Neither on the Ground
nor in the Sky

Ongoing
Amsterdam-Beirut and everywherre in-between

This is my first major collaborative project, developed with Syrian/Dutch sound artist Noise Diva (Yara Said). The work explores the Syrian-Lebanese border, a colonial division drawn by France in 1920 that separates people who share language, culture, family ties, and histories of displacement. The title references the liminal state of being suspended between geographies, neither on the ground nor in the sky, never fully grounded in either place.

We first presented Neither on the Ground nor in the Sky at Waking Life Festival 2025 in Portugal as a live audiovisual performance. On stage, I managed video projection, playing pre-edited footage I had assembled from Tripoli (Lebanon) and Syria while using a microphone, to make analogue sounds with bird whistles, and bells. Yara performed live multichannel mixing using her modular synthesizer (Subharmonicon). The projected footage showed landscapes, architecture, and everyday street life from both sides of the Syrian-Lebanese border—places that share deep connections through the port of Tripoli, which has historically been the main gateway for trade between Lebanon and Syria. 

Video: https://vimeo.com/1162227009?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
Photography: Niccola Be