Dictaphone Group was asked to guest edit the Fall 2013 online edition of ArteEast. Based on ‘This Sea Is Mine’ project (2012), they discussed the issue of access to the sea and public space in several Arab cities. They asked the contribution of activists, artists and researchers from Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Palestine, with an aim to critically and comparatively open a debate about access to the sea as a social practice and as a right to ‘make and remake our cities’ (Harvey, 2008).

In this panel, entitled ‘The Sea Is This Way’, the following contributions will be presented by their authors:

• Sea Narratives from Rashidieh Camp, Dictaphone Group, Lebanon

• The Sea Is This Way, Nuha Innab, Jordan / Palestine

• Warships in the Sea of Al-Raml Al-Janoubi, Ghiath Al Jebawi, Syria

DICTAPHONE GROUP

Dictaphone is a research and performance collective that creates live art events based on a multidisciplinary study of space. It is a collaborative project initiated by live artist Tania El Khoury and architect/urbanist Abir Saksouk. Together with artist and performer Petra Serhal, they have been creating site-specific performances informed by research. The aim of these projects is to question our relationship to the city and redefine its public space.