Arab.AMP

SPARKS: a conversation & performance series featuring leaders and practitioners from varied disciplines—artists, authors, organizers, makers—who share a medium and an orientation toward liberation. Each conversation is ‘sparked’ by a theme and anchored in artistic and social practices. Like all AMP Live events, each SPARKS is an invitation to imagine the future together, and to inspire new interventions and connections. Each event is shaped by the people in the room, and driven by curiosity, queering, and community building. JAN 31 SPARKS #1 - NOISE anthropologist/musician Marina Peterson @murmur0 and sound maker Ava Koohbor @avakoohbor TAC Temescal Art Center 5pm - donations at the door MAR 28 SPARKS #2 - MATERIALS artist/experimental musician Asma Ghanem @asma_ghanem_art and carpenter Sung Kim @sungkimhareandarrow TAC Temescal Art Center 5pm - donations at the door MAY 30 SPARKS #3 - LABOR artists/organizers of NAKA and @nakadancetheater choreographer/engineer Wael Buhaissy @buhaissy Southern Exposure Gallery 5pm - donations at the door JUL 25 SPARKS #4 - RAIN sculptor/citizen scientist Sasha Petrenko @sashpetrenko and composer/organizer Andrew C. Smith @functime TAC Temescal Art Center 5pm - donations at the door SEP 26 SPARKS #5 - SUN designer/chef Michelle Nazzal [mishmish] @mishmishsouq and artist/musician Christopher Robin Duncan @christopherrobinduncan TAC Temescal Art Center 5pm - donations at the door

Stand with #PALESTINE Work against the apartheid regime and their war crimes. Boycott Divest Sanctions #BDS Donate to any number of relief funds @medicalaidpal @unrwausa @mecaforpeace @bdsnationalcommittee @savethechildren @thepcrf Act locally and within your family/communities to correct the avalanche of misinformation and non-journalistic media Raise the flag!!! #solidarity #justice #humanrights

My Name is Palestine: Echoes from The Palestinian Museum’s Online Music Exhibition أنا إسمي شعب فلسطين “Ana Ismi Shab Falastin” Listening Session with Leyya Mona Tawil @leyyamona Southern Exposure on Thursday, May 21 at 6:00 PM This session will explore material directly from The Palestinian Museum’s archives, guided by curator Leyya Mona Tawil. LEYYA MONA TAWIL is an artist, curator, and cultural activist. She works in performance art, sound, and hybrid practices. Tawil is Palestinian and Syrian; she is engaged in the world as such. Tawil has stewarded TAC Temescal Art Center in Oakland since 1997 and is the founding director of Arab.AMP–a platform for worldbuilding artists from the Arab/SWANA diaspora and our allied communities. She has served on the Curatorial Council of SoEx since 2021.

My Name is Palestine: Echoes from The Palestinian Museum’s Online Music Exhibition أنا إسمي شعب فلسطين “Ana Ismi Shab Falastin” Listening Session with Nida Liftawiya Southern Exposure on Thursday, May 14 at 6:00 PM @liftawiya @southernexposuresf This session will explore material directly from The Palestinian Museum’s archives, guided by artist Nida Liftawiya. NIDA LIFTAWIYA is a Palestinian activist, multi-disciplinary artist, social worker, and educator. A lifelong creative, her artistry is deeply rooted in the rich heritage, resilience, and beauty of her homeland. Through her work, she captures the spirit of her people, weaving together visual, literary, and performance arts to preserve cultural identity and advocate for social justice.

Our awesome logo and poster/book design and printing by Thad Higa! @qrwhzgub My Name is Palestine: Echoes from The Palestinian Museum’s Online Music Exhibit أنا إسمي شعب فلسطين “Ana Ismi Shab Falastin” May 2 - 30, 2026 Southern Exposure San Francisco Co-curated by Ahmad Alaqra and Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with video artist Mohammad Tatour @la_palaa @mooni.studio @leyyamona ​ Co-Produced by Southern Exposure, The Palestinian Museum, and Arab.AMP

A first glimpse of our Opening Reception! My Name is Palestine: Echoes from The Palestinian Museum’s Online Music Exhibit أنا إسمي شعب فلسطين “Ana Ismi Shab Falastin” May 2 - 30, 2026 Southern Exposure San Francisco Co-curated by Ahmad Alaqra and Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with video artist Mohammad Tatour @la_palaa @mooni.studio @leyyamona ​ Co-Produced by Southern Exposure, The Palestinian Museum, and Arab.AMP The exhibit opened on Sat May 2 at @southernexposuresf with special performance by Mike Khoury's @spiteofdarkness from Detroit. Thank you to @amershomali director of the @palmuseum @verilyeyemush director of SoEx Thad Higa @qrwhzgub - poster design and riso printing Mário Pires Cordeiro, Deon Brown, Emma Rosenbaum, and all our volunteers for all your commitment and labor and love for this work. 📸 @kopzek & community

ARCHIVE TALES by @arab.amp Archivist Linda Smith - next post is up! "On Noise and Materials: Dialogue with the Arab.AMP Archive" Read it on our website ~ /archivetales and link in bio!

Getting ready for you.

Via • @palmuseum فلسطين في العالم معارض يمكنك زيارتها في شهر أيّار. Palestine around the World Exhibitions you can visit in May.

MY NAME IS PALESTINE May 2 – 30, 2026 Co-curated by Ahmad Alaqra and Leyya Mona Tawil, in collaboration with video artist Mohammad Tatour Opening Reception Saturday, May 2, 2026 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Join Southern Exposure THIS SATURDAY as we open “My Name is Palestine: Echoes from The Palestinian Museum’s Music Online Exhibition أنا إسمي شعب فلسطين ‘Ana Ismi Shab Falastin’” with a musical performance by Spite of Darkness, Detroit-based quartet led by Palestinian-American composer Mike Khoury. In collaboration with The Palestinian Museum (Birzeit) and Arab.AMP (Oakland), SoEx will debut an exhibition of sound and image sourced from The Palestinian Museum’s archives to create a wholly new and immersive experience of Palestinian life, anchored in musicality.

AMP Live presents Mike Khoury's SPITE OF DARKNESS - at the Opening Reception for My Name is Palestine: Echoes from The Palestinian Museum’s Online Exhibit أنا إسمي شعب فلسطين “Ana Ismi Shab Falastin" Saturday, May 2 at 6:00 PM Southern Exposure @southernexposuresf @arab.amp @palmuseum MIKE KHOURY’S SPITE OF DARKNESS consists of two drummers and two violinists. They perform the compositions of Palestinian-American composer/performer Mike Khoury. The group consists of Mike Khoury on violin, Indira Edwards on violin, Ben Hall on drums, and Ali Allen Colding on drums. Khoury's compositions draw upon folk forms at the intersection of modern composition and free jazz. Khoury's musical background includes work with choreographer/performer Leyya Tawil, a duet with Ben Hall, The Redford Symphony Orchestra as well as the Entropy String Quartet. Indira Edwards is proficient on the violin as well as viola and a composer in their own right. Edwards performs as a soloist, with the group Dick Texas, and is also a member of the Entropy String Quartet. Ben Hall is a producer, composer, and performer with recording and performance credits with Joe Morris, Ken Vandermark, and Don Dietrich, and he leads the groups Oceanic Beloved as well as Field Kitchen. Ali Allen Colding is a mainstay of Detroit drumming with credits that include Sam Sanders, Dorothy Ashby, and James Blood Ulmer. Together, they are Spite of Darkness. @entropystereo @bbbenhalll @littl.fly @AliAllenColding *links in bio for more info! *free event 6-9pm, show at 7pm sharp

Sneak preview of ✨Take Me to Palestine ✨ 5 more days! (Photo credit: @kopzek )