ghayath.almadhoun

. . Here is the adapted version of my keynote, "Pandora's Box," published today in The Nation. This text is drawn from a longer keynote I originally wrote in English and delivered on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, to an audience of over 300 people at the annual SPUI25 lecture in the auditorium of the Oude Lutherse Kerk in Amsterdam. Pandora’s Box is an autobiography of a Palestinian poet in exile. The nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ghayath-almadhoun-lecture-germany-censorship/ Open link: https://archive.ph/20241129184613/https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ghayath-almadhoun-lecture-germany-censorship/

. . 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 Join us for a weekend platforming silenced voices. Convened by Forensis, Spore Initiative, and poet Ghayath Almadhoun, with contributions from Diaspora Alliance, Palestine Speaks, ELSC, and NotInOurNameTU, Cancelled Culture brings together voices from across the cultural field over two days to explore the phenomenon of silencing in a spirit of resistance, strength, and solidarity. 📅 30 November 2024 - 1 December 2024 ⏰ 12:00–20:00 Full program in bio. 🔗 Visit here: https://spore-initiative.org/en/programming/participate/cancelled-culture @counterinvestigations @elsclegal @palestinespeaks @notinourname_tu @candicebreitz @lanabasta @hahauenstein @laralaila @rashasalti @rachagharbieh @deborah_feldman @nicolasjaar @ghayath.almadhoun @eyal_weizman @emilydische @mazenkerbaj @jasmi.ragab @yossibartal @tobiasdenhaan @spore.initiative

Since the 7th of October until this moment, Israel has killed 122 of my family, Almadhoun! 122 cousins, more than 90 of them are children murdered in 108 days! Israel displaced us from our homes in Ashkelon during the Nakba of 1948. All the Almadhoun family went to the Gaza Strip, which is only 15 kilometers from our stolen homes. We are not numbers, here are the names of my cousins whom Israel massacred since October 7

. . After 5,951 days, back in Damascus! September 2, 2008 - December 18, 2024 Fuck Assad!

This holiday season is not about giving, it’s about giving back. Check out the holiday guide created by the wonderful @sara.msso. Link in bio.

. . Timeliness: Fragments Between Past and Future On(going) Trauma #5 Join us on Saturday 14 December from 3:00pm to 7:30 pm @viertewelt for readings, screening, and discussions. For the fifth encounter of the discursive series On(going) Trauma at Vierte Welt Berlin guests and audience are invited to collectively address questions regarding trauma’s complex effects on temporality and how these are being explored, transformed or conveyed in artistic (and research) practices. Together, we will be focusing on the repetitive and sudden presence (– the timeliness –) of traumata between past experiences and possible future scenarios, on non-linear fragmentation of individual and collective memories, and on its transgenerational traces inscribed throughout personal histories. Trauma will be discussed as holes and portals for temporalities and voices, as un-healing wounds in poetry, texts, and language as such (Katharina Ludwig), as vocal echos of past violences shifting in time within the streets of Ukraine’s city Kharkiv (Mykola Ridnyi) and as a poetic excavation of identity, displacement and the collective scars of conflict, exploring how trauma reshapes language, with poetry bearing witness to the unspeakable effects of ongoing crises (Ghayath Almadhoun). On(going) Trauma – Artistic Narratives on Collective And Individual Wounds. A Discursive Series in 6 Parts offers a forum to talk about and learn from artistic and curatorial research practices in dealing with trauma from plural perspectives, as well as repositioning its concept. On(going) Trauma is initiated by Anna- Lena Werner and Elisa Müller/ @institut_fuer_wip in cooperation with Vierte Welt Berlin. Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds. with @kathyludwig, @mykola_rrrrr, @ghayath.almadhoun curated/co-hosted by @annalenawerner_ @kathyludwig Limited seats! Registration: karten@viertewelt.de

Next year in Damascus inshallah!

. . ON WASTED GROUNDS Panel discussions, Films, Performances Readings. December 6 to 08, 2024 Espace Diaphanes, Dresdener Str. 118, 10999 Berlin “Deserts are we, wastelands. The desert, the experiment of ourselves, is our unique chance for all the combinations deposited in us.” — Gilles Deleuze/Claire Parnet, Dialogues with Aàdesokan, Ixmukané Aguilar, Ghayath Almadhoun, Mieke Bal, Stephen Barber, Priya Basil, Nikita Dhawan, Ibou Diop, Alexander García Düttmann, Logan February, Christian Filips, Liliana Gómez, Julian Hetzel, Inkasso, Sandra Jasper, Eckardt Lindner, Federico Luisetti, Tom McCarthy, Mark Mushiva, Silvia Noronha, I.V. Nuss, Kinga Ötvös, Lucas Pohl, Dorota Sajewska, Jacob Stoy, Daniel Tyradellis, Ines Weizman, Arkadi Zaides and others. Curated by Marie Glassl Supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds Full program: https://www.onwastedgrounds.net/programm

. . The closing note I delivered at the end of the two-day Cancelled Culture conference, dedicated to amplifying silenced voices, held November 30-December 1 at the Spore Initiative. Cancelled Culture A weekend platforming silenced: https://spore-initiative.org/en/programming/participate/cancelled-culture

Timeliness: Fragments Between Past and Future Join us on Saturday 14 December @viertewelt to read, speak, and discuss. For the fifth encounter of the discursive series On(going) Trauma at Vierte Welt Berlin guests and audience are invited to collectively address questions regarding trauma’s complex effects on temporality and how these are being explored, transformed or conveyed in artistic (and research) practices. Together, we will be focusing on the repetitive and sudden presence (– the timeliness –) of traumata between past experiences and possible future scenarios, on non-linear fragmentation of individual and collective memories, and on its transgenerational traces inscribed throughout personal histories. Trauma will be discussed as holes and portals for temporalities and voices, as un-healing wounds in poetry, texts, and language as such (Katharina Ludwig), as vocal echos of past violences shifting in time within the streets of Ukraine’s city Kharkiv (Mykola Ridnyi) and as a poetic excavation of identity, displacement and the collective scars of conflict, exploring how trauma reshapes language, with poetry bearing witness to the unspeakable effects of ongoing crises (Ghayath Almadhoun). On(going) Trauma – Artistic Narratives on Collective And Individual Wounds. A Discursive Series in 6 Parts offers a forum to talk about and learn from artistic and curatorial research practices in dealing with trauma from plural perspectives, as well as repositioning its concept. On(going) Trauma is initiated by Anna- Lena Werner and Elisa Müller/ @institut_fuer_wip in cooperation with Vierte Welt Berlin. Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds. with @ghayath.almadhoun @kathyludwig @mykola_rrrrr curated/co-hosted by @annalenawerner_ @kathyludwig Seats are limited, participation is free TICKETS -> karten@viertewelt.de We would be very happy to see you all again.

Here is "Pandora's Box", a keynote I wrote in English and delivered on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 to an audience of +300 at the annual SPUI25 lecture in the auditorium of the Oude Lutherse Kerk in Amsterdam. SPUI25: https://spui25.nl/programma/spui25-lezing-ghayath-almadhoun As part of the tradition of the annual SPUI25 lecture - now in its 19th year - after the keynote speech, the guest is interviewed by a prominent interviewer and the text is subsequently published in Dutch translation in a Dutch newspaper or magazine. This year's text, 'Pandora's Box', published in De Groene Amsterdamme De Groene Amsterdammer: https://archive.ph/zmag4 Or: https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-doos-van-pandora

On my way to the Netherlands to participate in the Explore the North Festival in Leeuwarden. Lisa Weeda and I will be interviewed by the great Chris Keulemans. 23 Nov 2024, 18:45 – 19:30 Podium Explore Language: English Link: https://explorethenorth.nl/podium-explore-festivalweekend/ Looking away from war – you too? What responsibility do we in our (for now) safe, Western Europe have towards our fellow human beings in war zones? Why are we so quickly distracted from suffering and scroll on to smiling otters and trendy knitting patterns on instagram? Do we not care? Or do we feel powerless? Lisa Weeda’s book Dans Dans Revolutie makes looking away from war impossible. Because of her Ukrainian ancestry (which Weeda explores in her book Aleksandra), she is deeply connected to the country and the horrors that continue there to this day. But living in the Netherlands, she knows: we only sympathize with the people there up to a certain point. At some point, we just turn on Netflix again anyway. The same goes for Palestinian poet Ghayath Almadhoun, who fears for his family’s life every day. His calls for compassion and justice for the Palestinian people are met not only with shrugs of shoulders, but sometimes even outright exclusion and censorship. Oppression in free Europe, you might say. His poetic lyrics are raw and ragged. He puts the war in your lap, where you have to look at it. Weeda and Almadhoun will be interviewed by Chris Keulemans, author of the recently published book Verzet, containing stories about people who rise up against injustice, sometimes even against their better judgment.