17 October, 7 pm to 9 pm, A discursive and sonic exchange between Leila Bencharnia and Othmane Jmad. An invitation from Harvest Festival in collaboration with Archive, generously hosted by LE18.

This event has been co-organised with Soukaina Aboulaoula. 

Leila Bencharnia Born in El Kelaa, Leila Bencharnia is a sound artist, acousmatic interpreter and musician based in Milan. Daughter of a traditional Moroccan musician, her passion for music begins in the western desert of Morocco where she grew up. Her sonic surroundings are made out of analogic material, such as tapes, vinyl, and synthesizers. She uses the practice of listening as a modality of knowledge transmission. Bencharnia’s practice seeks to have an active role in the decolonizing of listening as a way to have a visible impact on social and political questions.

Othmane Jmad (3xOJ) is a Meknes-raised, Casablanca-based electronic music DJ, producer and sound designer that can best be described as an all-round self-taught creative. His approach to music history and theory has brought him in contact with a wide range of styles and influences that he has learned to weave together with his love for contemporary club culture.

Soukaina Aboulaoula is a curator and program producer based in Marrakech. She is the co-founder and creative director of Untitled duo, a platform functioning as a curatorial collective and an art direction agency since December 2017 in Marrakech. Soukaina has served as Arts programme virtual exhibition curator at Sheffield DocFest 2021 and co-curated a special international project for New Art Exchange around expanded notions of artistic education. Most recently, Soukaina co-curated with Yvon Langué “If A Tree Falls In A Forest” at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2022, a collective exhibition and research exploring topics of perception, representation and knowledge within photography in Africa. Being awarded the COARC/Mellon Art History fellowship in 2021, she is also currently conducting a three-year research project exploring the various narratives of modern art in Morocco and how they shape the interpretations of contemporary art practices.

Archive is a community of practice that spans a multitude of social and cultural contexts, informed by the understanding of how imaginaries and occurrences in one place can affect another. From its inception in Berlin ten years ago, Archive has transformed into a decentralized organization shaped by a manifold of cultural practitioners living in Berlin, Cairo, Dakar, London, Marrakech, Milan, New York, Paris and Tunis. Since 2020, their multifaceted program has been articulated across three main sites – Berlin, Dakar, and Milan – also reflecting their collaborative ethos.