Radio Silence continues with the launch of a multi-episode radio broadcast, and we’re celebrating with a public listening party! Join us at Independence Visitor Center, steps away from this past summer’s large-scale performance on Independence Mall.
Conceived specifically for Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, Radio Silence was inspired by famed Iraqi broadcaster Bahjat Abdulwahed, who lived in the city as a refugee until his death in 2016. This project from artist Michael Rakowitz and curator Elizabeth Thomas interweaves dreams and memories from Iraq, America, and in-between into a soundscape of the contemporary refugee experience. It brings together recordings of Abdulwahed with other Philadelphia-based Iraqi refugees and Iraq War veterans working with local non-profit Warrior Writers, as well as Iraqi musicians and other performers, all of whom will share their experiences as part of the Iraqi diaspora, and the culture of an Iraq, that due to war and political unrest, no longer exists.