User-testing performance

The Sursock Museum is pleased to invite you to the performance Nazar by Lara Kobeissi, on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 March from 15:00 to 18:00.

This performance incorporating virtual-reality invites visitors to consider embodied personalized experiences–informed by evil eye protection practices passed-down for generations across Southern Lebanon–not only as methodologies of care but as ritualistic acts of soft resistance. Nazar unfolds as an experiential poem, culminating in a magical choreography of the senses, complete with audio recordings of surveillance drones, unearthed gestures, and chants that tell of a conspiracy between people and land, moon, stars, clouds and vines.

This event is a user-testing performance. Audience feedback will serve for further development. Please note that capacities are extremely limited. You can register for a 20-minute slot here. The public is welcome to walk in during the live performance, and check the research behind the project.

Lara Kobeissi is a Lebanese XR artist based in the UK whose practice draws on game mechanics, multi-sensory performance, interactive storytelling and speculative design to investigate methodologies of care and connection. Her work, which has been showcased at South London Gallery, Aspex, Epic Games, Sheffield DocFest, Rich Mix and Treadgolds, designates the body as an experimental ground for transcendence.