Buy Khamoosh a book

Khamoosh* is a participatory artistic research project that mediates conservation and restoration by exploring the sonic heritage of Iran through recorded sounds of everyday life; sounds that are less heard or even silenced. This process-based project aims to build an interactive archive of sounds and to document, exchange, resurrect and decolonize these sounds using artistic methods.

Khamoosh (xɑːmʊʃ) is interpreted as silence in Farsi, however, it is a notion in Iranian poetry and culture that points to a spiritual experience that goes beyond silence as the absence of sounds. This notion described by many Persian poets entails attentive listening, presence, and avoidance of unnecessary action.

A crucial aspect of this process-based project is collaboration and participation. Our collective approach in working together is to facilitate and empower persons affected by the colonial imposed gendered violence and poverty. We are a freeform group effort in which each contributor is able to gain upon deciding their own role and degree of participation. Accordingly, the decolonized approach of Khamoosh includes silent or less heard voices in its process and highlights the strengths within differences between members of the community. Such context expands the sonic heritage of Iran beyond its geographical borders and situates it within diasporic, marginalised, and previously torn spheres and spaces. 

Your support is not only heartwarming but is more helpful than you might imagine. Due to the increasing devaluation of the local currency, even one penny contributes to keeping Khamoosh alive. Please feel free to contact us for any further information: [email protected]