EXCERPT
It is exactly what I envision the future of Palestine to be, which is taking our tradition and our history and our past, but not going back to it or being stuck in it. It’s taking it and creating something absolutely new and visionary. It’s Palestinian futurism. —Dr. Noura Erakat
Join us for the Phoenix of Gaza VR Exhibit + Symposium, connecting everyday acts of resistance with longer term world-building and freedom dreaming. The exhibit was first conceived by Naim Aburaddi, who is from Gaza and whose family has survived the genocide. Naim was not able to travel to Gaza for six years and so partnering with Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb and the team of the x-Real Lab of California State University San Bernardino, this project transports Gaza with its multiplicity beyond the blockade and into the world through immersive technologies. The team was able to amplify important voices from Gaza including many artists whose work is included in the exhibit. In this way, the project continues as a cultural archive and historical preservation, which would not be possible without the creativity, resilience, and sacrifice of the project’s former photographer/ videographer, who lost his father in the latest genocide, and the current photographer/videographer, who is risking his life to capture the aftermath in northern Gaza. As part of the longer-term struggle for Palestinian liberation, this project invites us to bear witness to a liberated Gaza in virtual spaces.
Source:
https://aas.princeton.edu/events/2024/phoenix-gaza-freedom-dreams-falasteen-futures