts between proximity and distance: voices become detached from their visible sources, reflected and dispersed across walls, towers and open air.

أسكت also marks an important technical and performative experimentation in the artist's practice. Conceived as a fully mobile setup, the project explores the possibility of a sound performance untethered from conventional stages, opening future potential interventions directly within the streets of the مدينة.

At its core, أسكت is both an invitation and a gesture of appreciation toward the layered languages, sounds and encounters that shape Tunis. The project was developed through exchanges with artists, researchers and cultural practitioners whose knowledge and generosity deeply informed the work."

- curatorial text by Cyrine Ghrissi

It takes a village to create such a project. My deepest gratitude to Cyrine Ghrissi for organising this project and facilitating all contacts, to Lilia Ben Romdhane and Khadija Zammouli for their support (artistic and personal) during my stay, to Salah Barka for the costume, to Mouna Ben Haj Zekri for performative assistance and to all experts whom I connected with that so generously shared their knowledge: Wafa Salhi, Yafa Saidi, Youssef Chedli Attia, Ameni Ghimagi, Shams Radhouani Abdi, Aicha Kalleli, Amen Nciri, Hajer Ben Driss, Dhia Bousselmi.

See here documentation from the conference, final presentation talk and summary of the residency programme. Read here a review for La Presse written by Asma Drissi (in French). This piece was premiered at L'Art Rue on 23rd May 2026. All image, video and audio documentation by L'Art Rue and Raâfet Abdelli.