(RAMALLAH)MEMORY SPACE. Soundscape Of Generic Memories.

(RAMALLAH)MEMORY SPACE. Soundscape Of Generic Memories.

Performance. 20 min. 2022.
PATTERNS OF LIGHT. 3KlangTage Art Festival. Zug. Switzerland.

Lama Altakruri, PSE, lyrics / Alvin Lucier, USA, composition / Noah Punkt, CH, double bass / Roland Dahinden, CH, trombone / Radim Hanousek, CZE, saxophone / Hildegard Kleeb, CH, piano

Clikc here for a short clip from the performance.

In this work, I merge Alvin Lucier’s Memory Space with Rem Koolhaas’s ideas on Generic Memory. I recorded sounds from cafes in Ramallah while chasing the feeling of being somewhere else. I propose the question of how memories are formed in globalized spaces.
I investigate the psychological and social effects of the built environment within neoliberal contexts, with a focus on globalized spaces of professional hospitality, like hotels, cafes, restaurants, and other spaces. I’m interested in how and why these spaces evoke emotions of anxiety, comfort, loneliness, familiarity, and detachment, and how they can signify an ambition to reinforce a socioeconomic status within a privileged global middle class.