The Only Thing Left is to Leave

When all is uprooted, does one stay to fight... or take flight? What of those who have always lived on the move, away from enclosures, family and field, census and consensus, monoculture and monolingualism, law and lord? What does it mean to live on the run?

For Art Month Sydney 2022, Firstdraft has partnered with Arab Theatre Studio to present The Only Thing Left is to Leave, a night of live artworks, performances and installations by Nicole Barakat, Hajer, Hussein Kahil, and Antoine Razouk and Jason Crowe.

This event is the second iteration of an international commissioning series supported by the Keir Foundation, and will also feature artworks by Eddie Abd, Roy Dib, Morgan Hogg, and Chrystèle Khodr, co-developed by Firstdraft and Beirut Art Center.

Each of these interdisciplinary artists interrogates what paths are trodden and social formations woven, what common practices are formulated and networks of sustenance formed, when we move.

Live Program: set times

5.30–6 pm: on loop, video commissions by Eddie Abd, Roy Dib, Morgan Hogg, and Chrystèle Khodr

6.10 pm: Welcome to Country, Uncle Brendan Kerin

6.15 pm: Introduction to The Only Thing Left is to Leave

6.20 pm: performance, Morgan Hogg

6.30 pm: performance, Hussein Kahil

6.40 pm: performance, Hajer

6.50 pm: performance, a prayer for a return to our knowledge, by Nicole Barakat, is part of a bigger practice of listening, a deep listening, with my heart, my intuition and my body. a listening that opens and receives, gathers, absorbs and illuminates.

7–8 pm: on loop, video commissions by Eddie Abd, Roy Dib, Morgan Hogg, and Chrystèle Khodr

8.10 pm: performance, Morgan Hogg

8.20 pm: performance, Hussein Kahil

8.30 pm: performance, Hajer

8.40 pm: performance, a prayer for a return to our knowledge, by Nicole Barakat, is part of a bigger practice of listening, a deep listening, with my heart, my intuition and my body. a listening that opens and receives, gathers, absorbs and illuminates.

8.50–9.45 pm: DJ set, Ma3azif, Antoine Razouk & Jason Crowe present infusions of Arabic and electronic music… DJs as instruments playing between spaces, making musical choices in response to the site and a musical narrative within The Only Thing Left is to Leave. The set also introduces the work of two key artists, from Aleppo in Syria, who have made a significant contribution to contemporary music: Boshoco and Hello Psychaleppo. Working with electronic music, Arabic classical songs and the influence of Tarab artists, Boshoco and Hello Psychaleppo have created a hybrid that has become renowned in Europe over the last decade.

10 pm: Live Program concludes

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