Imagining Otherwise Live

On 27 July 2024, a trio of events animated Primary’s Garden and Gallery 2. Imagining Otherwise Live was a collaborative series of events crafted by the artists Ashley Holmes, Jasleen Kaur and Jala Wahid, who contributed to the Imagining Otherwise exhibition.

Reading in Chorus

Led by Jasleen Kaur, Reading in Chorus explored different methods of collective voice to connect attendees to each other and themselves.

In the workshop, attendees collectively read the text Quantum Listening by Pauline Oliveros through a series of improvised vocal experiments to explore a collective voice. The workshop was initiated by a few things: the prompt to ‘listen behind you’ and Saidiya Hartman’s suggestion of the chorus, both as practices that reimagine inherited histories and dominant narratives. No prior engagement with the text or voice is necessary—just an interest in voice and freedom.

Naphtha Maqam Listening Session

This installation by Jala Wahid takes place in Gallery 2 but will transport listeners across time through the medium of Kurdish maqams and found ephemera.

Jala Wahid | Naphtha Maqam

Naphtha Maqam, a sound installation by Jala Wahid, took place in Gallery 2 alongside the Imagining Otherwise exhibition. Initially shared as part of a listening event, this powerful audio piece remained in place for the remainder of the exhibition—transporting listeners across time through the medium of Kurdish maqams.

Naphtha Maqam is an hour-long sound piece that weaves together the history and current politics of European and American oil imperialism in the region of Kurdistan and Iraq. It comprises a series of funereal maqams, melodically Kurdish, and lyrically English and is constructed from poetic writing, material from the National Archives and British Petroleum Archives and includes elements such as Wahid’s own voice alongside recordings of oil drilling rigs. 

Naphtha Maqam was written by Jala Wahid, performed by Amal Saeed Kurda, and produced by Owen Pratt.

This challenging piece demands the audience’s attention and requires them to engage with empathy and use their imagination to envisage times beyond our frame of reference. The hour-long piece comprises different excerpts of Kurdish Maqams and revolves around the consequences of the British in Kurdistan and the unknown futures Kurdish people faced. Attendees can join and leave at any point, but we recommend you stay for the whole one-hour piece.

The conversations within other events on the day led to the work continuing to be exhibited as part of the show until its close on 17 August.

Jala Wahid, Naphtha Maqam in Imagining Otherwise, Primary (2024). Photo by Jules Lister.

Open Deck Listening Session

Led by Ashley Holmes, the Open Deck Listening Session was a workshop exploring the relationship between different aural forms and personal association with sound and music.

The listening session provided space to collectively listen to and hold discussions around relationships to music, sound, memory and oral histories. There will be a turntable, mixer, laptop and aux cable with participants invited to share their own choice of music, sound recording or record associated with a particular memory or story they might like to share.

All attendees were invited to bring their own music through physical vinyl or digital formats.