Wissal Houbabi Bologna / Khouribga
SAWT (studio)
“SAWT” is a research project that explores the ritual practice of Aita, an ancient poetic song belonging to Moroccan tradition. The Aita is the profound history that shatters the voice of the countryside, an oral archive that preserves life, love, pain and resistance throughout the centuries. On this journey, poetry clashes with a contemporary cry – internal, deafening – that takes on new shapes and meanings. The experience of the ghorba and its aftermath, the languages of exiled daughters, are transformed, eradicated and recomposed, searching for new roots in motion, unstable bodies. “SAWT” is a restless quest for the voice. It is where words and song, body and soul, merge, connecting in the abyss of a scream, a lament, only to be reborn and experience life with renewed vigour. It is the ecstasy of the spirit, it is the pain of a body tormented by itself, it is the essence of the sacred and the profane. There are words that lie very deep within our being, a voice that breaks free, like the very first cry of which we have no memory, only the certainty of its meaning: I exist.
Bio
Wissal Houbabi is a performance poet, artist, writer, art director of Spore and hip-hop head. She is the winner of 4th edition of FONDO, a network dedicated to the productive development for emerging artists, coordinated by Santarcangelo dei Teatri. Her work explores the relationship between languages and dialects, between sound, stigma and meaning. She has collaborated with the University of Bologna, the Goethe-Institut, the Museum of Civilisation and the City of Besançon. Among her latest works: “Impercettibile”, experimental poetry projects in Rome and Padua; Wiho & Free Radicals, a spoken jazz band active between Italy and France; “Una gran puzza di merda nell’aria”, a monologue presented at over 40 events, including Hangar Pirelli 2022; “phonomuseum_rome” at the Museum of Civilizations; and “Offesissima” at Ar/ge Kunst Bolzano.
TOUR DATES
June 13, 2026: L’Art Rue, Tunis (open rehearsal)
June 28, 2026: Sala della Repubblica – AMAT, Pesaro (open rehearsal)
July 7–8, 2026: Santarcangelo Festival
July 23, 2026: Love is Political – Centrale Fies, Dro
Address
Info
duration: 50 minutes
language: Darija, Italian, French
SENSITIVE CONTENT
loud sound or music, close-up performance
Credits
ideazione, testi e regia Wissal Houbabi
con Wissal Houbabi e Afif Ben Fekih
mentore per la ricerca storica e culturale Hassan Abbouqi
produzione Wissal Houbabi e Hassan Abbouqi
assistente alla produzione Ilaria Depari
costumi Maalma Touch
shooting Yassine Moujarrib
musiche originali e ambienti sonori Afif Ben Fekih
grafica Sarah Addouh
incontri artistici a cura di FONDO Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Yan Duyvendak, Julian Hetzel
progetto sostenuto da FONDO, network per la creatività emergente coordinato da Santarcangelo dei Teatri e realizzato con AMAT Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali, Centrale Fies, Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale, Fondazione Fabbrica Europa per le arti contemporanee, Fondazione I Teatri – Reggio Emilia, Fuorimargine / Centro di produzione della danza in Sardegna, L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino | Centro di Residenza Emilia-Romagna, Lavanderia a Vapore / Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo, OperaEstate Festival Veneto / CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea, Ravenna Teatro, Teatro Stabile dell’Umbria, Triennale Milano Teatro
all'interno di LANDING progetto sostenuto dal Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale realizzato da Santarcangelo Festival in collaborazione con L’Art Rue, Tunis parte del riadattata per il Public Program del Padiglione Italia alla Biennale di Venezia 2026
© Yassine Moujarrib