Exist Palestine

Exist festival founder and curator Odai Masri appearance. Exist aims to build bridges between Palestinian sound artists, music curators, musicians, DJ’s, labels, and sound designers from various parts of the world. A factor that binds these artists is their desire to impact their environments in critical ways, and their care for anti-colonialism in the Palestinian context. The events include DJ sets, live acts, performances, video and light installations, exhibitions and talks by both Palestinian and non-Palestinian artists, and audiovisual interventions on space, sound and time specifically dedicated to networking with and learning from the artists present.

Emblematic of the DIY spirit that colours Palestine’s various musical subcultures, Exist is a homegrown, self-funded project. We aim to maintain the autonomy of the project by curating its events and contributors in the most close-to-home kind of way. So the events and artists that we’ll be hosting are each funding the completion and success of Exist in their own way, as well as contributing to the longevity and sustainability of the Palestinian sound subculture. We thank them wholeheartedly for their care and generosity.

Some of the main principles we uphold include resistance to homophobia, and the ongoing colonisation of various parts of the world by state actors or multi-national oligarchs. In turn, we think that this colonisation leaves no one free, and that it especially targets communities (human and non-human) that are most marginalised by capital and historical racial and ethnic structures.

The ways in which we aim to uphold these far-reaching principles is by specifically inviting artists who tackle these issues in their work and offering them our platform. We also call on all participating artists to uphold, boycott, divestment, and sanction guidelines, as stipulated here.