Episode
E22 - Al Shadidah / The Slingshot (Ola Al Shrif & ADfD)
- Podcast
- MEMORY FOR DENIAL
- Published
- Nov 21, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 304
- Processing state
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Summary
As part of the GAZA BIENNALE BERLIN PAVILLION we present the piece "Al-Shadidah", which is part of Ola Al Shrif's statue of a slingshot. The sound is incorporated in the augmented reality statue to be found in Hermannplatz, Berlin. This work has been developed in collaboration with Berlin-based collective Alternative Monument for Germany who designed the sound piece alongside an augmented reality version of Ola's work. The model for Al-Shadidah has been designed by Diaa Assaf (Burj El Barajneh, Lebanon). The slingshot manifests in public space as a floating, ephemeral structure - its location “to be found,” its trajectory unpredictable - embodying the desire to move beyond fear, beyond walls, beyond imposed limits. The work traces the unsettled geographies of displacement, making absence and hope visible, and transforming survival into collective imagination. The voice you hear is that of Ola explaining the story of how she came up with the idea of the large slingshot. The artist has also shared this story: "During the genocide in Gaza, I was forcibly displaced to Rafah. I often went to the archaeological site of Tel Zaarab, where I could see the other side of the world: Egypt separated from me by nothing but a wall. A wall only 200 meters away, yet farther than any dream. I stood before it in disbelief: How can something made of concrete confine so much life? How can a wall become stronger than fear, time, and memory? In those moments, the border exceeded its geographical meaning. It was not merely a barrier, it became a boundary between survival and the possibility of life. There, amid smoke, noise, and terror, I imagined a giant slingshot, a mythical tool large enough to carry people over the wall into safety. I imagined it lifting us beyond its height, hurling our…