TALK: Truth, Palestine, and the Role of Institutions

Name: TALK: Truth, Palestine, and the Role of Institutions — with artists Hamza Abu Ayyash and Firas El Hallak
Start: 2025-04-30T19:30:00+02:00
Location: De Vooruit

with artists Hamza Abu Ayyash and Firas El Hallak

VIERNULVIER

Wed 30.04

19:30

De Vooruit, Gent

De Vooruit - Foyer Theaterzaal

Tickets

Join us to discuss the work of Hamza, the artist behind ‘Rooted in Resilience’, the visual poem gracing De Vooruit building’s facade since February 2025. Together with Hamza and fellow artist and curator Firas El Hallak, we’ll explore the meaning of this piece and other works of Hamza within today’s political climate, the role of art (institutions) to keep talking about Palestine, and how the art world should support the Palestinian artists and people.

About ‘Rooted in Resilience’

In February 2025, VIERNULVIER installed the original artwork ‘Rooted in Resilience’ by Palestinian artist Hamza Abu Ayyash on its Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat façade. The 500 square meters artwork covers the building’s scaffolding during its renovation period, and while hiding a past under restoration, the piece reveals our arts centre’s solidarity with the Palestinian people, and serves as a massive call for peace for Palestine through art and poetry.

‘Rooted in Resilience’ brings together calligraphic elements and flowering poppies, and calls for hope, conversations and debates, a huge reminder to not remain indifferent to the suffering of not only the war in Palestine but (forgotten) wars worldwide. On 30 April, we’re taking this literally, through a talk between the artist Hamza Abu Ayyash and audiovisual artist and curator Firas El Hallak.

About Hamza Abu Ayyash

Hamza Abu Ayyash is a multimedia artist, utilizing a variety of art forms such as painting, sculpting, video, photography, projections, and graffiti to express topics surrounding regional identities and mythical heritage of the area. Born in Lebanon, Hamza lived in Tunisia, Jordan, and settled in Palestine in 1997 where he got a bachelor's degree in interior design from An Najah University in Nablus in 2004. Hamza later obtained a master's degree in autonomous design from KASK in Ghent in 2021, and still calls it “his home in Europe.”

About Firas El Hallak

Firas El Hallak is an audiovisual artist and curator who divides his time between Belgium and Beirut. He serves as the Artistic Director at Splinter vzw. His diverse artistic practice spans film, installation, and new media art. El Hallak's audiovisual productions have been featured in numerous theaters, galleries, and festivals across various performance art scenes. His extensive body of work includes films, comics, documentaries, TV commercials, installation art, and music videos.

After the 'talk', you can still see Hamza at work with his live visuals at the Yalla Worldwide Party, with our friends from de Koer.