Enemy of the Sun confronts a Palestinian landscape under threat

How does one search for reconnection in a severed, broken land? This question lies at the heart of the performance and installation work of Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Working together since 2008, the artists have become known for their research-driven projects, using installation and performance to shine light on contemporary political situations and the aftereffects of colonialism. Their latest work, Enemy of the Sun shown and performed at the Aichi Triennale, addresses the pursuit of community in Palestine as the ongoing genocide presents a continued threat of erasure.

Building on previous works, May amnesia never kiss us on the mouth (2020) and And yet my mask is powerful (2016), Enemy of the Sun is presented as an immersive multimedia installation, with Abbas’ and Abou-Rahme’s work projected across the walls of the Aichi gallery. The footage flitters between raw and polarised, as if filmed in night vision and secretively retrieved.

Within the footage, altercations between soldiers and civilians cut to groups dancing in unison. It’s a jarring juxtaposition that feels disorienting upon first watch, but not entirely different from the dissonance we scroll past every day, where videos of funeral processions and bombed-out homes sit only a scroll above mundane content. The footage combines material captured in Palestine over several years with new material filmed just months before.

“Most of the landscapes and the locations that you see will be areas under threat– to be taken over by settlers,” Basel explains. “We visit these places in order to ‘be in’ those locations, rather than thinking about it as documentation of the space. We think about it more as being in space, and being with the land that the settlers are trying to take.” He continues, “We had many instances where it was dangerous for us to actually be there, but we really insist on being with the land.”

The performance segment of the project was housed in Japan’s Club MAGO, where echoing concrete walls were washed with purple and blue moody hues. Fragments of text appeared within the visuals, drawn from longer writings by the artists, addressing the struggle for land, memory, and survival under occupation. One recurring theme is the idea of responding to and relaying a call – a call to action, or a call to connect – echoed in live performances throughout the show by musicians Haykal, Julmud, and Barari, all brought from Palestine. “The musicians will be performing their own music in their sets, and so more formally the text is also responding to their music, and the context of their music, and sort of pushing it and taking it elsewhere,” Basel tells Dazed.

Sound is a vital part of the work. In the installation, it bounces off the walls in all directions, and in the performance, it echoes through the packed space. “I think that we are very engaged with the music community in Palestine and beyond,” Basel says. As a trained musician first, performing in a club space is natural, but it’s also part of his mission to move the message and impact of his work outside traditional art spaces. “It’s important that we engage with the community at large– not just museum goers and not just the art world,” he explains. “It's about the community–we don’t expect the community to come to us, we care about how we go to the community.”

The Enemy of the Sun installation is on show at Aichi Arts Center until November 30th, 2025