In this recording of a live event at Delfina Foundation, artist Michael Rakowitz, together with Arsalan Mohammad and Sarona Abuaker revisited his 2010 radio series The Breakup, discussing its themes and its past and contemporary resonances.
Fascinated with the 1969 collapse of The Beatles – dashing all hopes of a North African tour that few even knew was a possibility – in 2010 artist Michael Rakowitz produced The Breakup, a ten-part radio series broadcast on Palestinian Radio Amwaj. The episodes delved into the intricacies of the band’s collapse and posited it as example of a collaboration that ground to a halt amid unravelling negotiations and failed communication.
In addition to contemplating the allegorical echoes between the band’s break up and the dream of Pan Arabism, the evening explored the current context of amnesia, myth and revisionism through the then-upcoming Peter Jackson documentary on The Beatles, and how it intersects with the parrhesia and truth-telling that is central to Palestinian solidarity.
The Breakup was commissioned by Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem for The Jerusalem Show IV.
Captions will be available shortly.