This text is a collection of fragments of conversations that happened in Beirut, in February 2019, whilst attending a seminar on sound and community at the American University. The fragments recorded conversations that happened inside the campus and outside the campus on the street, in the bar over a beer, and whilst walking. The text maps out an experience of listening to oral articulations and encounters as a visitor to the city, opening a poetic interpretation of the experience. The spaces between the fragments allow for another narrative to appear outwith the dominant voice of the American institution.
The text fragments formed a score for the voice and were performed as a live reading at Zoukak Theatre Beirut, where it was live translated into Arabic, Dutch, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Hindi by the participants and audience.