Jassem Hindi is a Palestinian/French performer, sound artist and choreographer, born in Saudi Arabia and based in Norway. Hindi has an education in philosophy.
His last works are Sun Eaters, a folk dance piece on petrodemonlogy and horror poetry
Laundry of Legends – a series of dance performances based on death poems written by Arab women, Stranger Within, with Mia Habib – a research/performance about haunting and hospitality, and a lecture series called Betraying Utopia/Slime Utopia.
His recent collaborators are Lara Kramer, Ligia Lewis, Keith Hennessy, Clara Furey, Simon Portigal, Justin de Luna, Harald Beharie, Charlott Utzig, Paolo de Venecia Gile, Ofelia Jarl Ortega, and Sina Seifee. He has also designed and created music for choreographers all over the world for the past decade.
His work is shown internationally, and his collaborations have won numerous awards (Bessie Award, the Dublin Fringe Jury prize and the PICA Portland Jury’s choice...).
For the period of 2020 - 2023, he was the artist in residence at the MAI, Montreal, Canada. https://www.m-a-i.qc.ca/
Jassem Hindi's work looks at the double bind of haunting and hospitality, in an effort to reveal slow (unseen and quiet) violence and slow revolutions. His last recent performances make use of the relation between performance and poems, to create immersive environments and collective political spaces. His work is hybrid, and extends to a variety of forms of expression.
2. Liner notes
His most recent works have been centred on Arabic death poems written by women (Laundry of Legends I and II, Future Friendship with Keith Hennessy) and on landscapes and hospitality in the north of Norway (co-author with Mia Habib in Stranger Within).
He develops performances inside and outside theatres, using hybrid formats such as installation, poems, choreography, storytelling, public gatherings, lectures, performances in people's houses, and workshops.
His most recent collaborators are Clara Furey, Simon Portigal, Justin de Luna, Harald Beharie, Charlott Utzig, Paolo de Venecia Gile, Mia Habib, Ligia Lewis, Ruairi Donovan, Walid and Mounzer el Hindi, Keith Hennessy, Elina Pirinen, Sina Seifee, Clara Furey, Simon Portigal, Justin de Luna and Barbara Raes.
About the work
Parallel to collective works and supporting others in their creations (sound making, mentoring and performing), I am developing a project centred on a series of death-poems, faciliating an entrance towards a performative stance.
Theses texts are activating the tension between the hosted and the haunted. They are mostly from the Levant (middle-east), France, and Scandinavia. I use any practice that is within my vicinity: dance, non linear story telling, drawings, display of objects, sound making.
My work is generated by nervousness and necessity, making use of broken stories, broken objects and broken sounds. It is a pluri-idiomatic approach, and a meshing up.
I am haunted by other voices: I use, edit, corrupt and celebrate. I am not a musician, nor a dancer, nor a visual artist. There should always be something I'm missing in my practice. I believe that any virtuoso act is an act of foreclosure, and I am much more interested in unstable systems, offering space for other things to happen, and thus always flirting with failure.
I use extended techniques of poetry-telling to revisit what the potential of a poem is, and how it can be used as an actual collective political practice. These performances are not speculative lessons, things to do be lived in the future; they are political practices for the here and now - not delaying the moment to be together.
In my work as a sound artist with dance, I also thrive to manifest sound as a dancing body and not as a simple ornament to frame dance. It is a simple political and poetical position which supports the idea that the practice of sound, even if it can be conceptualised - or read through the filter of emotions - is also a silent practice - its thickness, just like the one of a body, remains opaque. This opacity is where I believe a dancer and a sound can meet.
I am researching other ways to understand transmission and transformation: (his)stories, heard and unheard, are often stripped out of the shimmering eco-systems in which they must be hosted, and their revolutionary strength is therefore weakened. Worlds get rationaled into positive information, neglecting the collective endeavour of both transformation and transmission, the playfulness of (mis)understanding. There is a political game that is played by a certain hospitality to the unheard that runs parallel to the resonance between non-linear time and heterogeneous spaces.
About the sound art:
As a musician, II use mainly diverted machines, lo-fi field recordings, feedbacks, in the spirit of experimental music (Graham Lambkin, Andrea Neumann, Kevin Drumm, Jason Lescalleet) influenced by doom, cinema and video editing techniques and older masters in the likes of Alvin Lucier, Parmegiani or Bellini.
As a sound maker, I am part of the experimental scene, in all its diversity and hybrid art practices. My most recent sound collaborators in the past year are Axel Dörner, Olivier di Placido, Basile Ferriot, Magda Mayas, Tony Buck, Jakob Riis, Martin & Maria Küchen. In the spirit of the improvised music scene I have played in situ concerts with a wide range of musicians in and from various continents.
I also teach a variety of workshops about sound, performance, or theory.
3. CV
Curriculum vitae
I.Info
II. Academic cursus
III. Performance projects and co-authorship
IV. Sound designà
IV. Publications
I. Info
Jassem Hindi / jassem.hindi@gmail.com
Born in 1981, Djeddah, Saudi Arabia. French mother, Palestinian father. French and Lebanese nationalities. Resides and works in Norway. Choreographer, performer, teacher, sound artist.
II. Academic cursus
DEA of philosophy - Université Sorbonne Paris I, masters with Elisabeth Thomas-Fogiel
1998 - 2004
Student at the CIEPFC, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris, CNRS
Paris – dir . Alain Badiou 2004 – 2006
Student at the EHESS, La Bête et Le Souverain, dir. Jacques Derrida 2000 - 2003
Student at the EHESS, Philosophie, dir. Patrice Loraux 2000 - 2004
Awards (non personal):
Award for My body is a barrel of gunpowder by The Danish Arts Foundation, 2014 (sound design)
Best performance Dublin Fringe Festival 2015 – Jury’s choice for Are you working
hard enough by Ruairi Donovan (performer)
Jury’s choice 2014 – PICA Portland for Turbulence by Keith Hennessy (sound
design and performer)
Bessie award 2017 for Ligia Lewis’ Minor Matter (sound design)
III. Projects and co-creations
(selected works)
Sun Eaters 2024 - still running
Concept, scenography, sound: Jassem Hindi & Sina Seifee
Choreography: Jassem Hindi
Dance: Charlott Utzig, Paolo de Venecia Gile, Harald Beharie
Production: Marie Ursin
Costumes: Amy of the costumes
Laundry of Legends 2023 - still running
Choreography, concept, scenography, sound: Jassem Hindi
Dance: Clara Furey, Simon Portigal, Justin de Luna
Light: Darah Mia
Production: MAI (commission)
Laundry of Legends 2017 – still running
Solo performance
Premiere: HAU
Performance commissioned and curated by Barbara Raes and Hebbel am Ufer – for Unaknowledged Loss: performances, research, lectures, presentations with associated artists Nathalie Bikoro, Claudia Hill, Jasmin İhraç, Ligia Lewis, Maria Scaroni, Mieko Suzuki and Oliver Zahn at HAU, Berlin
Presented also at KAI Theater in Brussels in April 2019
and FAJR International Theater Festival in Tehran, January 2019
Stranger within 2018 – Still running
Co-creation
Choreography, performance, concept and co-creation with Mia Habib. https://www.miahabib.com/?portfolio=we-insist-the-stranger-within
Oslo Black Box Festival, IKM National Oslo Museum, Kirkenes Pikene pa Broen, Tromso Small Gallery projects, Alta and surroundings, Kautukeino and surroundings.
Future Friend/ship 2016 – 2018
Choreography and performance, with Keith Hennessy
http://circozero.org/friendships
Kampnagel/Hamburg; Fundaçao Serralves/Porto, Counterpulse/San Francisco; American Realness/New York
Écume Nerveuse 2017
Commissioned solo work for Arkadi Zaides/Kampnagel Hamburg: sound installation and performance presented at Kampnagel Hamburg
https://theater-hamburg.org/de_DE/programm/talos-konferenz-urauffuehrung.1120278
Turbulence 2015 – still running
collective creation and sound, with Keith Hennessy, Keyon Gaskin, Jupiter Knows, Julie Phelps, Emily Leap, Laura Arrington, Jesse Hewit, Jorge de Hoyos and Hana Lee Erdman
HAU/Berlin, CounterPulse/San Francisco, Impulstanz/Vienna, Pica/Portland, Seattle/Velocity, DTW/New York, Toronto/Blackwood Gallery, Mannheim/Theater der Welt, Black Box/Oslo, Donau Festival/Krems.à http://circozero.org/turbulence
Are you working hard enough? 2015 – 2016
Performer for Ruairi Donovan with Louise Trueheart, Mica Sigourney, Cathy Walsh
Fringe/Dublin, Zurich Moves, Cork National Theater/Cork. https://cargocollective.com/ruairidonovan/Zombies-why-death-is-dying-or-are-you-working-hard-enough
meadow, meadow, meadow 2015
Choreographer and sound creation, with Ruairi Donovan, Elina Pirinen, Maria Saivosalmi, Cathy Walsh Zodiak/Helsinki; Ice Hot/Copenhagen.
http://elinapirinen.com/portfolio/meadow-meadow-meadow/
Almost 2013 – still running
creation and sound, with Keith Hennessy
American Realness/New York, Blow up/Poznan, Sophiensaele/Berlin, CounterPulse/San Francisco, Impulstanz/Vienna.
WE INSIST 2008 – 2014
creation and sound, with Mia Habib and Rani Nair
Gothenburg Opera; CCN Belfort; Fragments d’expérience Paris; Norway, DansensHus; Sweden, Rörelsen; Syria, Reloading Images; Morrocco. On marche; Madagascar, Itrota; Mexico, Running into political equator/Prisma Forum; Copenhagen, Republique theater; Munich, Festspiel, Narvik, Hammerfest, Trondheim, Alta, Kirkenes, Kautukeino (public spaces), Oslo, Stockholm, Bergen (public spaces)
III. Original sound composition and sound design (selected works)
Batty Bwoy 2021
(design)
For Harald Beharie
Premiere: Dansens Hus Oslo
Bien y Mal 2022
For Ofelia Jark Ortega
Premiere: Dansens Hus Stockholm
Hegemony 2020 - Still running
For Ofelia Jarl Ortega
Premiere: MDT STOCKHOLM
How to die / Inopine 2020 - Still running
For Mia Habib Productions
https://www.miahabib.com/?p=578
Oslo Dansenshus / Umea Norrlandsoperaà
Bergen, Trondheim TBC
Minor Matter 2017 - 2019
for Ligia Lewis
Bessie Award
https://ligialewis.com/ligialewis/minor-matter-2016-minor-matter-is-the-second
2017
December 8-9, 2017 / minor matter / tanzhaus nrw Dusseldorf (DE)
July 8-9, 2017 / minor matter / Stedelijk Museum, Julidans Festival Amsterdam (NL)
June 9-10, 2017 / minor matter / Hollins University Theater (US)
May 6 , 2017/ minor matter / Converso Milano (IT)
April 28-29, 2017 / minor matter / donaufestival Krems (AT)
April 1-2, 2017 / minor matter / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (DE)
April 1, 2017 / minor matter / TATE Modern, BMW TATE Live Exhibition London (UK)
March 18, 2017 / minor matter / Zurich moves! (CH)
March 3-4, 2017 / minor matter / OnEdge 2017, Chicago Cultural Center (US)
January 8-10, 2017 / minor matter / American Realness NYC (US)
2018
September 30, 2018 / minor matter / OGR Torino (IT)
September 5, 2018 / minor matter / Diver Festival Tel Aviv (ISR)
July 6-8, 2018 / minor matter / Santarcangelo Festival (IT)
June 7-8, 2018 / minor matter / Kammerspiele Munich (EN)
April 29, 2018 / minor matter / Festival DDD - Dias da Dança Porto (PT)
March 30-31, 2018 / minor matter / Festival 100% La Villette Paris (FR)
March 9-10, 2018 / minor matter / WOWMEN! Festival Kaaitheater Brussels (BE)
March 2-3, 2018 / minor matter / Montreal Arts Interculturals (CA)
February 9-10, 2018 / minor matter / Side Step Festival Zodiac Helsinki (FI)
January 31 - February 1 & February 3-4, 2018 / minor matter / Arsenic Lausanne (CH) January 12- 14, 2018 / minor matter / PST Festival REDCAT LA (US)
2019
November 9-10, 2019 / minor matter / FCD Festival Contemporâneo de Dança, São Paulo (BR)
October 26-27, 2019 / minor matter / Home Works: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Beirut (LB)
May 21-22, 2019 / minor matter / Performance Space New York (US)
May 16-19, 2019 / minor matter / On the Boards, Seattle (US)
April 11, 2019 / minor matter / It’s the Real Thing – Basler Dokumentartage (CH)
March 7-8, 2019 / minor matter / Oslo International Theater Festival (NO)
February 21-22, 2019 / minor matter / CAMPO Gent (BE)
February 16, 2019 / minor matter / Escenas do Cambio, Santiago de Compostela (ES)
February 12, 2019 / minor matter / Les Hivernales Festival, Avignon (FR)
Körper ohne Macht 2016
for Angela Schubot
http://www.angelaschubot.com/k%C3%B6rper-ohne-macht.html
Berlin Hebel Am Ufer
A song to 2015
for Mia Habib
https://www.miahabib.com/?p=409
Ice Hot Nordic Dance Platform, Copenhagen, Dec 3rd, 2016.
Tanz im August, September 3rd and 4th, 2016.
Theatre Freiburg: June 8th and June 10th, 2016.
BIT Teatergarasjen in Bergen: September 25th-September 26th at 19 h, 2015.
Dance House Oslo/ ULTIMA festivalen: September 19th- September 21st at 19 h, 2015.
Conditio humana 2015
for Jan Rohweder
https://cargocollective.com/roheswetter/Live-Art-Installation-conditio-humana
Installation, KIT Düsseldorf
Rotterdam Presenta 2014
My body is a barrel of gunpowder 2013
for Ida Larsen and Marie Louise Stenteberg (two-women-machineshow)
Award by The Danish Arts Foundation, 2014 https://www.twowomenmachineshow.com/my-body-is-a-barrel-of-gunpowder/
March 20-21, 2015 | Godsbanen, Aarhus (DK)
June 14-15, 2014 | “Det Frie Felts Festival”, Copenhagen (DK)
January 20-25, 2014 | Københavns Musikteater, Copenhagen (DK)
Wallen 2012
for Sebastian Matthias
https://www.sebastianmatthias.com/en/works/wallen/
Kampnagel Hamburg
Sophiensaele Berlin
Tremor 2011
for Sebastian Matthias
https://www.sebastianmatthias.com/en/works/tremor/
Tanzplan Hamburg
These little children singing in stones 2011
for Hana Erdmann
IV. Teaching / Publications / Recordings
Teaching - workshops
Environment, ecology and performance - KHIO and NTA masterclass and workshop - May 2020
Concept and the idiot (philosophy) regular guest teacher: Danceweb Vienna Austria, Fadjr Tehran Iran, Zodiak Helsinki, 2014 - ongoing
Ghost Dancer (sound in performance) regular guest teacher: Danceweb Vienna Austria, Fadjr Tehran Iran, Trondheim BF Norway, 2014 – ongoing
La Monnaie Vivante (aesthetics and performance) – CIEPFC, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, CNRS, Collège de France, Paris 2011-2014
Publications
The name of Lebanon, in Revue Multitudes 2008
The art of questioning, in Revolver editions (dance/performance compilation with
Jérôme Bel) 2012
We Insist, co-editor and author (with Rani Nair and Mia Habib, Artist Book), edited by
Du Store Verden 2012
Larvatus Prodeo, in Mass Solo (artist book) by Mia Habib - edited by Du Store
Verden 2013
The Dark Forerunner, in Swedish Dance History book 2016
This hopeless rage, in Blackness and the Postmodern, 2018http://urbanapa.fi/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BlacknessthePostmodern_web.pdf
The imaginary library, in Tanzraum Berlin, 2018
Recordings
Amplified Arabs - duo with Jakob Riis - Clinical Archives
Waterkil - Axel Dörner & Jassem Hindi - Corvo records / http://www.corvorecords.de/releases/core004.html
CEDARHEAD – compilation of duos with Michael Zerang - AL Maslakh,Beirut
Beirut-Ystad – compilation of collaborations within the sound art residency of the Ystad contemporary art museum (M. Gustaffson, A. Krebs, M. Kerbaj, C.Sehnaoui, S.Sehnaoui, M. Waisviz, S-A Johanson, J.Riis, P.Svensson, C.Haber, B.Saadé, L-N. Norelius, A.Sen, R.Yassin, H. Hartman, J.Grip, D.Stackenas) produced by Thomas Millroth and Olof Bright, Sweden
ATTRITION – Kelvin Zero, (Basile Ferriot and Jassem Hindi), Samizdat, Paris
LUMPEN – (DVD) (Abdallah K., Marc Codsi, Jassem Hindi) – video of trio in Beirut IRTIJAL festival 05, OE dans l’O productions, Paris.