Interruptions | Noise Edition

..................................

..................................

INTERRUPTIONs

sUPPORTERs

KhalEd sEdKI dINa haddadIN RUla YaGhMOUR ahMad saBBaGh alI MUslEh hadI alaEddIN YaZaN BaGGIlI

aRaMEx al-Balad ThEaTER EUROPEaN dElEGaTION sYMBIOsIs dEsIGNs lTd. KhalId Nahhas sYNTax

..................................

..................................

..................................

..................................

all due thanks, without them there wouldn’t be Noise.

cONTRIBUTORs

..................................

dR. RaMI F. dahER ahMad hUMEId aPOllO dE aZIZI NOUR BIshOUTY PaOla ZINdEl RaaFaT MajZOUB RaMsEY TEsdEll salINa aBaZa sc MOcha sc YOsh sERENE al ahMad TYPIsM YaRa saqFalhaIT ..................................

dEsIGN

..................................

sYNTax -ahMad saBBaGh TaRIq aBU RahMEh sYNTaxdIGITal.cOM

..................................

interruptions Editions interruptions.ning.com interruptionsblog.wordpress.com facebook.com/interruptions mail.interruptions@gmail.com

Interruptions is a non-profit experimental project with a rapidly growing network of architects, designers, artists, students, writers and activists aiming to break-away from standardization and extend local creative vibes.

Interruptions has built a critical interruptive body encouraging creative responses to social and cultural issues with an operating platform and an impact reaching in-and-beyond the Levant.

Interruptions Editions are materialized documentations of ideas, critique and experimental activity of Interruptions physical and virtual networks, partners, collaborators and contributors.

SOME RIGHTS RESERVED

This work is licensed under Creative Commons unless otherwise indicated.

You are free: - to Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work - to Remix: to adapt the work Under the following conditions: - Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in anyway that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

- Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

- Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.

Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights.

interruptions | 1

preliminary

Banana Edition 21 February 2009 Interruptions releases the edition which made bananas symbolic!

The edition re-examined content, dialect, form and design aided

by Syntax and featured articles by contributors from eight different countries.

Centennial Forum 21 February 2009 In an attempt to capture Amman’s rapid transformation and guide it towards conscious development, the municipality have set a strategic growth plan for Amman; Interruptions took an active part by joining together the Mayor with hundreds of young people.

Seminars 12 April 2009 Following the release of Banana Edition, a series of seminars and presentations have been conducted by Interruptions team at universities in Jordan and Syria to extend reach and widen active platform.

Hewar with Riwaq 1 June 2009 On their way to Venice Biennial, Riwaq’s team were ‘Interrupted’ at Al-Balad Theater in Amman at a liberating checkpoint where the two projects met for an open exchange of ideas and experiences.

Student Deceleration 20 June 2009 Frustrated by the tension grown in the rigid academic body, Interruptions invited a group of architecture and design students from different universities to discuss obstacles, challenges and possibilities in and out of academic institutions.

Catatonia 15 August 2009 Interruptions was commissioned by an underground cat community to adopt Amman’s urban settings for its cat-citizens; the workshop investigated dynamics of urban reform, responsive planning and multidisciplinary design tactics.

Creative Social Assistance 5 September 2009 Interruptive culture is not limited to a privileged niche as it gains strength from its social and contextual relevance demonstrated

by Interruptions’ participation with Ruwwad and the British Council in Jabal al Natheef under Global Changemakers program.

Virtual Interruptionists February 2010 Interruptions broadens reach, content and impact by deploying virtual channels which reach out to thousands of followers, members and fans while the network registers visits from over 20 countries and are increasing at a rapid pace.

Counterparts 6 March 2010 Breaking standardization in both conceptual and technical form, Counterparts introduced a new type of art-expression in Amman, a joint exhibition featured works

by Ahmad Sabbagh, Typism and Dina Haddadin and was supported by Makan.

Dajeej vol.1 10 March 2010 Pecha Kucha Nights celebrate creative pulses worldwide, Dajeej was an opportunity for Amman to escape isolation of thought and to meet at Books@Cafe’s bar to speak about creativity, social media, Angelina Jolie’s silicon breasts and other topics.

Pecha Kucha Damascus 31 March 2010 After setting off Pecha Kucha Amman, Interruptions was presented at PKN Damascus; an improvised display of Interruptions milestones met the admiration of the attendance in hopes to seed for a Syrian interruptive network.

Urban Tales 2 April 2010 Urban Tales project is an attempt to recapture the phenomenological essence of the city; a joint workshop with Hakaya aims to remap Amman based on urban narratives with the participation of local and visiting storytellers, novelists and artists.

Dear Interruptionists, This is certainly not the edition that will save the world.

The content is neither coherent nor structured. It does not carry a gesture of order, or even attempt to build an idea.

Noise edition is almost unedited, and its actual production took only few weeks almost a year after releasing Banana.

For many, it’s a business failure since we beg for the money to print and then distribute for free! Many articles were postponed for lack of funds, and great ideas were ditched for the lack of time but nothing was held-up for the lack of passion, energy or determination.

Noise is a public deceleration of the striding urge for interrupting rigidity in all forms possible. It tests the potential of creative responses to social and cultural issues as evident in Catatonia experiment which is, in essence, a twisted response to current urban deformations in Amman.

Noise adopts a critical, at times sarcastic, tone doubtful of the ‘absolute’ and questionable of ‘standards’.

The release of Noise Editions comes together with the realization of our projects; Counterparts and Dajeej vol.1 – three contributions that we believe will inspire cultural and creative pulses in Amman and beyond.

We bow to the collective souls who, together, have built an importunate body of progressive culture.

4 | interruptions

06 inTerrUpTiOnS renOUnCeS 08 DaJeeJ 10 WHaT iF 13 WHy THinGS SUCK 14 THe Um-KUl-HaiFa-THUm OBSTrUCTiOn 16 amman’S mOST COlOrFUl Day 20 UrBan aGenTS, aCTOrS anD aCTiViSTS 22 iD JOrDan STaTemenT 24 arCHiTeCTUre BeyOnD innOCenCe 29 15-SH: 15 STreeTS X 2 FOreiGn BlUeS 31 pHOTO eSSay: perSiSTanCe OF memOry - BeTHleHem 32 CaTaTOnia: THe CiTy WiTH CaTS On FlyinG pipeS 44 FeeD THe neeDS 50 HOVerinG neTWOrKS 54 pipe-OlOGy 60 reFleCTiOnS 66 lUCiD DreamS 68 OBJeCTS THaT OBJeCT 70 iDenTiTy aS a GeneraTiVe SySTem 72 GreaimaDe.De 78 12 mOODS X 12 emerGinG arTiSTS 80 mUSiC reVieW: CHeCKpOinT 303 88 reVieWS 92 THree SilenT paGeS

interruptions | 5

INTERRUPTIONs Is NOT alTERNaTIVE aN cOMMERcIalIsM Is alTERNaTIVE FOR Th a REsUlT OF aN acT OF chEaPNEss aNd sKIN. EVIdENT Is NOThING, sINcE EVIdE dEsIGNEd Is a TRUTh IN-FORM-Ed. a NEG ‘INTERRUPTIVE’ REqUIREs a RENOUNcEM BUREaUcRacY, BlOGGING, BUY-ONE-GET dUBaI, EGGs, ExPEcTaTIONs, FRaNK GEh hOllYWOOd, IBM, IGNORaNcE, jORdaN G cYRUs, NEO-BUllshITTERs, ORIENTalIs REPUBlIcaNs aNd dEMOcRaTs, sTUPId UNdO, VIsas, WINdOWs ®, x-GIRlFRIENd a VIcIOUs dEMaNd OF UNIVERsal haPPI

6 | interruptions

Nd BOUNd TO BEcOME MaINsTREaMhE lacK OF INTEllEcT. ‘chEaP’ Is BUT VUlGaRITY Is claRITY IN POPUlaR NcE Is PROPaGaNdIsT aNd a TRUTh GaTIVE cONsTRUcTION OF ThE MENT OF -- aNTI-sMOKING caMPaIGNs, T-ONE-FREE MOVEMENTs, cElEBRITIEs, hRY, GUEVaRa T-shIRTs, hIPPIEs, GaTEs, KIss-assING, ladY GaGa, MIlEY sTs, PhIlOsOPhIZING, qUOTING IdIOTs, ITY, TaMER hOUsNI, TURKIsh sERIEs, ds, YEllOW, Z-FUc’N-ZIONIsTs -- aNd NEss

interruptions | 7

8 | interruptions

interruptions | 9

WHaT iF Yazan Baggili

An exercise suggestively positioning envisioned situations over images of surrounding realities; the juxtaposition of the two can provoke controversy, imagination, discussion, hope or fright, wishes or fears but they certainly evoke a dialogue between people and the surrounding environment both natural and built.

10 | interruptions

interruptions | 11

Apparently things ‘suck’ around this time of history and primarily down these areas of the world, but what really ‘sucks’ is the fact that people who complain about it the most are the ones who caused it to ‘suck’ so hard! I mean, Dude!

It sucks for Muslims because of fundamentalist Muslims who complain about how much it sucks! It sucks for Capitalism because of the cancer it brought out of its own womb and it sucks for feminists because of feministicized whores in a liberal skin! It sucks for art because of abusing hippies, and for intellectuals because of blogs. It sucks for people because of themselves, for musicians because of other musicians without much to wear. It sucks for architecture because of architects and for designers because they suck, but that’s another cycle.

The fact that people who complain are also the ones who ‘suck’ is what causes the persistence-of-sucking; a cycle which constantly reproduces generations, genetically modified, to fit highest ‘sucking’ standards while evolving the ability to demonstrate flawless complaining behavior towards conditions of their making.

There wouldn’T have been any ‘inTerrupTions’ if Things didn’T suck so badly; so we’re ‘slighTly’ graTeful!

For many, the reason for complaining is them wanting to be the ones to suck, or subconsciously strive to be and look up to those with higher ‘sucking’ abilities.

And since we are fully aware we owe it to these conditions for existing, we don’t renounce ‘sucking’.

Interruptions pushes for democratic resolutions and therefore encourages those who ‘suck’ to go ahead, exercise their abilities and wish them to excel at it, since the more things suck, the more interruptions are formed into a progressive constructive movement - which has been the case over the past two years.

But we only wish those who suck would drop the complaining tone; so we’d rather have a proudly ‘sucking’ institution than having one which complains about lack of creativity while alienating creative individuals, reject progressive notions and deal with innovation as a personal existentialist threat! We’d encourage institutions to hold-on to backward attitudes rather than steering community’s independent outcomes into commercial benefits and propaganda tools.

“There are no facts, but only Interruptions.” Says Nietzsche; which is comforting - as the complaining attitude of suckers can only present itself as a social norm; while the factual is only evident in the interruptions of society’s innovative individuals, groups and waves of creative shifts.

But on the other hand we’re confused since some of the blessed are The inTerrupTionisTs people who we expected to join our rebellion against sucking, wiTh whom change is ineviTable. turned out to suck much more! interruptions | 13

THe KUl-HaiFa-THUm OBSTrUCTiOn Raafat Majzoub visuals by Nour Bishouty

The age of being born, is dead.

TalenT is dead.

ProPheTs are boring To negligence, dismissed uPon Their aTTemPTs of communicaTing nirvana.

We are no longer born gifTed, We are made.

YOU sTIll dON’T lIKE haIFa ThOUGh.

The peacock-nosed-born-ingeniously altered feast is the new Leila. Haifa has become a household exclamation mark, question mark, comma and full stop, and still is riveted with the connotation of Arab deterioration. People, it’s all about Darwin! In a world where the Opera House in which Oum Kolthoum fluttered was burnt to make parking space for illiterate drivers who may not and cannot criticize this product. It is invalid.

Najla? So shut up. Now for the readers that are unzipping to Abdel-Halim and Asmahan, please do not let me interrupt you – and as a mitigation to “heads off” me; this is not at all about music. Haifa is not about music. She is not about the tick-tack-toe of melody, nor the conservatoire reps, nor the breakthroughs in goose-bump production. Haifa is a cultural product, parallel to any other cultural product with its own set of rules and regulations that it is liable to.

1. Haifa is not here to replace Oum Kolthoum; if anything, she is of the lineage of Souad Housni. So, Khalli Balak Min Zouzou, and give me a break. I do not understand the acceptance of that, and not this. Most of the arguments I get would be, “but Housni was an actress, so it wasn’t necessary for her to have a good voice”. *beep* Haifa is also an actress, now what? ~si l e n c e Ok, seriously.. now what? Is that it? Nomenclature. Well, ok.

– then Fairuz is the diva of the reminiscent dull – we still like her – Dalida is the tacky glitter and broken Arabic – we still like her – Egyptian black-and-whites have the most luscious extravagantly erotic belly-dancing, and five-year-olds are allowed to watch. What is this all about? Cleavage? Drugs?

Sex? Look around, thank you.

If we want to blow this out of proportion, Haifa is one of the few of our products that actually worked, besides the shisha.

What have we done, as Arabs, since our Golden Age? I’ll tell you. We, A. exported everyone intelligent.

B. threw stones at people that felt like thinking. (refer to Bob Dylan’s song: stoned).

C. put titles on each other so we would know who to kiss and who to shoot.

D. made more lines on our atlas to know just exactly where we end and where we begin.

E. called onto people beyond the oceans to teach us how to shit.

F. built more mosques where more sheikhs to complain about America, the devil.

G. are running out of petrol, with nothing else in mind.

H. etc. is an understatement

.

2. It seems to me that, in herself – in her essence, Haifa is not the issue. The problem lies in a social chunk – the Middle East: that is potty trained to live in the past, to not-do instead of doing, to think instead of to execute, and get married instead of buying contraception.

Fuck you! (editor had to interfere as Raafat wished to demonstrate in four lines his intention to the use the insulting form of the word ‘fuck’ rather than the erotic, maybe pleasant sexual form. thank you.)

3. Let’s keep Allah off Melody Hits and the likes, this will not be tagged “haram”. If anything should be taken into a juridical dimension, let’s take Haifa, the product and test it. If it works, you shut up.

- woops, it’s already done! Haifa works. And no, it’s not because sex sells, although it does, but a lot more erotica was put into ‘projects’ that died after their first pilots. Ehm,

So yes, my lovelies, it is not about Haifa, it is about this ridiculous phobia of the unfamiliar, of the unpracticed, the unattained and the failure to launch into a system that is not supported by gossip and contacts. It is this, the Kul-haifa-thum Obstruction, the haphazard orientations to invalid references to camouflage a lack of analytical or production capability; which kept us, is keeping us and will keep us from ever doing anything.

Fuck y*some text missing* (text here is missing from the original post: Please feel free to be insulted by this article. thank you.)

aMMaN’s MOsT cOlORFUl daY a ciTy no longer ashamed of iTself

Ahmad Humeid Article previously posted on www.360east.com

For the past two years, the subject of Amman has been unavoidable for me.

Not only do I live in this city, but I’ve also been, with my company SYNTAX, involved in the first big branding effort this city has undertaken. I am overdosed on Amman!

The branding project has been completed but writing about Amman this year is still unavoidable.

So, on Friday Amman held its first large city parade. I was really glad that I came to this event simply as a spectator with my family.

iT Turned ouT To be amman’s mosT colorful day!

Now, just for some moments, consider some of the tough realities of contemporary Amman (let’s forget, for a moment the “10 thousand years of history” the tourism people like to talk about.

A city of refugees, starting with CIrcassians brutally kicked out of their land, to the Palestinians, to the Iraqis of today (and many other groups). On the more positive side, Amman was also at one point a utopian city representing a new Arab beginning. But this is largely a city of displaced people.

A socially divided city.

Let’s not forget that we’re still with one foot in the Third World. This is not a European middle class city.

A city used “practically” and not celebrated emotionally. People just wanted to build a house where they felt safe. Have a job. Get the kids educated.

No time to philosophize about this “city”.

16 | interruptions

A city with an inferiority complex.

A young Arab capital trying to stand shoulder to shoulder with Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus. Not even to mention western capitals. Amman is often described as “boring”, “not a city”, “fringe”, “unplanned”.

A capital city of an “artificial” country.

Those who feel that way forget, of course, that all identities are “artificial”.

Yet when a country is still relatively young, many people scoff at its still emerging identity and its emerging capital.

A city undiscovered by many of its own citizens.

My favorite examples are the 22 year old girl who’s never been to downtown Amman and the 25 year old guy who doesn’t know what Rainbow Street is.

A city that, until recently, was often treated by the “authorities”, as a traffic and infrastructure challenge and not as

a cultural opportunity (despite the sporadic, exaggerated, grand poetic homages on national occasions).

(Abu Mahjoob and Abu Muhammad), businesses, NGOs, actors. Not to mention horses, camels and lots of balloons!

celebrated. Not the Romans. Not the Ammonites. Not the Omayyads. But the people who are the Amman of today.

so.. can such a ciTy have a good Parade?

Suddenly it was all there. The people, the organizations, the history, the authorities..

They where all marching together with Amman watching them.

A number of lucky coincidences made this possible: Amman Municipality’s 100th birthday was presided over by a mayor who started his tenure by asserting that Amman should have a “soul”. This gave a voice to those Ammanis who saw value not only in the ancient history of the place (which indeed is important), but ALSO the contemporary collage of the last 100 years. In the background there was a branding initiative which gave Amman a new visual language that celebrated the populated hills and the diversity of the people.

The ansWer is a resounding “yes”.

And maybe it was the little touches that made this parade a success.

The city cleaners, those orange men that we often ignore, where suddenly marching center stage and greeted by the crowd. The street sellers with their typical carts carrying anything from vegetables to a meat grill, marched through the city with the same importance as the police motorbikes. The second hand clothes seller where there too, dragging their racks through the parade. Girls and women in various dress styles and attitudes. The “annoying” gas sellers, represented by a gas pickup. Amman’s most famous cartoon characters

For a few hours, a city simply celebrated itself. And if this is the “normal” thing that a parade is supposed to do, just consider that this is the first time this happens in Amman. Just consider all the tough realities I mentioned above, and you’ll understand the importance of what happened on Friday.

This event was not a “deep” intellectual exercise. But it achieved something that is intellectually very important: making Amman realize its own “cityness”.

Our Amman is the product of the 20th century, now moving into the 21st century. And this is what was

The immense challenges facing Amman have not gone away, of course. But we the city seems to have taken an important step towards accepting itself and maybe even dare show its colors.

interruptions | 17

18 | interruptions

interruptions | 19

UrBan aGenTS, aCTOrS, anD aCTiViSTS: an appeal TO THe CreaTiVe ClaSS The News from Beirut & Amman Dr. Rami F. Daher

The city is a complicated organism of different power mechanisms and contested narratives; so in the midst of these urban restructuring projects, arises diverse alternative endeavors championed by creative agents and actors such as urban designers and architects, local community groups, urban activists, philanthropists with a genuine social agenda, or even private investors with a different vision or approach that attempt to counteract neoliberal urban policies (e.g., exclusive business towers, gated communities, and other real-estate ventures that target only a high-profile clientele) and thrive to create instead a more inclusive urban landscapes in the city. More recently, urbanism research and literature addressed the rise of the creative class in cities that focuses on diversity and creativity as basic drivers of innovations and regional and national growth. The urban creative class includes architects, scientists, engineers, university professors, philosophers, artists, and novelists to mention a few. In fact, this appreciated initiative “interruptions” by young enthusiastic architects from Amman is one example to this emerging creative class in the region.

THE NEwS FRoM BEIRUT In Beirut (which once was considered the intellectual capital of the Arab World), the area of Hamra in Ras Beirut today, could be considered- together with its small and medium size businesses such as shops, restaurants, hotels, and alternative cafés (e.g., ta-marbouta, Ziko House, Café Younis), other a mild but yet an important form of urban and social resistance against global/local urban transformations that might privilege a more neoliberal capitalist approach to urban investments and development. Hamra is actually in danger as global Gulf capital is gradually targeting the area as the hollow buildings with absentee owners are being sold one after another. Yet, many owners are still resisting sale; the area still retains part of its competitive edge, enough for major hotels to stay and to multiply. Hamra has also witnessed during the past decade some genuine interventions within its public domain and space such as the creation of Masrah al Madina, an adaptive reuse of an old cinema house into a public theatre championed by a local famous actress and urban activists.

Other forms of urban activism orchestrated by the rising urban creative class in Beirut includes the work of AUB (American University of Beirut) professors in leading planning and conservation efforts of reconstruction after the last Israeli war on villages in Southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

THE NEwS FRoM AMMAN Amman is another place where one notices the rise of a creative urban class who are trying to make a difference in a socially, economically, and spatially divided city. Amman, increasingly, is paying attention to its social and cultural needs, Amman becoming an attractive place to live, improved pedestrinization, increased green space, and multi-use districts have been most recently adopted by Greater Amman Municipality (GAM). One of these projects is the Urban Regeneration of Rainbow Street located in a historic section of the City which is close to the Downtown

20 | interruptions

area. The project aims to create more spaces for the public (in the form of small urban gardens and panoramic lookouts) in addition to granting voice to this distinctive Ammani urban reality. Furthermore, Amman is witnessing the emergence of several historic urban adaptations into art galleries film production centers (e.g., Darat al Funun funded by the Khaled Shouman Foundation, Makan (an alternative space for artists and activists), Dar al Anda, the Royal Film Commission, and several more) or into urban research centers (e.g., Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE), or Metropolis: Cities Research Council, which is the research arm of TURATH: Architecture and Urban Design Consultants) who attempt in engage in research that is more integrated into urban life. One significant new phenomenon emerging in the City as well is the emergence of neighborhood associations such as JARA (Jabal Amman Residents Association) and Friends of Jabal Al Weibdeh Association who attempt to improve the urban quality of life in their respective neighborhoods.

iT is imPorTanT To aTTemPT To focus on This Phenomenon of The re-emergence of an acTive ammani Public sPhere manifesTed in several ramificaTions: Firstly, one cannot help but notice that a lot of Ammanis of different backgrounds have started to develop an interest in its historic neighborhoods such as the downtown area (Wast al Balad), and other neighborhoods such as older parts of Jabal Amman, Jabal al Weibdeh and Jabal al Ashrafieh. This is manifested in a come back of families who had left earlier, but is also manifested in the proliferation of different studies and monographs about these urban Ammani spaces in addition to the forming of new residents associations such as JARA (Jabal Amman Residents Association) and Jabal al Weibdeh Residents Association. Furthermore, a lot of cultural bodies and organizations (e.g., Darat al Funun, Makan, Dar al Anda, Association of Jordanian Writers, Center for the Study of the

Built Environment, The Royal Film Commission, Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature), are favoring to be located in such areas rather than in newer parts of the City. For the first time, the social and urban heritage of the City is being celebrated and recognized for its uniqueness and specificity.

Secondly, Furthermore, there is a rising group of critics and activists who attempt to contest what is happening at the urban scene in terms of the creation of exclusive urban spaces, displacement and relocation of disempowered segments of society to outside the City, or even the widening of the gap between East and West Amman. One prominent example is the urban activist group Hamzet Wasel who had recently contested neoliberal investments in Jabal al Qal’a and had through local community empowerment mechanisms and awareness programs to bridge the gap between different parts of the City by bringing people from both sides of the City together.

Thirdly, Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is attempting to reinvent itself and redefine its relationship vis-à-vis the City by envisioning its role beyond services and utility provision.

It could be true that this might not be the first time GAM reevaluates its mission as during previous times GAM started

to address its role as a patron and facilitator of culture, hence the publication of a special magazine devoted entirely to the City of Amman (a Jordanian architect and urbanist); yet, this time around this redefinition of roles is taking on major consequences on the City of Amman. Recently GAM had initiated several urban projects addressing urban regeneration in locations such as Rainbow Street in historic Jabal Amman, Jabal al Ashrafiah near Darweesh Mosque, and in the downtown area in Faisal Street. GAM is also currently involved in putting forward to new vision where heritage protection and provision of more green spaces and open spaces for Ammani residents are a top priority.

Fourthly, the proliferation since the early 1990s of novels on Amman by Jordanian authors such as novels by Ziad Qasem, Hisham Gharaibeh, Ilyas Farkouh, Abdelrahman Munif, and Sameeha Khrais. According to Razzaz (A Jordan author and critic), Jordanian writers are only recently starting to acknowledge Amman as the topic of their novels. Before the early 1990s, the places where the different events of Jordanian novels materialized, took place in either mythical spaces or in a generic Arab-Islamic town, or even in cities with no specific identity at all. Novels of the 1990 have started to take interest in the City of Amman and its urban social history.

in COnClUSiOn Yet, these new phenomena and transformations are all happening in the midst of neoliberal urban transformations and restructuring which is and will have a major effect on people’s relationship to the City, specially the relationship between the citizens of Amman on both sides of the economic scale. In different parts of the Arab World, there is a need of more genuine research that goes beyond the classical analysis of the traditional Arab City, into instead researching current urban transformations, flow of global capital and its effect on the realities of cities, urban structures and polity, metropolitization processes from below addressing issues of migration, slums formation, and the details of social life vis-à-vis lines of inclusion and exclusion. The work, research, and activism of different urban actors and agents becomes extremely important for a more challenging urban reality in the region.

interruptions | 21

22 | interruptions

greater strategy whose main aim resides in reshaping the The line between battleground. A soaring case Utopia and crime of architecture serving political agendas resides in Yara Saqfalhait the Palestinian-Israeli Issue.

In a conflict which essence lies into the most basic human goal: existence, there has been a near fascination with “the physical”, and Most contemporary struggles architecture being the most revolve around power, which perceivable physical indicais present in its most tangible tion of human existence, it continues to be used just like form through the control of tanks, guns, and bombs as a space. Whether it was for weapon to claim property and resources, logistic facilities, change facts on the ground. construction of symbols, or Stripping the architectural arrogant muscle show-off, expression from the aesthetic, political struggles always stylistic, or any other criteria include a clear spatial according to which it’s dimension. In this case, the usually evaluated, and mundane elements of focusing if not obsessing architecture and planning about just BEING there; the become dangerous point on the map that is more weapons.In a profession important than the settlement where the basic training focuses on learning secrets to itself. Whether we like it or not, settlements have become the well-being of societies, a dominant component of the the capacity of doing the exact opposite is guaranteed, Palestinian landscape, we and human ethics and morals gradually became familiar are always “relative”. Build- with their names in everyday ings can be perceived as only conversations, or continuously use to indicate the final product of the way directions and locations. It’s power operates spatially, a tricky to start writing about tiny particle in the much

ARCHITECTURE BEYOND INNOCENCe

24 | interruptions

such topic, being as complex as it is, and never tackled from the other part of the struggle’s point of view. For an architecture student, Nothing can set a better example on the impact of surrounding built environment on human beings quiet as taking a casual trip between two Palestinian cities, the transition between the messiness and randomness of the Palestinian village with its historical architectural layering, and its quite comforting and liberating imperfection that doesn’t make you want to compete, even the failed attempts of modernization that pop up like alien objects, though visually unpleasant, make sense. Then, gradually when things start looking alike, when the street starts getting smoother, when lines start getting straighter, angles more perpendicular, edges sharper, stone whiter, fields greener… It’s a settlement.

Standing there, distant, disconnected, insecure, watching you silently as you pass by, you can feel how literal they are about actual changes on the ground.

Settlements are strategically located so as with a built-up area of less than 2% of the total sum of the Palestinian land, they manage to achieve full territorial control. In addition to the area they cover, there take up substantial areas intended for future expansion and reserved as: buffer zones. Added to the collective purpose of achieving full fragmentation of the Palestinian land, settlements have different separate more specified goals, each depending on its relative location and configuration; some aim to restrict any possibility for economic development in general and agriculture in particular by denying access to land and water, these are located mainly near the Jordan valley, the most fertile part of Palestine. Others which are located along the middle axis of the west bank -that connects northern and southern parts and is the main traffic artery- aim to restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians, in addition to blocking the urban development of major Palestinian cities such as Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus,

once a permanent political solution is reached. Ironically, no Palestinian voice was included!We were raised to think that trying to objectively tackle any Israeli- related subject is an implicit acknowledgement of their right to exist. Almost 70 years were spent dealing with consequences, not actions. Raising utopian slogans without being ‘back-up’-ed by a firm grip on reality. Talking about what should be rather than what is.

I’m not by any means lessening the importance of clinging to our sacred rights, information center for human but there’s also an objective rights in the occupied territories. understanding of the issue Recently, a debate is being that is almost missing. Very raised among Israeli few, if any, serious attempts architects and planners about are ever made to create the ethical responsibility they counter-strategies, ones that hold for settlement acts, and are self-sufficient and deal whether to serve the noble with actual facts on the cause of their profession or ground, that create visions the strategic goals of their and conclusions, that commu‘State’. Many publications nicate universally without have appeared lately on the ‘fund-raising’ in mind. It’s subject of how architecture time to start claiming back has always been and continue our rights for to be used hand in hand with self-determination, and use every political action, and the same weapon to fight future scenarios are being back! suggested to deal with the irreversible damage it caused and Jenin. As to the area close to the green line “Israeli Borders”, settlements’ main purpose is to isolate Palestinian towns and villages there and interrupt their territorial contiguity through their distribution, where every enclave of areas classified as A or B under the Oslo accords – full or partial Palestinian sovereignty – is surrounded by enclaves of area C – full Israeli sovereignty. The last type is Jerusalem settlements, originated to expropriate privately-owned Palestinian land. B’TSELEM: the Israeli

interruptions | 25

26 | interruptions

interruptions | 27

interruptions | 29

Rula Yaghmour

‫ أزرقان غريبان‬x ‫ شارع‬15 15 sTreeTs x 2 foreign blues

30 | interruptions

‫‪pHOTO eSSay‬‬ ‫‪Persistence of‬‬ ‫‪Memory-Bethlehem‬‬ ‫‪Rula Yaghmour‬‬

‫جاءني دالي‪ ،‬نعم سلفادور دالي‪ ..‬على حصان بني طائر‪ ،‬التصق جلده بعظام قفصٍ صدريٍ منتفخ‪.‬‬ ‫ياسمين ليزين بهما‬ ‫ترجل دالي من على حصانه ذو األرجل الرفيعة بسيريالية وجنون‪ ،‬التقط من حديقتي وردتا‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫شاربيه المقوسان‪.‬‬ ‫نعم هو نفسه دالي الذي تغلب على الوقت‪ ،‬نفسه دالي الذي صهر ساعاته بألوان صو ِر احالماه وافكاره‪ ...‬تغلب‬ ‫على الوقت مر ًة اخرى‪ ...‬سافر به و جاءني‪ .‬جاء غاضبُا يطالب بحقوق طبعه‪ .‬جاءني يسأل عن تشابهٍ بين صورتي‬ ‫ورسماته‪ ...‬حدثني قليال عن سيرياليته‪ ..‬عن عالمين مضطربين‪ ،‬مختلفين يجمع بينهما عالم سيريالي يكاد يبتعد‬ ‫قدر االمكان عن المنطق‪.‬‬

‫لحظة صمت وتوقفٌ عند األشارة‬ ‫اضطراب تحدثين في شارع األشارة؟ عند أي‬ ‫دالي‪ :‬أي جرأة تملكين؟ أي جرأةٍ تملكين و انت تذيبين األشارة؟ أي‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫األلوان أطفئت األشارة؟ وكيف تجمدين استمرارية األشارة؟‬

‫ً‬ ‫قائلة‪ :‬أجننت يا دالي؟ أتسألني عن األشارة وانت من صهر الوقت؟‬ ‫فأجبته‬ ‫غضب دالي واستنفر‪ ..‬واجابني صارخاً‪ :‬لم اصهر إال ساعتي‪ ...‬والساعة ساعتي‪ ،‬والوقت وقتي وانا في رسمتي‬ ‫والرسمة انا‪ .‬واشارتك في شارع مستمر تستمر به الحياة في توقيت ال يتبع وقت ساعتي‪.‬‬ ‫بل هو وقت الشارع‪ ،‬وقت السيارات ووقت المشاة‪ ،‬وقت التوقف عند األشارة ووقت استمرارية األشارة‪ ،‬وقت توقف‬ ‫األطفال عند األشارة ووقت قطعهم لشارع مدرستهم‪ .‬و قت تأخر الموظف عند األشارة‪ ،‬ووقت تجاوز قطيع الغنم المار‬ ‫لوقت األشارة‪ ،‬وقت قطع الشارع في الوقت الخطأ ووقت الهروب المسرع من وقت األشارة‪.‬‬ ‫فكيف تجرأين على صهر استمرارية األشارة؟‬ ‫فأجبته قائلةً‪ :‬ال يا دالي‪ ،‬لست انا من أوقف الوقت هنا‪ .‬ال لم اقصد ان اطفىء الوان األشارة‪.‬‬ ‫ولكن يا دالي لو انك هنا لربما كرهت السيريالية‪ ،‬ألخرجتها من كتبنا ومنعت تداولها‪ ،‬لحاربت حرب ارهاب عليها‪.‬‬ ‫فواقعنا يا دالي االن سيريالي‪ ..‬يختلط به الواقع والخيال‪ ..‬تتخبط به األحالم والكوابيس‪.‬‬ ‫واشارتنا المرورية لم تصهرها افكارنا أو احالمنا وال ميولنا الفنية‪ ،‬بل اذابها انفجارٌ اراد ان يتحدا استمرارية حياة‬ ‫لحم ان تذكرني بتوقف وانصهار الوقت عندك‪ .‬ارادت ان تذكرني بواقع مجمدٍ‬ ‫شارعها‪ .‬نعم يا دالي‪ ،‬ارادت اشارة بيت ٍ‬ ‫في صورة‪ ،‬والدنيا من حولها مستمرة في وقت ال يأبه لوقتها‪ .‬ونعم اراد توقفي عند األشارة ان يذكرني باستمرارية‬

‫الذاكرة المصهورة هنا‪.‬‬ ‫فعد يا سلفادور من حيث اتيت‪ ،‬لم نعد بحاجتك االن‪ ،‬اعد لي وردتاي و ارحل بحصانك و شاربيك األعوجان‪.‬‬

‫‪interruptions | 31‬‬

32 | interruptions

THe CiTy WiTH CaTS On FlyinG pipeS! Other than retreating to private shelters for sexual intercourse, humans haven’t really developed symbiotic dynamics further than cats had. Keeping in mind that some cats do retreat to veiled areas escaping human’s intrusive stares, while more humans are having sex in public.

for a civilized urban living, and this exercise was an opportunity to pick up the skills we have lost.

Cats are the only creatures, other than roaches, that literally share our homes. Cats occupy our urban contexts, traffic our roads, eat our food and even make it to our living rooms.

But the types of relationships cats develop with our built environment is astonishing; no built form is constant, nothing is obsolete.

For cats every object is in constant renewal of its purpose, meaning, shape or function.

Beneath our cars is a space they escape to for warmth, shelter or security, they go there to nap, eat, hide, play or have sex, and the condensed water dripping down from our ACs is cool filtered water which feeds their thirst in the summer. The descendants of lions have developed these skills through hundreds of years as this breed of animals left the safaris

The vision was interpreted through a wave of thoughts and improvised visvualizations illustrated on paper-mounted walls of Makan.

The result was a flood of creative energy which represented itself through visually communicated ideas: creative, aesthetic, intellectual, experimental, humorous and rigorously critical of rigidity and standardization. The space was exposed for visitors and announced as a rough exhibition.

Attendants have perceived the work as utterly rejuvenating and provocative.

Catatonia is a workshop conducted by Interruptions which spanned over ten days at Makan in Lweibdeh. The workshop aimed to examine the dynamics of physical accomDesign is one of these dynamics which living modation and urban reform through the city’s creatures have developed to reform the physi- cat-citizens by suggestively visualizing a catcal contexts they occupy either for the basic city-prototype in Lweibdeh, Amman. quest for survival or experiential, emotional and intellectual fulfillment.

The team, having been built of people from diverse professional backgrounds, have Humbled by nature’s power, this act of also tested potentials of multi-disciplinary contextual reform often had to negotiate with design bringing together different insights, the environment. Design was the outcome perspectives, knowledge grounds and of this creative diplomacy: an existential methodologies to build a collective vision of a idiom that we have lost for the arrogance of hypothetical situation where even standards bulldozers and Frank Gehry. had to be invented.

As the team dissolved, Catatonia remained constructed in memory, often confusing the-city-with-flying-pipes with a promise of ‘homotopia’ and a striding desire to interrupt. interruptions | 33

volants

PAGE 60

REFlEcTIONs Post-workshop reflections by some of Catatonia team participants and critical reviews of workshop, process, methodology and attributes.

PAGE 54

Ahmad Sabbagh Ali Musleh Dana Qabbani Dina Haddadin Hadi Alaeddin Khaled Sedki Mike Derderian Rula Yaghmour Toleen Touq Yazan Baggili Interruptions @Makan House August 2009

36 | interruptions

PIPE-OlOGY Experimenting with variations of prototypes made of concrete and plastic pipe sections developed urban products with an endless variety of functions such as chat-rooms, look-outs, aqueducts and potties.

PAGE 50

caTaTONIa The city with flying pipes is designed by introducing an urban layer of floating pipes emerging from surrounding vertical and horizontal planes and crossing over and underneath Paris circle.

39 | interruptions

“Catatonia is the rebellion of the marginalized, the re a City of redistributed pow a liberty monument floati over the streets of amman demoCraCy is reClaimed and equality is proClaimed… for ‘Cats’…”

42 | interruptions

n, the resistanCe revolution City, wers, ting n‌

interruptions | 43

ThE

NEEds dEVElOPING a cITY PROTOTYPE FOR a hYPOThETIcal caT-cOMMUNITY REqUIREd INTENsIVE REsEaRch TO sUGGEsT VIaBlE EValUaTION PaRaMETERs FOR ThE caT-cITY REsPONdING TO ThEIR NEEds FOR shElTER, sEcURITY, FOOd aNd sEx.

44 | interruptions

LESS CATS ARE DYING BY NATURAL CAUSES, MORE AND MORE EVERY DAY DIE

BY ALL GROUND STEPPING THINGS, SHOES, TIRES AND ELEPHANT FEET! ALL ANIMALS ARE CREATED EQUAL AND THOSE ON PAWS HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAFETY THE SAME WAY AS THOSE WITH FEET!

FEEd

Security Less cats are dying by natural causes, more and more every day die by all ground stepping things, shoes, tires and elephant feet! All animals are created equal and those on paws have the right to safety the same way as those with feet!

Food & Drink The last piece of chicken is always the cat’s share, but as population grow larger, access to food and water resources became a dominating concern for the growing cat communities!

Trans-pipes and distilled water collectors preserved sustainable resources.

Security

Food and Drink THE LAST PIECE OF CHICKEN IS ALWAYS THE CAT’S SHARE, BUT AS POPULATION GROW LARGER, ACCESS TO FOOD AND WATER RESOURCES BECAME A DOMINATING CONCERN FOR THE GROWING CAT COMMUNITIES! TRANS-PIPES AND DISTILLED WATER COLLECTORS PRESERVED SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES.

interruptions | 45

Shelter A cat naps 12 to 18 hours a day, preferably contained in a cuddly warm and shaded place, perhaps cats are more experts on car engines being familiar with the bottom of all car brands! But even street cats are worthy of well designed shelter as domestic cats!

Sex If it wasn’t prostitution, we do agree cats enjoy ‘open-relationships’, February carnivals celebrate a long heritage of wild underground cat culture which was celebrated in underground routes design down to the labeled ‘red-district’ where cats raves blow loud and steamy!

Shelter

A CAT NAPS 12 TO 18 HOURS A DAY, PREFERABLY CONTAINED IN A CUDDLY WARM AND SHADED PLACE, PERHAPS CATS ARE MORE EXPERTS ON CAR ENGINES BEING FAMILIAR WITH THE BOTTOM OF ALL CAR BRANDS! BUT EVEN STREET CATS ARE WORTHY OF WELL DESIGNED SHELTER AS DOMESTIC CATS!

46 | interruptions

interruptions | 47

48 | interruptions

The city with flying pipes is designed by introducing an urban layer of floating pipes emerging from surrounding vertical and horizontal planes and crossing over and underneath Paris circle.

These layers are composed of pipe-units formed into networks and intersected at nodes.

PIPE-NET is a system of elevated ‘cat-walks’ which provide security for travelling cats and blends with the silhouettes of the streets, walls and building and mirrors groundnetworks on an elevated plane.

Network consists of walking-pipes, climb up pipes and hovering transition and food pipes.

Concrete-NODES are the intersections and endpoints of pipe-nets formed into pockets which either provide shelter, temporary meeting places, rest areas or food storages.

These pockets are either ground-embedded, flying pockets or clustered into compound-pockets as cat-habitats.

interruptions | 49

interruptions | 51

In order to sustain independent food-resources cats need to secure alternative food collecting mechanisms without having to depend on human’s ungenerous charities.

Food-Nets stretch out from downtown Catatonia (Paris Circle) towards the adjacent food-corridor dropping down into the kitchens of QuickFried-Chicken and Abu George Pizza bringing both food and smells into the pipes and ascending back into the securely elevated food-pipes to food-storage nodes.

interruptions | 53

54 | interruptions

interruptions | 55

56 | interruptions

interruptions | 57

58 | interruptions

interruptions | 59

reFleCTiOnS Post-workshop reflections by some of Catatonia team participants and critical reviews of workshop, process, methodology and attributes.

YAzAN BAggIlI It all started with an ambush entitled “WE WANT YOU”, and what a way to finally become an INTERRUPTIONIST! The whole idea of testing the potentials of multi-disciplinary design was too tempting, especially with such a liberating idea for design.

Funny how each one of us chose to reinterpret the brief to a personal concern or dilemma. A definite driving force from my perspective was a ridiculous highly-publicized and corporatesponsored “National Cat Show” that took place a Friday earlier; a clear first in Jordan! No offence animal-right activists, but I could not accept that bourgeois performance from a theoretical point of view…

I had to take a stand about Amman’s reality versus its everchanging social ideologies: Whatever happened to the true ‘cats’ of Amman; those hundreds of undomesticated street cats that go unnoticed as true inhabitants of our urban environment?

RUlA YAgHMoUR Confessions of a Serial Killer I killed our client. On the third day of our top secret confidential meetings to save the suffering underground feline society, I secretly murdered our client.

And as humans, when hit with a situation loaded with cosmic irony we tend to rationalize and reason out the insanity we find ourselves in, which ultimately brings us back to earth with self confidence, peace of mind and a sense of control over things.

I personally was hit twice in one week. I found myself in an insane bizarre workshop designing an alternative urban environment for cats, where in the so called –Catatonia, each designer in the team was again, individually, looking for the best and most suitable justifications and metaphors to validate the irrationality of such an idea he was working on.

In parallel to that, and in our own real urban environment a cat

DINA HADDADIN What started as a simple and fun experiment soon materialized into a real client-designer scenario; a unique demanding client in this case. It was after the fact while looking at the ideas pinned one over the other on the walls of Makan that the group began to realize, there was more to the project. We took a snap shot of that, internalize it and project our selves over it, another dimension started to take form as the work began to verge on other realities. It became a sort of a wider experiment…

Catatonia is the rebellion, the resistance of the marginalized, the revolution city, a city of redistributed powers, a liberty monument floating over the streets of Amman… democracy is reclaimed and equality is proclaimed… for ‘cats’…

Meetings were held at Makan. First day on couches, chairs and beanbags, second day chairs moving towards the huge wooden 60 | interruptions

The continuous struggle between the different social strata can be metaphorically critiqued through imagining an underground cat society, fed up and ready to rage against the system, and prepare a rebellion to take over Paris Circle and announce it as “Catatonia”!

Maybe we didn’t all voice out our concerns about the core meaning behind “Catatonia”, but we sure were able to think collaboratively on loads of different design considerations: from Urban Planning and Architectural detailing to Products and Community branding, we worked as a team to visualize and present our imaginary client and their dreams! Somehow, we felt the pressure of an actual deadline, even worse; we got a chill simply from the thought of a possible client’s disapproval. But at the end, a single unified network celebrating the design process was undoubtedly going to shape things to a whole; the idea of a “Rough Exhibition” was born!

got stuck in my car’s engine, leaving me mortified in catatrophic crime scene, that literally slaughtered the cat and my car’s motor.

Here, I was confronted with too much absurdity that I, ‘logical Rula’, needed to process and rationalize. Connecting the unfortunate accident and its irony, with the workshop from one end, and on the other hand I was –just like the other participants- trying to build up the lesson learned or the justifying metaphor of the workshop.

During the design process, we all realized that the generator of creativity was our intuitive response to the primal basic needs of our client. And I had a growing concern about the projects proximity to human-living conditions? How should our states and authorities respond to such needs? Do we need to standardize any alternative typologies or set some different hierarchical manners for such principals?

table in the middle of the space, as days passed everyone was standing, charged with millions of ideas, issues, facts, and doubts in sometimes.

The narrative process flowed easily between the group as moods would lighten and leaden with the stream of consciousness-like discussions. Debates would arise and differences of opinions would be revealed through the practice.

By the end of first week, everyone involved grew to know more about themselves and the others, and over time comfort and familiarity fostered between all different designers mapped with markers over our shy white board. Eventually we then broke into 3 groups and over the course of 3 days the architects, the artist and the product designers broke through barriers of predictable problem-solving routes; and weaved all their different means of expression and poured it on the empty white walls ....turning them into our huge white board, surrounding

Friends and colleagues asked: What the hell is that workshop of yours?

Are you actually exhibiting cats?

I answered: Well, curiosity never killed anything except maybe a few hours!

Just come and check out what we’ve been experimenting…

I can gladly say, the workshop was an extravagant experience, I had a blast! Huge thanks to Makan, to those who attended the exhibition and others who were remotely concerned, to the brilliant group of designers and artists (who were more like family to me in those two weeks), and last but not least, to Interruptions; all I can say is keep them coming!

Looking forward for a prosperous future with you!

However, the workshop ended with a ‘Rough Exhibition’, allowing each of us to individually and secretly re-think and reflect. As for me, I came acquainted as a serial killer, that tends, unintentionally and continuously pushing all the team members to look for metaphors and connections.

I think we as designers need to let go sometimes, we need to overlook our obsessive collective ego’s addictive affinities and hopes of saving the world.

What I realized today that my concerns about the needs and feeding them is a bit futile, we homosapiens share with feline society the same basic needs, we both need a secure place to live in, sex , food and water. What we need to consider might be beyond these basics and other social needs, it might be something small and situational, just like our workshop, which liberated our thinking process from the serial killer of insanity living inside all of us. Thank you Interruptions, and may god forgive me for killing an innocent cat.

our enthusiasm that cat city is coming to life. Over some occasional bananas, and lots of pizza over the balcony, the group would gather together and commence the happening; Catatonia must be declared, and the public must know.

The rough exhibition resembled an intersection of art architecture design, documentation and research. It took 4 long nights, 48 sheet of brown paper, 21 pizza boxes, meters of duct tape, stacks of white paper, printing, printing, and more printing, crazy amounts of cutting, drawing painting stenciling and adhesive UHU, along with the haunting sound of the mega phone… molded together with the creative energies in the air.

Thank you all again for an extraordinary experience, can’t wait for the next workshop, who’s the next client, I heard tuna fish is demanding a project now, somewhere in the dead sea?

interruptions | 61

HADI AlAEDDIN Artists are delusional idiots… Architects are pompous snobs… Designers are daydreaming elitists… well at least that’s what I thought getting into this!

See, I just dreaded the idea of getting all these people together in one room, not just because it was an unheard of experiment and a first in the region, but also because I have never worked hand in hand with architects or artists before…

Like I said…

Artists are plant huffing hippies… Architects are patronizing narcissists… Designers are freaky plastic fetishists… well, at least that’s what I thought getting into this!

The world of a product design graduate (a loyal one) revolves around the idea of him being the most important professional in the world right now… And the stereotypes you learn in design schools about architects and artist are perpetuated through the unrelentless overflowing crap you hear spewing out of some people’s mouths!

AlI MUSlEH The workshop was interesting in so many ways, it is the first trial for multi-disciplinary approach to design perhaps in the region and I believe it shows how interruptions is going to have a leading role and influence local design patterns.

My involvement as an industrial designer with people from different disciplines helped identify opportunities and possibilities sharing the process and the understanding of clients and users from different perspectives. Partly this trial was about finding ways to bridge design disciplines, and I believe in many ways we’ve succeeded in creating a connection.

Through ‘Catatonia we managed to touch on vital kills worthy of developing.

First > Choosing the subject It was a good idea to choose a whole new target group to work on design solutions for. I believe it gave us room to stretch design muscle and use different tools to understand our “client” and explore the design process more deeply.

62 | interruptions

The Stereotypes again being…

Artists are disappointed failed designers… Architects are arrogant self proclaimed prophets… Designers are pessimistic sarcastic know-it-alls… well, at least that’s what I thought getting into this!

Artists do have a twisted view on things, twisted in the right direction. What’s more is their elegant approach to doing things; they think, and they do… they don’t think, and think again, and again and again… So thanks to them, only now I’ve learnt when to just do whatever it is I need to do, even though I spent years wearing nothing but Nike sneakers…

But after the first hour or so, with no sign of crap anywhere, everyone without any inhibitions is generating ideas that started bouncing around the room sucker punching me right smack in the face!

People are actually talking sense; even I was talking sense (most of the time I just say whatever comes to my mind, naturally I rarely make any sense)

Architects are fucking brilliant! You take the magnifying glass right out of the picture! You take every little detail, examine it while looking at all the other little details next to it… you see big pictures, you think bigger ideas… damn I had fun working with you people… Respect!

This opportunity made everyone very comfortable speaking out his/her minds, whether standing on their soap boxes or sitting quietly beside them…

Thank you all for the wonderful experience, Hoping to work with you all again soon...

And Designers, well, nothing changed I guess!! You tell me…

Final thought… In this paragraph I’m referring to the “good people of the catatonia higher council”

Second > Developing good working relationships among team members The team consisted of ten brilliant people from different creative backgrounds. There were architects, a creative writer, graphic designers, industrial designers and artists.

Beginning almost as total strangers, team members developed good working relationships and a sense of comfort, which ultimately lead to the success of the workshop in general.

What I also want to mention is the interpersonal skills of each individual involved in the workshop. Team members had the ability to listen to each other and to speak with clarity and bridging the gap between different communication styles.

Fourth > guiding design decisions for a multidisciplinary team Guiding decisions weren’t that complicated because we didn’t have to manage client relationship and our “client” wasn’t involved in the decision making process yet so it was difficult having to set our own guidelines for the suggested ‘client’ to critically evaluate our ideas and identify which design solution would benefit our “client” more.

I believe the hardest part was creating parameters and which was essential to facilitating multi-disciplinary design approach identifying the needs of our target group and understanding context. Without these we would’ve kept on pitching useless ideas and wasted time and energy, which would’ve eventually been frustrating for all team members.

I believe we should organize another workshop that directly Third>> Verbal communication touches local market to test how we’re going to manage the As diverse communication styles brought richness to the complexity of the design process. project in many ways, different dialects at times created That’s it for now, thank you guys, it’s been a blast. See you ruptures that we learned to bridge effectively to find a unified next meeting! language between disciplines. es.

interruptions | 63

64 | interruptions

interruptions | 65

IT IS ON. Hadi Alaeddin Ali Mosleh

Bear with me; I’m getting confused while writing this so I can only imagine what reading it would do.

But I do have a point.

INTERRUPTION: SCENE TAKES PLACE IN THE BEDROOM. Your mind is telling you the dream is over and you should wake up, you reluctantly agree and start ascending in the air hovering over the bed only to realize that you are waking up yet to another dream…

INTERRUPTION: ONLY WHEN INTERRUPTED DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE LIVING IN YOUR HEAD – LUCID DREAMING – AND IN THAT MOMENT YOU ARE FACED WITH WHAT SHOULD BE A RATHER EASY CHOICE TO MAKE; DO YOU SLEEP IT OFF? OR DO YOU WAKE UP AND ACTUALLY LIVE THE DREAM? Think of it like this.

You have a dream, you are aware that you are sleeping and dreaming, if you don’t do anything about it then the dream will be forgotten by the time you’re brushing your teeth.

But, what if you take control of that dream…

66 | interruptions

INTERRUPTION: ENTERING A STATE OF LUCID DREAMING CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH SEVERAL CUES OR TRIGGERS THAT CAN BE PRACTICED IN YOUR WAKING STATE AND APPLIED IN YOUR DREAM STATE.

INTERRUPTION: BEHIND YOU NOW ARE A CHAIR AND A TABLE, ON THAT TABLE IS A STACK OF WHITE PAPER AND A PENCIL.

You start sketching away, thoughts scattered through the narrow paths created on So, you are still hovering over what were once clean sheets your bed, the moment you of white paper, roads that realize that you are only seem as if leading to nowhere human, you fall, but hey, if until finally the mighty pencil you don’t want to wake up falls with the resonating yet, it is your choice, and you sound of either failure or choose to take control, success, In that specific probably because you believe moment you can feel yourself that you heard that little voice waking up and becoming that drives your selective conscious, yet you decide that processes and brings you to the dream’s not over and you the firm decision of doing, or want to keep dreaming. not doing, And that voice is telling you to go in the room… INTERRUPTION:

INTERRUPTION: SCENE TAKES PLACE A BIG EMPTY ROOM WITH ONE LIGHT BULB HANGING ON TO DEAR LIFE BY A THIN CABLE DOWN FROM THE HIGH CEILING. FLICKING THE LIGHT SWITCH OFF DOESN’T EVEN GET THE LIGHT TO TWITCH…

MOST INTERRUPTIONS COME AS NOISY IRRITATING FEELINGS OF DISCOMFORT, A REMINDER THAT NOT EVERYTHING IN YOUR HEAD WILL END UP BEING THAT LIVING BREATHING ORGANISM WE CALL DESIGN.

From there on, if you start concentrating hard enough so On again off again… you’ll hear that pencil tip The light is now brighter than scratching the surface of a big when you came in. idea, and suddenly what was You think to yourself; it’s on!

Realizing the interruption of a light not turning off is not as simple as it seems, now you’re on to something.

once an incomprehensible maze of poor city planning on the notebook in front of you, all those paths meet in a point heading towards one single direction, becoming a path only you can take; a path of your own creation.

INTERRUPTION: “DO NOT GO WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD, GO INSTEAD WHERE THERE IS NO PATH AND LEAVE A TRAIL” RALPH WALDO EMERSON. Now you understand that you don’t have to wish for dreams to come true, they already are, what you can do is test the reality within a dream and live the dream within a reality.

Announce to the world; IT IS ON.

FINAL INTERRUPTION: DESIGN BEGINS WITH IDEAS, THOSE BEGIN AS DREAMS WAITING TO BE UNDERSTOOD, AND FOR DREAMS TO BE UNDERSTOOD THEY MUST BE LIVED. SO RESPECT IDEAS NO MATTER HOW DREAMY THEY ARE (Pun? What pun?)

This poster print and variations are available to buy, but if you ask nicely we'll get you one for free. Send hadi.alaeddin@gmail.com

interruptions | 67

inTerrUpTiOnS: OBJeCTS THaT OBJeCT Paola de la concha zindel

68 | interruptions

As I walk a cobbled road up from Boulevard Lopez Mateos to my grandomother´s house as a visitor in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico, I notice interruptions in every step: the moss in-between the stones that interrupt the predominant grey color of the concrete; my feet that interrupt the lines of the composition of the distribution; and the sound that I create by breaking the silence with the scraping of my shoes; all interruptions and all minute gestures of chaos in a relatively stable context. Up above, tiny nest-like plants interrupt telephone lines like notes on a pentagram, and the simple notion that I am currently looking for interruptions on the way, has already interrupted my state of mind. It seems pointless to try to avoid the presence of overlapping happenings that converge in

a constant competition to claim attention, as unavoidable as the word itself in this paragraph: interruption.

The interruption responds to a non-linear state in time, as an asynchronous signal that exclusively operates in a chaotic tone. As subtle and soft as the gesture may be, the interruption shifts direction, suggests change, imposes, or surprises.

Depending on cultural contexts, certain objects or presences are noticed more or not and can or not be perceived as an interruption. Let us talk about the dusty, colorful flag-filled, city of Cholula, a perfect example of a Mexican city in which its inhabitants have a “pueblito”, or little-town way of life with cyclists and churches on every corner. Cholula is guarded by multiple

packs of friendly stray dogs that stroll the streets freely, respected and welcomed by its inhabitants. Naturally then, if one of these characters were to saunter its way into a local bar, none of the clients nor the owner would heed the newcomer. Let us now transport this same situation to a Manhattan posh wine bar NYC style in which the canine would immediately be announced as an interruption. The reactions would probably include an upheaval of some sort accompanied by a few outraged clients and or humored glances. In the first situation the object (dog) provokes no intrusion hence there is no interruption, whilst during the second, a series of events with a ripple effect are created due to the object´s presence.

interruptions | 69

IdENTITY as a GENERaTIVE sYsTEM Salina Abaza

generaTive sysTems Generative systems are systems that use few basic rules to yield extremely varied and unpredictable patterns.

Defining the result of a generative system remains difficult, since most of them are usually generative systems working autonomously generating in turn new systems.

Generative systems then need Fixed values to be first created, the interaction of these values inside the general frame of time and space, produces a result. This result can serve as an absolute, or as a new system that will interact again with other factors, to bring again new systems, and so on. Concluding from that, a generative system is: • created out of certain values • the random cluster or interaction of these “inner” values lead to its random cluster or interaction with the surroundings • autonomous • sustainable

idenTiTy as a generaTive sysTem Each one of us is born with a certain amount of values inherited, like the DNA, the nationality, the geographical space or zone we were born in, ancestors and family tree etc. These values shape our first understanding of the world and to our surroundings.

Based on these values, we interact with these surroundings. At the first stages of lives, these remain uncontrollable. Yet by the passage of time, and by learning processes, they become less fixed and more in a flow, more under our control.

The interaction of the previous values generates new values through time, like our religious belief, our gender and sexual orientation, our political/ economical/social points of view and convictions, and so on. These two

70 | interruptions

systems (the inherited values and the obtained ones) through a continues base of interaction, generate in their turn our identity, an identity that is composed of all these elements and their interaction.

Based on that, identity is not a fixed value. Our identity is a result of the constructive chaos where these elements are emerging and interacting randomly on one level, and on our own interaction with our surroundings on another level, and on the general frame of time and space on a third level.

behavior is generaTive Based on the above mentioned, behavior would be defined as the interaction/reaction that we perform at certain moments considering all the aspects that shape our identity.

Therefore and like our identity, our behavior is also generative and depends on the previous elements, on our understanding, and on what we have at a certain moment and space.

The absoluTe is noW and here If our identity is composed of this complex map of layers, whether inherited or obtained through time.

Concluding from what’s mentioned above, no value is absolute (expect for death and taxes maybe). But under the umbrella of the concept that our identity is composed of the flow of all these elements, we conclude that non of the values we think to be fixed, IS actually fixed; our nationality changes once we change our geographic zone, our gender change once we transoperate, our sexual orientation change once we let go of the social understanding of gender.. and so on. The only absolute that we deal with remains to be this moment, at this place.

The conclusion of this would be, most of the terms that we used to understand as fixed and absolute values shall fall in an abyss of continuous flow, no single answer or definition exist for all these values, but rather a generative one, based on the moment and the space.

The exPerimenT At the early stages of this research, which is conceptually still at an early age, we decided to take a simple step in experimenting our behavior in a different space. Though we were exercising the same action at the same moment yet at a different place, the results were sometimes different, sometimes close, sometimes similar, without a defined rule or result.

One of the tasks was to have a meal (pizza), another was to take a walk, another was a collective task done with other artists in different parts of the world, where each artist would visit an art gallery or performance at a specified time arranged in the different parts of the world.

The tasks remain an initial experiment, most of the results reflected part of the character of the object, but the time and space always played the major element.

The research is still under construction, and other experiments and conclusion shall come along the way, one day.

Canada - Object: Hanadi - Subject: Pizza Lunch

Roma - Object: Salina - Subject: Pizza Lunch

Syria - Object: Salina - Subject: Just walk

UK - Object: Hanadi - Subject: Just walk

interruptions | 71

72 | interruptions

74 | interruptions

interruptions | 75

76 | interruptions

interruptions | 77

12 mOODS X 12 emerGinG arTiSTS

Ahmad Sabbagh Artist & Designer | Jordan blouzaat.com | syntaxdigital.com

David Habchy Illustrator | Lebanon klekeesh.blogspot.com

Dina Haddadin Artist | Jordan behance.net/dinahaddadin

Elias Moubarak Photographer | Lebanon le-coeur-a-droite.blogspot.com

Hanane Kai Illustrator | Lebanon hanane.me/blog

Ibrahim Attar Photographer | Syria biroo87.deviantart.com

Nisrine Boukhari Installation Artist | Syria allartnow.com

Nour Bishouty Artist & Illustrator | Lebanon nourbishouty.blogspot.com

omar zoubi Graphic Designer | Jordan daftartajreebi.wordpress.com

Rawan Kakish Artist | Jordan behance.net/rawankakish

Timi Hayek Fashion Designer | Lebanon timihayek.blogspot.com

Yasmeen Ayyashi Artist & Designer | Jordan tasmeemme.com/profile/427

78 | interruptions

Hakaya festival

3rd Edition 3- 10 May 2010

The story of Hakaya festival started 3 years ago with the idea of providing a space for Arab storytellers to interact with their Jordanian, Arab, and international audiences at the Al Balad theatre in Amman. The first round was organized in January 2007 during the coldest week of the year and is remembered for the freezing cold of the theatre, the limited audience, and the astounding storytellers and young volunteers who showed great dedication. In April 2008 the circle of the festival expanded to reach out to different locations, inside and outside Amman, as well as professional and young storytellers from Jordan, the Arab world, and Europe. In 2010, this itinerant festival (geographically and temporally) will continue to invite inspiring storytellers, young and old, traditional and theatrical, from Jordan and the world, in addition to film screenings, meetings, and workshops. Hakaya and Interruptions will collaborate this year through ‹Urban Tales›; a workshop to capture the physical, phenomenal, emotional and experiential presence of the city and embody them in tales. The resulting ‹City Scripts› will be presented during the festival. Detailed program information will be available in the WAW AL BALAD magazine and on the website: www.hakaya.org The festival is under the patronage of his excellence the Mayor of Amman, Omar Maani, and is funded by the European Union and organized in cooperation with the Arab Education Forum and the “Hakaya” network.

‫الدورة الثالثة‬ 2010 ‫مايو‬/‫ أيار‬10 – 3

‫ملتقى حكايا السنوي‬

‫ سنوات وكانت الفكرة أن يكون المهرجان مساحة‬3 ‫بدأت حكاية ملتقى حكايا قبل‬ ‫للحكي وللحكواتيين للتواصل مع جمهورهم األردني والعربي في مسرح البلد‬ ‫ وكان البرد‬2007 ‫ وكانت الدورة األولى في شهر كانون الثاني من عام‬.‫في عمان‬ ‫ كما المتطوعين الشباب الذين فاقوا في عددهم وأدائهم‬،‫ إال أن الجمهور‬،‫قارصا‬ ‫ أصروا على الحضور لمتابعة مجموعة متميزة من الحكواتيين‬،‫كل التوقعات‬ .‫والمسرحيين‬ ‫ اتسعت دائرة ملتقى حكايا لتشمل مواقع عديدة‬2008 ‫ من عام‬4 ‫وفي شهر‬ .‫داخل وخارج عمان وحكواتية محترفين وشبان من األردن ودول عربية وأوروبية‬ ،‫ يستمر مهرجان حكايا باستحضار حكواتية ملهمين وملهمات‬2010 ‫وفي عام‬ ‫ باإلضافة إلى عروض‬،‫ تقليديين ومسرحيين من األردن والعالم‬،‫صغار وكبار‬ ‫ تابعوا برنامج المهرجان في مجلة واو البلد وعلى الموقع‬.‫أفالم وورشات عمل‬ www.hakaya.org ‫االلكتروني‬ ‫يقام المهرجان تحت رعاية عطوفة أمين عمان المهندس عمر المعاني وبدعم‬ .»‫من اإلتحاد األوروبي وبالتعاون مع الملتقى التربوي العربي وشبكة «حكايا‬

interruptions | 79

80 | interruptions

chEcKPOINT 303 sc mocha and sc yosh from checkpoint 303, the Palestinian/Tunisian/french music collective, de-constructs sounds from the occupied Palestine and beyond. and create an electronic soundscape for us to re-think; life, passion and pain in the middle east. a musical review, written by an old club head from sweden who studies arabic in damascus Apollo de Azizi

interruptions | 81

I recently visited the Art Biennale in Istanbul. One of the pieces that really intrigued me was by a Palestinian artist, Larissa Sansour called Soup Over Bethlehem. The video installation circled around a family eating Mloukhieh (the Palestinian national dish) and their discussions grasping everyday life in Bethlehem.

Topics moved from the struggle of finding ingredients for Mloukhieh, to personal ID controls. In the end of the video one of the family members says, “Oh I’m so occupied these days”, with another replying, laughing, “Aren’t we all”. The possibility of reach the everyday life behind the horror consuming media, made this piece so much more powerful, to me, then any news report of the injustice that goes on in occupied Palestine.

The same thing occurs when I listen to Checkpoint303’s music. The main founding members of the collective, Sound Catcher A.K.A SC Yosh and Sound Cutter A.K.A SC MoCha met in Tunis 15 years ago.

Checkpoint 303 was launched at the end of 2004, with SC Yosh living in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and SC MoCha in Paris. Soon other musicians and visual artists joined the adventure, turning Checkpoint 303 into an international collective.

Basically, the sound catchers of the collective like Sound Catcher Yosh makes recordings of various sounds. These recordings can be from a traffic jam in Ramallah or an astrology program on a radio station in Bethlehem. These sounds are then sliced up by the Sound Cutters like MoCha to create new sound structures and loops. Finally, some beat, samples and live instruments are added such as the oud or the piano. The result is a soundscape that transports the listener out from wherever he may be sitting to the streets of the Middle East.

This organic way of collaboration, where sounds and production happens in different parts of the world keep me wonder, how do they know when a tune is finished?

The music of Checkpoint 303 speaks about daily life in the Middle East. We use field recordings and we perform in the streets of the West Bank or East Jerusalem, for instance, to produce a music that is half-way between a sonic report and an experiment with sound and music, explains Mocha.

My joy of finding Checkpoint303 goes further than the “documentary” part. As an old club kid that has spend most of his time in clubs around Europe and USA, living in the Levant can sometimes be tricky. As much as I love this region, finding alternative music can be hard.

82 | interruptions

Sometimes it is just obvious. For some compositions you have the feeling you could just go on and on. Some of the tunes we play live are not finished, they change a bit each time we perform them, they might be maturing and one day they are finalized. A finished song is for us a song that does not leave your mind as soon as it’s over. For that it has to contain something, be it an idea, a sound or a novel way of combining the two that makes you think about it when it’s over, and possibly incites you to listen again.

I do enjoy listening to Fairoz in the morning and I can take part of Oum Kalthom , if I’m not too tired, at night. But when it comes to contemporary music it’s a different story.

When I sit at my wireless cafe in Damascus with M-Arabia on, all the Haifa, Elissa and Nancy make me feel like I have over-consume sweets to a stage of diabetes. This has been painful to me as I want to make the last piece of my puzzle to be part of my passion for the Middle East, the music.

Checkpoint 303’s musical background penetrates a wide musical spectrum from minimalistic electronica and post rock to Arabic and Indian classical and traditional music.

This creates a unique sound that is hard to define.

Above all, what appeared to be very attractive to us was the possibility of fusing influences from various corners of the world using breakbeats, down tempo, drum’n’bass or even experimental music as a backbone structure. So, although we would not say that we necessarily perform what is perceived as being club music, a large part of the music we perform live take on a ’clubby’ dimension with heavy beats and complex rhythms.

When you enter a show of Checkpoint 303 you notice that art have an equal important part of the musical collective.

In addition to video work that is shown onstage, graphic art is also one medium they uses and develops in order to spread its message for justice and peace. They produce flyers and posters for their shows, and their impact can also be substantial, in that it places the issue of activist art and Palestine into a new perspective.

interruptions | 83

iT is equally imPorTanT ThaT our music is discovered and enjoyed

by PeoPle across The middle easT and larger arab World as by PeoPle in The WesT, or far easT, or The norTh Pole What is the power to blend these different corners like art, electronic music and activism?

Electronic music is a powerful way of expressing outrage with respect to the ongoing injustice. Activism through experimental and electronic music might prove to be more powerful than some classical forms of protest music, that is primarily based on lyrics. The universal dimension of beats, ambient noise and haunting melodies, is that it speaks to everyone, irrespective of their language, culture or identity.

This gives our music, art and message a universal dimension. At least we hope it does. We drop beats not bombs.

activists become clubbers and clubbers become activists. have you noticed this fusion?

I think that obviously all artists that have contributed to our compositions or live shows, or who we have interacted with over these last years have somehow to a certain degree become involved with music and activism simply because of that. Festivals who invite us to perform indirectly become involved to a limited extent with the issues and questions our music raises.

They did a number of DJ sets opening up for Massive Attack in the UK and France 2007 and 2008. Through Massive Attack, the concept of Checkpoint 303, a mix of human rights involvement and electronica reached a non-negligible portion of the thousands of people who attended these shows. But MoCha continues.

84 | interruptions

However, we remain with heads on our shoulders; we know that it would be naive to believe that our music is really changing the current situation on the ground. But it is important for us as artists to do whatever we can to trigger questions, curiosity on one side, and to support the hope and courage on the other side.

What kind of new ideas do you think that you are able to bring to peoples perception of not only occupied Palestine but MiddleEast in general?

The aim is not to go out looking for sounds that depict violence and tragedy explicitly. There are enough media channels going after sensation in their coverage. This approach has allowed Checkpoint 303’s music to cross some borders and penetrate some spheres on various sides of the ”west” vs. ”east”, or ”activist” vs. ”don’t care” or ”indie” vs. ”mainstream” borders.

Through massive internet spreading and through live performances around the globe, Checkpoint 303’s music has reached all kinds of audiences, from all over the world, young and old.

This is what might be somewhat new to activism-related art. It is equally important that our music is discovered and enjoyed by people across the Middle East and larger Arab world as by people in the west, or Far East, or the North Pole.

MoCha explains that because of this, it is possible for the musical collective to reach, not only to the people that is already aware of the reality of life in the troubled MiddleEast, but to the people who are fed the lies, bias and misrepresentation of the mainstream media and who may have a totally wrong idea about the Arab world, its urban culture, underground scene etc.

These might be opportunities to awaken a hidden curiosity that some may have, inciting them to find out more. So far, we have had largely positive experiences with this.

My Palestinian friend was in a festival in Sweden where Checkpoint 303 had a gig. She’s an activist but not so familiar with electronica. She planned to go to the other dance floor where they play more ”traditional” oriental music. But for some reason she stumbled over the room where they played, and did not return to the other dance floor. Checkpoint 303 expands over a large sphere that bring together; the electro/breakbeat head, the oriental music lover, the clubber and the activist.

Checkpoint 303 performances reach from Australia to Japan, with their eclectic sound everybody can find a common factor but in the same time get exposed to something new.

MoCha tells that when they played in Jericho with an audience made up by Palestinian families and kids, apart from the parts where they heard the voice of the syrian poet Nizar Qabbani in the song ”Rissala min Qalandia”, or heard the oud riffs on the drum’n’bass tune ”Abraj”, some asked whether this was hip-hop, or what? The same in Tokyo or Stockholm where parts of the audience can be exposed to the Syrian poet or the ode for the first time.

This is a nice mental gymnastic for everyone involved, pushing the boundaries a little further when it comes to defining the music we do but also when it comes to the image of the ”other” and who he really is, says MoCha.

The soundscape, that Checkpoint 303 brings you, are those feelings I go through as a Swedish student in The Levant.

You curse for the inefficiency when you are renewing your visa. You smile when the old women in the souq tap you on the shoulder and state that ” America, very good”, even if you just told her that you are from Sweden. You cry when you see the apathetic children selling candy in the streets.

All in one day and sometimes in one moment. That is Middle East to me. And that it what I feel when I listen to Checkpoint303’s music. You curse when the Israeli soldiers hijack the bus in the tune Teoda. You smile, as the people call in to get there horoscope in Abraj, and you cry when you here Bilal’s voice of despair in Gaza Calling. All, in one music collective and sometimes in one song.

You can read on their homepage

”This is noT a videogame, violence is noT a moving image on Tv, iT’s The daily nighTmare of millions” I have heard this in so many demonstrations in Stockholm.

But even when I scream it out, a videogame is what it was to me, as with no further contact then the media. But with the soundscape of the recorded sounds from Yosh, combined with MoCha’s de-construction, a more intimate feeling grows on you and you become closer to the people and the region. You experience not only the pain, but as well the passion and the hope and when the ode of MoCha caress you, there’s no need to switch the channel.

interruptions | 85

BIOGRaPhY

checkPoinT 303 (PalesTine/Tunisia/france) is a non-ProfiT avanT-garde acTivisT sonic ProjecT launched in 2004 by sound-caTcher sc yosh (PalesTine) and sound-cuTTer sc mocha (Tunisia). checkPoinT 303 creaTes exPerimenTal elecTronic music ThaT aims aT raising inTernaTional aWareness abouT The ongoing injusTice and suffering of The civilian PoPulaTions ThroughouT The middle easT. checkPoinT 303 combines field recordings Performed in PalesTine WiTh elecTronic beaTs, fx and subTle orienTal Tunes. checkPoinT 303 has evolved inTo an inTernaTional (PalesTine:Tunisia:france:yemen:eTc) collecTive of arTisTs, musicians, djs and vjs including Performances by cheikh julio, miss k sushi, mehdi douss, vh sarang, melski, eTc.

86 | interruptions

interruptions | 87

reVieWS

Arabnet 2010 Beirut Ramsey Tesdell

Chapter 11 Khaled Sedki

Avatar Hadi Alaeddin

88 | interruptions

The sheer amount of publicity and impact of ArabNet on the social media sphere was enough to attract some serious attention.

This, in addition to the fact that the organizers completely embraced social media, and it paid off - inviting bloggers as ‘ambassadors,’ encouraging everyone to tweet, blog, and post about the conference, and possibly the most entertaining of all, having a twitter fall projected during the conference.

The twitter fall showed the tweets with the hashtag #ArabNetBeirut as the conference was happening; as speakers spoke, response were being posted on displays.

Questions, responses, and comments were visible the entire time. What better way to democratize a top-down structure than to give the attendees the ability to display something in front of everyone.

Attendees were also something to speak of. At some points the agenda looked like ‘who’s who,’ with notable names from around the region in attendance. Never before in the Arab World, did participants have access to some of the big investors and best ideas around.

The conference, which will most definitely become a yearly affair, was wildly successful.

Despite the steep price, and the militancy of the organizers to charge everyone in attendance, including media and film crews, the hall was packed and a buzz of energy and excitement filled the air. ArabNet 2.0 should be held in a city where the internet is fast enough to keep up with the demand, and should drop the formal conference setting with panels, and suits and ties, and the horrible décor of 5-star Beirut hotels.

Being deterred by life’s off-beats from retreating into its grooves I finally managed to escape the repetitive tunes of recorded Jazz to witness the births of sounds off the talented players of Chapter 11 at Café de Paris on a Friday night.

The first notes struggled to depart from the passive aura of the city, crowdedness and dissimulated noise; they picked up the sounds, played chords and then jumped into modes, built up a melody and suddenly it’s Stan Getz’ Girl from Ipanema! The music pulled the people slowly into its domain, harmony was sensed in the air ruptured with few missed notes every now and then.

The music was soothing, yet doubtful – each had expectations, musicians and audience.

Even alcohol had to anticipate the buzzing mood!

The break after first session was a gap for tidying up, it was as if everyone recaptured the moment, revised what has been played and re accumulated their senses and the rest was something else!As the five musicians were breaking from and building back into melody, the music picked layers of energy, passion and collective vibes lifting it at every verse to a complex state of musical ecstasy stating Chapter 11 as a notable ‘chapter’ in Amman’s live-music scene.

After watching Avatar in 3D, My opinion was, and still is; shit never looked so brown.

In the effort of making this an objective review I have to say that Avatar is a movie that is so visually powerful, with so much attention given to every last detail of the characters, the gadgets, and the environment. A lot of people saw it as a never before seen creative and imaginative new experience, and it was, to some extent a new leap in movie-making with technologies never used before and used the very humble investment of approximately

300 million dollars to create the phenomenon grossing 2,690,916,066 at the worldwide box office. Making one of the richest and luckiest people of hollywood a tad bit richer.

In essence, it has none! A collection of once innovative ideas put together in a very shiny package and presented to an eager audience with the same bullshitting language you’ll hear from a media cunt like Oprah or the massive assholes that push “the secret” as something that is remotely intelligent.

iPad Hadi Alaeddin

iPad is good...

Wait, stop wining and let me explain you ungrateful geeks!

(This is how Steve Jobs should have started his presentation) Apple launched the iPad. You can get as much information as you want about the iPad, and all the features in depth on the Apple official site, But that’s not all what this review is about, this is a collection of my thoughts on why apple will one day rule the world!

So, Two and a half years ago the iPhone was released, five years before that, the iPod, and three years before that was the iMac. I still remember the hype over the iPhone, as I was still getting into knowing more about industrial design – I majored in 2006 two years after starting college – and in that time it was completely true when they said words like revolutionary, magical and innovative. I watched that video for six months not believing it will be produced until it was released in july 2006, then all hell broke loose. iPhone, like the iPod and the iMac before it were in fact revolutionary products. They did not only change Apple as a brand, but they literally changed what people thought they need, they changed behavior, instilled loyalty, and gained popularity with people perceiving it as the way cooler, way better looking, way smarter kid that no other kid liked to play with! A show-off they called him! Some kids even

called him an elitist, i have no idea where you’ll find a kid say that word but never-mind that!

What i mean by changing behavior can be explained by a couple of examples: You bought an iPod while you have a PC at home, you’ve never used iTunes because you either haven’t heard of it or because you can never find any songs on it, unknown artist being the most dominant artist name in your library! but you don’t care, as long as you have an iPod it doesn’t matter, you can adapt!

Another example; You’ve had a long list of discarded mobile phones, but you’ve never really felt the need to open up your e-mail on those phones, online connection wasn’t that much fun was it, but you get an opportunity to buy an iPhone and suddenly you’re the busy, life on the go, all-work-no-play type, with multiple e-mail accounts, calendar appointments, and to-do list applications installed. You changed, maybe to the worse or maybe to the better, but you changed.

Now let’s talk about one of the more important things Apple did. As an industrial designer I’m always asked what I do and I always answer based on who is asking and when and why he’s asking… In this case, the definition of design given by the ICSID (international Council of Societies of Industrial Design) fits perfectly.

of Technologies and The crucial facTor of culTural and economic exchange.”

Since 1998, Apple has been taking gigantic leaps in innovation, risking massive losses with every new product launch, never compromising, never negotiating terms, and most importantly never disappointing.

timing for a product like the iPad, a product that’s not necessarily revolutionary technologically or aesthetically, but definitely in its positioning. it’s easy to disagree with this but iPad is the product that brings the apple brand back to a full circle.

There you have it… I could have ranted and went on and on how un-amazed i was. I could It’s now 12 years and Apple is have went on about the freaky now selling music, movies, app icon layout, the awkward applications, ebooks, publishing name, the big screen smudges, podcasts, treating software no usb, no camera, no multidevelopers very well, and their tasking, no font installation, no retail customers better, new groundbreaking efforts designing the best accessories, in changing aesthetics, and i while opening wide definitely could have shortened opportunities to the infinite this post to one sentence that amount of third party accessory the iPad is a giant iPhone with companies, doing that at very a pretty version of iWork!… affordable prices (respectively) and above all that, guaranteeing But I didn’t because the iPad is the best user experience across good! even if it is underwhelmall mentioned platforms! ingly good for now.

“objecTs, Processes, services and Their sysTems in Whole life cycles.”

That’s why after this much growth and change on both ends of the company and the customer, this was the perfect

Finally, Look where the iMac, iPod, and iPhone where back in the day and where they are are now. iPad might just have the biggest prospects of any Apple product ever made! That is definitely worth waiting for!

The short-sighted review

“design is a creaTive acTiviTy Whose aim is To esTablish The mulTi-faceTed qualiTies of objecTs, Processes, services and Their sysTems in Whole life cycles. Therefore, design is The cenTral facTor of innovaTive humaniZaTion interruptions | 89

‫عرمرم‬ ‫أ‬ ‫ز‬ ‫م‬ ‫ة‬ ‫و‬ ‫ج‬ ‫ودية؟‬ ‫من الممكن اعتبار عمرها ‪ 11‬شهر و أنّها ولدت في تلك الحفلة المعهودة في دارة‬ ‫الفنون في ‪ 2009/4/14‬التي جاء أكثر الناس إليها عشان يزن الروسان؟ ‪...‬إذا في‬ ‫هاربون من المدرسة إجوا عشان يزن الروسان‪..‬‬ ‫عرمرم ال تعرف جنسها فهذا موقع و ذلك جيش عرمرم و تلك سهرة عرمرميّة ‪-‬‬ ‫ولكن مبدئيًّا سنختار تاء التأنيث‪.‬‬ ‫عرمرم تعلم جيّداً بأنها تكره المسمّيات بما في ذلك ‪ :‬اإلعالم البديل والتلفزيون‬ ‫التفاعلي و الشرق األوسط ‪ ...‬و الجديد ‪ ...‬الخ الخ ‪....‬‬ ‫أن عرمرم تشعر بالوحدة في أزمتها هذه‪ .‬فما هو األعالم‬ ‫لكن األهم من كل ذلك هو ّ‬ ‫بأن‬ ‫البديل الذي وعدت بأن تكون؟ هل هو إعالم الشارع و المواطن ‪ -‬إذا افترضنا ّ‬ ‫المواطن في الشارع أص ً‬ ‫ال‪ -‬أم إعالم الهامش و المهمّش من مرأة و طفل و أقليّة و‬ ‫شاب ‪ -‬و نحن ندرك بأن كل مواطن بدوره و طريقته أقليّة‪.‬‬

‫كيف تحبون أن يكون شكل عرمرم؟‬ ‫ب مكياج؟‬

‫بمعنى أن تبقى سعيدة في إحضار قصص النّجاحات إليكم‬

‫مع ّلمة؟‬

‫بمعنى أن يكون دورها تثقيفي و تتك ّلم عن حقوقكم ومسؤوليّاتكم التي‬ ‫تجعل من كل فرد جزء حقيقي من المجتمع؟‬

‫مستمعة؟‬

‫بمعنى تنزل إلى الشارع و تسمع آراءكم‪ ...‬ك ّلها وإن كانت تطال رأسنا؟‬

‫بأن القضايا التي تهم المواطن هي القضايا التي يطرحها اإلعالم المتوفّر‬ ‫فإذا اعتبرنا ّ‬ ‫ كيف نكون إعالم بديل؟ و إذا اخترنا المواضيع و الزوايا التي ال يطرحها اإلعالم‬‫السائد ‪ -‬كيف نم ّثل صوت المواطن و ال نعزله عنّا؟‬

‫نكدية؟‬

‫هذه األسئلة هي فحوى أزمتنا و التي‬ ‫نطلب منكم المساعدة في اإلجابة عليها‬

‫أم جدلية؟‬

‫ّ‬ ‫تنكد عليكم عيشتكم من خالل الواقع األكثر انتشاراً وهو الواقع الفقير‬ ‫والمحجوب بواجهات الحجر األبيض؟‬

‫بمعنى أن تطرح مواضيعنا ومشاكلنا اإلجتماعيّة وال ّثقافيّة وما أكثرها‬

‫في الفترة القادمة سترون بعض التغييرات في مواضيع عرمرم‪ .‬هذه ليست‬ ‫تغييرات بل محاوالت للتغيير كما هو معهود‪ ،‬مطلوب‪ ،‬مرغوب ومرفوض في‬ ‫منطقتنا التي نحن منها وهي منّا‪.‬‬

‫زوروا تلفزيون عرمرم!‬

‫‪www.aramram.com‬‬

‫‪90 | interruptions‬‬

‫هل تعاني‬ ‫من‬

interruptions | 91

92 | interruptions

interruptions | 93

94 | interruptions