Overview
Re|sound is a biannual event for musical experimentation in dialogue with the medium of film. The foundation invites locally and regionally based musicians to prepare and perform live original sets in conversation with a projected film.
This second edition of Re|sound features Dziga Vertov’s 1931 film Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass and electronic experimental artists Liliane Chlela, Salem Rashid and Shams Asma.
All Sharjah Art Foundation events are free and open to the public.
About the Film
Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass
USSR |1931
Directed by Dziga Vertov
Black & White
65 min
Re|sound concludes its inaugural year with the film Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass (1931). This three-part film is a celebration of socialism in the region of the Donbass (located in present-day Ukraine), where Stalin’s five-year plan focused its efforts to generate economic productivity. The film addresses religion and ecstasy, construction and growth, and the unified masses within the regime. Hailed as innovative and distinct, Vertov’s film techniques influenced many films that followed.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927), featured in this year’s first edition of Re|sound, and Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass (1931) both explore fast-paced industrial developments within the historical context of Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. The many faces in the films act as a unified central machine, whose dynamism and determination fuel their city, their land and their nation. Ultimately, these films encapsulate the vitality of the era, transfixing audiences today, as they did when they were first screened.
About the Artists
Liliane Chlela
For over a decade, electronic artist Liliane Chlela has been an active contributor to experimental and electronic music in Lebanon and the Middle East. Her musical approach and performances incorporate composition, sound manipulation and, most characteristically, improvisation. In addition to music projects, Chlela has presented work in mediums such as moving image, film, installation, performance, contemporary dance and fashion. Through solo projects and a number of local and international collaborations, Chlela has developed an extensive sound palette, making her one of the region’s most versatile producers and musicians. Chlela was born in 1986 in Beirut, where she continues to live and work.
Salem Rashid
With references to early techno, new wave and punk, Salem Rashid’s work as a producer and performer binds post-industrial soundscapes with intricate overlapping rhythms. Relentless, saturated and self-sufficient, his sound tells of a looming future—an aftermath where a harsh environment and transformed conditions give way to new possibilities and sonic hybridity. Rashid is creative director and founder of the Dubai-based record label Bedouin Records and its subsidiary Bastakiya Tapes. Since its founding in 2014, Bedouin Records has released over 25 albums on vinyl and cassette, presenting a host of contemporary music artists, including Hieroglyphic Being, Tzusing and Merzbow. These albums have earned international acclaim in outlets such as Monocle, BBC Radio 1, Resident Advisor and The Wire. Recent projects include a performance at Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017) and two Bedouin Records label showcases at Berlin’s acclaimed venue Berghain (2017, 2018). Born in 1991 in Athens, Rashid lives and works between Dubai, Berlin and Tokyo.
Shams Asma
Shams Asma is an experimental solo project by musician Asma Ghanem. Placing recorded sound at the centre of her practice, Ghanem crafts pieces that both transmit and process the volatile sonic experience of war and the contradictions of life under occupation in her home country of Palestine. She has participated in exhibitions, residencies and workshops in Austria, France, Germany, Jordan, Lebanon, Norway, Palestine, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. In 2017, she was a fellow at OneBeat, an initiative of the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in collaboration with Bang on a Can’s social engagement organisation Found Sound Nation. In 2014 and 2018, she was awarded grants from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. Born in 1991 in Damascus, Ghanem lives and works between Amman and Ramallah.
