Making Waves #21 Palestine Printed: Reading the Graphic Language of Resistance For this edition of Making Waves, we welcome Maya Moumne for a presentation on Palestine Printed: A Visual Reader, a forthcoming publication developed by Studio Safar and Yahala Studio. Tracing the militant visual language of Palestinian resistance across the 20th century, the talk will explore how design, print culture, and visual communication become tools of resistance, solidarity, and collective memory. The presentation will be followed by a conversation with Fadi Abdelnour on the relationship between design, cultural production, and political struggle. Maya Moumne is a designer, publisher, and co-founder of Studio Safar, working between Beirut and Montreal. Through Journal Safar and Al Hayya Magazine, she has contributed to independent publishing practices that position design as a cultural and political practice. Her work engages with archives, print culture, and the circulation of visual language across contexts. Fadi Abdelnour is a designer, cultural organizer, and co-founder of ALFILM, Arab Film Festival Berlin, as well as Khan Aljanub, an Arabic bookstore and publishing house in Berlin. His work explores the intersections of design, cultural production, and Arab artistic networks in the city.

Thank you Ghayath Almadhoun and Hoda Afshar for your beautiful contribution to Making Waves Edition #20. Thank you for the poetry, the words, and the conversations that connect people and struggles across places and experiences. And thank you to everyone who joined us tonight; your presence made the evening truly remarkable.

Making Waves #20 What if the voice on the other side of the phone was someone reading you a poem? In a time marked by displacement, violence, and war, how can we speak of lives so often reduced to their suffering? This edition brings together visual artist Hoda Afshar and poet Ghayath Almdahoun, whose practices turn to poetry and beauty as a means of restoring presence, dignity, and complexity to the dehumanized body. Moving between language and image, they ask: why a poem? What can it hold that other forms cannot? And why do we continue to place our trust in the poet? Hoda Afshar will present two of her video works, „Undone“ and an excerpt from „Remain“, alongside a poetry reading by Ghayath Almdahoun featuring his poem „If We Lived in a Virtual World“. The session will be followed by a conversation between the two artists, reflecting on the role of poetic language in confronting injustice, and on beauty not as escape but as a form of resistance; one that insists on humanity where it is most denied. The discussion will also open onto questions of collectivity and solidarity, exploring how shared practices and entangled experiences might help us navigate, resist, and make sense of the systems of violence shaping our world. Poster image: Hoda Afshar „Undone“ (video still) (Bios in comment below)

Profound gratitude to Mazen Kerbaj and Siska for being part of this special Making Waves edition in support of Lebanon. Centered around the Lebanese context, art, and artists, this gathering carried a deep emotional weight. Mazen’s work, recording the 2006 war on Lebanon, resonated deeply as we mark its 20th anniversary, finding ourselves, once again, in the face of ongoing Israeli aggression towards Lebanon. In light of the current escalation, this edition felt especially urgent, moving, and necessary. Grateful for your presence, your work, and the space we held together in solidarity of Lebanon.

Making Waves #19 Before the War It Was the War; After the War It Is Still the War. This edition focuses on Lebanon, a country that has endured continuous wars and aggressions over the past half century. Today, once again, it is facing one of its worst crises in years, marked by heavy Israeli military attacks, the killing and injuring of civilians, including many children, widespread destruction, and the mass displacement of one million people (nearly a quarter of its population). Mazen Kerbaj will present Starry Night(s), a listening session revisiting, twenty years later, the recordings he made during the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon: TV and radio broadcasts, discussions with friends, bombs falling on Beirut, and birds at dawn, all often accompanied by his trumpet, as in the infamous piece Starry Night. During that period, he also started a blog where he posted, in real time, drawings documenting the war, works that were later collected in the book Beirut Won’t Cry. The session will be followed by a conversation with Lebanese multidisciplinary artist Siska. Together, they will discuss the power of art as a form of resistance, focusing on the current situation in Lebanon and how generations of Lebanese people have continually suffered from cycles of war and violence. There will be some rare prints, stickers, and LPs for sale, provided by both artists, and all proceeds will be added to the door donations. All donations will go to Alpha Association, providing emergency relief and supporting the basic needs of displaced people, many of whom are living on the streets. / Poster image: Where Are you, Blue Sky of Beirut, from the book Beirut Won’t Cry (Mazen Kerbaj and Fantagraphics 2016) (bios in comment below)

Thank you to Basma Al-Sharif and Marc Siegel for such a reinforcing evening at Silent Green, held in support of Rector Donatella Fioretti, who was unable to attend due to illness. Basma presented her films Morgenkreis and Capital. During the discussion, Fioretti’s courageous stand with Düsseldorf University students in support of Basma was strongly affirmed, with Marc Siegel calling on others to take the same position. We are deeply grateful to Basma and Marc for their strength and presence, to the audience for listening and standing together, and to Silent Green for opening and holding space for such necessary conversations.

Making Waves #18 at Silent Green, Atelier 2 Thursday Feb 19: 18:30 doors / 19:00 start In solidiary with SPARTA and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Making Waves presents Basma al-Sharif's program "Unfortunately, It Doesn't Translate," which features two short films, MorgenKreis and Capital followed by an artist talk with Al-Sharif, Rector Donatella Fioretti and Marc Siegel and an audience Q&A. Al-Sharif's Düsseldorf presentation in January was beset by numerous protests, with Jewish organizations and other groups publicly calling for her disinvitation and accusing her of promoting antisemitic or pro-terror positions, leading the academy to restrict the event to students and staff amid demonstrations outside and political pressure on the institution. Palestinian artist/filmmaker Basma al-Sharif explores cyclical political histories and conflicts. In films and installations that move backward and forward in history, between place and non-place, she confronts the legacy of colonialism through satirical, immersive, and lyrical works. Donatella Fioretti is an architect, Professor of Baukunst, and Rector of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her widely published work has received numerous international awards and focuses on urban transformation and public buildings. It includes libraries, museums, kindergartens, schools, universities, housing, as well as projects involving listed architecture within UNESCO World Heritage sites. She has taught and conducted research at several European universities Marc Siegel is Professor of Film Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, with research and publications in the areas of experimental film and queer studies. He is a member of the CHEAP art collective and the Association of Palestinian and Jewish Academics (PJA). Image: Basma al-Sharif, “Capital” (still), 2023

Thank you to Hassan Khan for an incredible contribution to Making Waves, alongside Jumana Manna. The session was entertaining, engaging, and sparked so many questions and new ways of thinking from the audience. It was a good way to close out the year before taking a short break. As we begin the new year, we’re excited to come back with new topics, new speakers, and fresh conversations. Stay tuned!

Making Waves #17 (8 Dec 2025) Artist, musician and writer Hassan Khan will conduct a listening session revolving around his most recent song – Little Castles; currently on view as a songvideosong at his eponymous exhibition at Portikus Frankfurt. The session will be followed by a conversation with visual artist and filmmaker Jumana Manna. “A first draft of this song was written more than a year ago when an American contemporary composer asked me to write a libretto for them about the ‘current situation in Germany’, although they ended up, for undisclosed reasons, having to abandon the project – I didn’t. In this listening session, I will play a selection of relevant songs as well as the final version of Little Castles (dashed on my phone in snippets on various buses and trains in Berlin, tweaked and polished with the help of my old guitar in Cairo and finally arranged, recorded, mixed and mastered in Paris). I will discuss production, generative luxury aesthetics, popular genres, unfettered forms and how protest songs suck. Does my strategy of making meaning in contemporary Germany by making the taboo visible while remaining uncensorable really work? While speaking I will also play some chords on the guitar and talk about teenage anger as a source and transformative lens through which to propose a criticality that is not just critical.” Poster image: Hassan Khan, Little Castles, 2025 (video still), 10' 30", LED screen, Hi-Fi System, Single Channel Video and Song composed and written by the artist. (More info in the comments)

A warm and sincere thank you to Tanasgol and Tomer for bringing their knowledge, their stories, and their lived experiences with words and languages into our space. This edition was truly touching, a reminder of the power languages hold to reshape narratives, deepen understanding, and bring us closer together. Thank you all for attending and we look forward to seeing you at our next edition of Making Waves, which is just around the corner!

Making Waves #16 Broken Words – on other modes of speaking necessary to grasp a genocide. The night begins with a screening of Like Twenty Impossibles (2003), directed by Annemarie Jacir (courtesy of mec film): Set in occupied Palestine, a film crew takes a remote road to avoid a closed checkpoint and is confronted with the everyday brutality of military occupation. Blending visual poetry and narrative, Like Twenty Impossibles questions both artistic responsibility and the politics of filmmaking, highlighting the fragmentation of a people. Following the screening, we are delighted to welcome Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus and Tanasgol Sabbagh, who will read from their own writings and be in conversation together. Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus grew up in Haifa, Israel, and has been living in Berlin as an author and translator since 2011. He writes regularly about Israel and Palestine as well as anti-Semitism in Germany. His articles appear in publications such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, taz and Berliner Zeitung. His first novel, Birobidschan (Voland & Quist), was longlisted for the 2023 German Book Prize. His new book KEINHEIMISCH (2025, Ullstein Verlage) is about the loss of belonging. Tanasgol Sabbagh was born in Amol, Iran, and grew up in Hessen. She is an artist and poet. She presents her literary work in performances, audio pieces, video installations and musical collaborations. She is a co-founder of the artist collective parallelgesellschaft and the event series of the same name, which deals with political art outside of German dominant culture. Together with the poet Josefine Berkholz, she is the founder and editor of the auditory literary magazine Stoff aus Luft, which is published as a podcast: a format that emphasises spoken and sound-based literature. Tanasgol lives in Berlin. Both are part of the collective speaking their names / um ihre Namen zu sagen an independent network of authors against war and occupation.