18.03 – 21.03.2024 @ Slemani Public Space

SPACE21 FESTIVAL 2024 – Archive of Listening. The 8th edition of the International Experimental Music Festival in Slemani, SPACE21 FESTIVAL 2024, promises to be an enlightening and transformative experience for attendees. This year’s theme, “Archive of Listening,” invites participants to explore the intricate and evolving relationship between listening and music creation. By delving into the historical and contemporary practices of listening, the festival aims to shed light on how our auditory experiences shape the music of today. SPACE21 festival for the first time organised three programmes presented in three public space venues in the heart of Slemani at the Sabonkaran Street. Venues: Piramerd House, well respected kurdish Author’s house from end of 18th century. Mufti Hammam, 250 year old public bath, and the oldest church, Miriam Al-Adra. The festival wants to connect spaces in the city to sound to create new memories, bridges and experiences. This year SPACE21 presented a new project ARCHIVE KHANAH for sounds recorded in Kurdistan and Iraq from 1920-1970. An interactive sound archive based on computer gaming technology. The project works with the collectors archive and the first year we presented one of the collectors from Slemani, Shwan Oscar.
The second project, Voice Notes, an international arts project exploring the role of the telephone in experiences of exile, featuring voices from Slemani and Nottingham. The Festival featured artists: Ernst Marechal, a social recorder, and electronics. Bryar Ismael, Clarinet, electronics. Moe Ali, electronics, Rababa. Panagiotis Mina, electronics. Zhinoo, el-guitar, electronics. Julia Sabra, voice, electronics. Fadi Tabbal, electronics. Hardi Kurda, electronics, tape, radio, toys, objects