OMAR BERRADA AND SIMONE FATTAL
ORGANIZE A SYMPOSIUM ON
ETEL ADNAN
Co-hosted by Anthology Film Archives and The Poetry Project
ORGANIZE A SYMPOSIUM ON
ETEL ADNAN
Co-hosted by Anthology Film Archives and The Poetry Project
February 27,
February 28,
and March 1, 2025
See full schedule and RSVP below
with:
George Abraham
Ammiel Alcalay
Jean-Philippe Antoine
Amir ElSaffar
Huda Fakhreddine
Peter Gizzi
Maaza Mengiste
Saretta Morgan & Ica Sadagat
Eileen Myles & Ryan Sawyer
Sarah Riggs
Lisa Robertson
Jennifer Scappettone
Brandon Shimoda
Hamed Sinno
Kamelya Youssef
February 28,
and March 1, 2025
See full schedule and RSVP below
with:
George Abraham
Ammiel Alcalay
Jean-Philippe Antoine
Amir ElSaffar
Huda Fakhreddine
Peter Gizzi
Maaza Mengiste
Saretta Morgan & Ica Sadagat
Eileen Myles & Ryan Sawyer
Sarah Riggs
Lisa Robertson
Jennifer Scappettone
Brandon Shimoda
Hamed Sinno
Kamelya Youssef
Etel Adnan: In the Rhythms of the World is a three-day symposium to mark the centenary of Etel Adnan's birth.
Adnan’s oeuvre did not follow a masterplan; it expanded and shape-shifted ceaselessly. Each book invented its own genre. And yet her tone is unmistakable, combining sharp observation with the associative logic of dreams. “I followed lines I never saw, went on unchartered roads, didn’t emerge from any confusion. The present was forever blowing.” Throughout her existence, she was committed to being “in the rhythms of the world.” In the face of a life “woven with war,” she chose to look the apocalypse in the eye, always seeking appropriate forms for bearing witness.
Adnan’s oeuvre did not follow a masterplan; it expanded and shape-shifted ceaselessly. Each book invented its own genre. And yet her tone is unmistakable, combining sharp observation with the associative logic of dreams. “I followed lines I never saw, went on unchartered roads, didn’t emerge from any confusion. The present was forever blowing.” Throughout her existence, she was committed to being “in the rhythms of the world.” In the face of a life “woven with war,” she chose to look the apocalypse in the eye, always seeking appropriate forms for bearing witness.
Born in Beirut in 1925, Adnan lived on three continents and in multiple languages, working as a writer, a painter, a journalist, a professor, a filmmaker, among other pursuits. Though she taught philosophy and read voraciously, she valued nothing more than careful attention to material phenomena: “I know that seeking political and philosophical notions in the street is like trying to construct a barrier to hold back the ocean, but I won't look elsewhere.” Solidarity and radical equality were her guiding principles, as was her ever-renewed wonder at the beauty of the world and her enduring belief in the oneness of being. To her, landscapes revealed haunted histories of place. Trees were constant interlocutors. A mountain was her best friend.
Organized by Omar Berrada and Simone Fattal on the centenary of Etel Adnan's birth, this symposium gathers together old friends, confirmed specialists, and younger disciples of Adnan's. They offer talks, poetry readings, and musical performances in response to multiple aspects of her literary and visual work.
Organized by Omar Berrada and Simone Fattal on the centenary of Etel Adnan's birth, this symposium gathers together old friends, confirmed specialists, and younger disciples of Adnan's. They offer talks, poetry readings, and musical performances in response to multiple aspects of her literary and visual work.
Thursday, February 27
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave
6:30pm
Free, rsvp required
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave
6:30pm
Free, rsvp required
6:30pm
Screening:
Etel Adnan, Motion (1980/89–2012, 92’)
During her visits to New York in 1980s, Adnan regularly traveled with a Super-8mm camera and repeatedly attempted to capture the sun touching skyscrapers’ windows, the geometry of bridges, the marriage of light and water, the movement of barges on the river, the shapes of factory smoke – the oddly meditative poetry of inexorable motion at the immediate edge of city life.
Presented by Bidoun
Screening:
Etel Adnan, Motion (1980/89–2012, 92’)
During her visits to New York in 1980s, Adnan regularly traveled with a Super-8mm camera and repeatedly attempted to capture the sun touching skyscrapers’ windows, the geometry of bridges, the marriage of light and water, the movement of barges on the river, the shapes of factory smoke – the oddly meditative poetry of inexorable motion at the immediate edge of city life.
Presented by Bidoun
Friday, February 28 (Afternoon)
Giorno Poetry Systems
222 Bowery
2-6pm
Doors open at 1:30
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
SOLD OUT
Giorno Poetry Systems
222 Bowery
2-6pm
Doors open at 1:30
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
SOLD OUT
2pm
Welcome & introduction by Simone Fattal & Omar Berrada
Ammiel Alcalay: “…tenderness for the world as it is”: Journeying into the present with Etel Adnan
Saretta Morgan & Ica Sadagat: Guerrilla Nature: Tactics of the Ethereal
4pm
Coffee break
4:30pm
Brandon Shimoda: Burn the walls of your own apparitions: on Etel Adnan’s Hiroshimas
Huda Fakhreddine: Poetry Begins at STOP: Etel Adnan and the Arabic Poetic Tradition
Welcome & introduction by Simone Fattal & Omar Berrada
Ammiel Alcalay: “…tenderness for the world as it is”: Journeying into the present with Etel Adnan
Saretta Morgan & Ica Sadagat: Guerrilla Nature: Tactics of the Ethereal
4pm
Coffee break
4:30pm
Brandon Shimoda: Burn the walls of your own apparitions: on Etel Adnan’s Hiroshimas
Huda Fakhreddine: Poetry Begins at STOP: Etel Adnan and the Arabic Poetic Tradition
Friday, February 28 (Evening)
The Poetry Project
131 E. 10th Street
7-10pm
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
The Poetry Project
131 E. 10th Street
7-10pm
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
7pm
Light buffet dinner
8pm
Book Launch of Etel Adnan's Voyage, War, Exile (Litmus, 2025)
Sarah Riggs: Letters to Etel from Egypt
George Abraham: When the Arab Apocalypse Comes to America
9pm
Musical performance by Amir ElSaffar: Time’s Other Side
Light buffet dinner
8pm
Book Launch of Etel Adnan's Voyage, War, Exile (Litmus, 2025)
Sarah Riggs: Letters to Etel from Egypt
George Abraham: When the Arab Apocalypse Comes to America
9pm
Musical performance by Amir ElSaffar: Time’s Other Side
Saturday, March 1 (Afternoon)
The Poetry Project
131 E. 10th Street
2-6pm
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
The Poetry Project
131 E. 10th Street
2-6pm
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
2pm
Jennifer Scappettone: Leporello as Geopoetics: Etel's Xenoglossia
Eileen Myles & Ryan Sawyer: Perpetual Present Tempo of Etel Adnan
Sound performance by Jean-Philippe Antoine: Paris, when it’s naked — Winter 2025
4pm
Coffee break
4:30pm
Maaza Mengiste: Letter from East Jerusalem: The Landscape Between
Lisa Robertson: What Light Composes: The Bioluminescence of the Poem
Jennifer Scappettone: Leporello as Geopoetics: Etel's Xenoglossia
Eileen Myles & Ryan Sawyer: Perpetual Present Tempo of Etel Adnan
Sound performance by Jean-Philippe Antoine: Paris, when it’s naked — Winter 2025
4pm
Coffee break
4:30pm
Maaza Mengiste: Letter from East Jerusalem: The Landscape Between
Lisa Robertson: What Light Composes: The Bioluminescence of the Poem
Saturday, March 1 (Evening)
Giorno Poetry Systems
222 Bowery
7-10pm
Doors open at 7pm
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
SOLD OUT
Giorno Poetry Systems
222 Bowery
7-10pm
Doors open at 7pm
Free, rsvp required
Livestream here
SOLD OUT
7pm
Light buffet dinner
8pm
Peter Gizzi: For Etel, For Love
Kamelya Omayma Youssef: A Problem of Certainty
9pm
Musical performance by Hamed Sinno: Land without Organs
Light buffet dinner
8pm
Peter Gizzi: For Etel, For Love
Kamelya Omayma Youssef: A Problem of Certainty
9pm
Musical performance by Hamed Sinno: Land without Organs
Etel Adnan: In the Rhythms of the World is organized by Omar Berrada and Simone Fattal to mark the centenary of Etel Adnan’s birth. It is produced by The Poetry Project and co-hosted by Giorno Poetry Systems. The screening at Anthology Film Archives is presented by Bidoun.
This program was made possible by generous support from Galerie Lelong, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, and White Cube.
This program was made possible by generous support from Galerie Lelong, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, and White Cube.
All three galleries are presenting exhibitions of Etel Adnan’s work at the time of the symposium:
Etel Adnan, This Beautiful Light, at White Cube, New York.
Etel Adnan: On Paper, 1960–2021, at Galerie Lelong, New York.
Etel Adnan: Zum Hundertsten, at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg.
Etel Adnan, This Beautiful Light, at White Cube, New York.
Etel Adnan: On Paper, 1960–2021, at Galerie Lelong, New York.
Etel Adnan: Zum Hundertsten, at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg.
Poster design by Hamed Sinno.
Etel Adnan at the MoMA, New York, 1979. Photo by Simone Fattal.
Due to the age and character of the building, the space is not optimized for ADA accessibility and is located up a single flight of 20 stairs with handrails. If you have questions about access, please contact us in advance of the event, and we will make every effort to accommodate you.
