Notations for Living is a series of live listening and sound sessions held across various locations in Darat al Funun during January, February, and March. The sessions will explore themes of palimpsestic temporalities and sonic hauntings, positioning sound as a medium of resistance and connection. Featuring works by musicians and sound artists, each session invites audiences to engage in the act of listening as a political, spiritual, and communal practice, with the potential to open pathways for reimagining how we relate to one another and to the world we inhabit.
At its core, the project centers sound as a powerful assertion of life—resisting subjugation and violence while fostering enduring connections to history, place, and memory. Participants are encouraged to reflect on sound’s relationship to major political events and upheavals, examining its role in resonating with historical moments and carrying their energy into possible futures.
The third session is a live sound performance with public participation, facilitated by Ola El-Khalidi in collaboration with Ahmad Alhaj Masoud (electronics), Abdulkareem Albarghouthi (voice), and Reema Shatat (voice). Ola’s sound sessions create a space for reflection and play, centering on collective composition, repetition, and improvisation. Grounded in deep listening and intuition, these sessions explore the potential of an experimental musical language—one that frees sound, its vibrations, and its forms from conventional structures.
The session will be in Arabic. To register, please fill in the form here.
Toleen Touq is a curator working between Toronto, Canada and Amman, Jordan. In Amman, she is co-founding director of Spring Sessions (2014-ongoing), a yearly residency program that brings together artists, researchers and cultural practitioners in a collaborative and experiential learning environment that is fueled by responsiveness to place and deep curiosity. She co-initiated and co-curated The River Has Two Banks (2012-2017), a multi-disciplinary artistic platform that addressed the historical, political and spatial relations between Jordan and Palestine. In Toronto, she was artistic director (2018-2022) of SAVAC, a nomadic artist-run center dedicated to presenting and developing the work of marginalized artists. She co-initiated Ways of Attuning (2021-2023) to study intimate and expansive curatorial practice with a group of participants across Turtle Island. She curated Another World The Sounds Like You (2023), a project on collective listening practices at Gallery TPW and on CJRU radio, and guest curated the second edition of Greater Toronto Art triennial (2024) for the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. Her writings have been published with Ibraaz, Sternberg Press, A Prior, Manifesta Journal and others.
With over twenty years of experience in the arts, Ola El-Khalidi explores themes of freedom and intimacy by creating participatory spaces that encourage questioning and imagination. She founded Makan, an arts space in Amman, Jordan, which operated from 2003 to 2015, and later established The Clinic in 2020. Ola is also a member of the Roca Family, a collaborative art group formed in 2010 alongside Diala Khasawneh. One of the group’s recent projects is the Zizi School. In her sound work, Ola is currently focused on exploring the patterns and habits associated with listening.
Image caption: Sound notes by Ola El-Khalidi.