The Dahaleez Collective have been awarded the OTO Award x Dar Jacir Palestinian Art Prize 2025. The award is the first Palestinian art prize for the art of sound and listening, aimed at promoting and diffusing Palestinian voices across the world.
The annual contemporary art prize seeks to promote and uplift Palestinian artists whose work navigates the landscape of sound art through innovation and experimentation. Projects are chosen for their boundary-defying approach to the creative medium of sound, as well as for the social resonance of the work.
The Gaza-based Dahaleez Collective were selected through open-call by a jury made up of Emily Jacir, founder of Dar Jacir for Art and Research, Nicolas Jaar, founder of Dar Jacir Sound Studio, Dirar Kalash, a musician and sound artist working with Dar Jacir, Francesca Ceccherini, founder of OTO Sound Museum, Francesca Brusa, researcher and curator at OTO Sound Museum, and Chloé Dall’Olio, and artist and host working at the museum.
The Collective, whose project proposal was selected by the jury for its timely and urgent nature, will focus on building a multi-pronged sonic-arts archive, with an amalgamation of archival historical material, voices, and field recordings providing the basis for the project. With a cross-disciplinary and innovative approach to sound art, the Dahaleez Collective seek to touch upon notions of erasure and memory while looking to the future.
The Dahaleez Collective is also a contributor to the Hassala project (حصالة), an urgent relief project initiated by Artists Together. The Hassala project aims to provide support to artists from Gaza, Palestine, allowing them to sustain their artistic practices and continue to share their experiences in the midst of unimaginable hardships. This support is effected through both material contributions in the form of monthly financial assistance distributed through the A. M. Qattan Foundation, as well as through social and professional support in the form of mentorship, training, and platforms through which to share the artist’s work.
Recipients of the OTO Sound Award receive 2000 Swiss Francs (roughly USD 2500), as well as a digital exhibition at the OTO Sound Museum, and mentorship during the preparation process. For artists and collectives based in Palestine, awardees are given the opportunity to take part in a residency at Dar Jacir.
The OTO Sound Museum was created in 2020 by curatorial collective Zaira Oram, founded by Francesca Ceccherini, whose artistic path grew over the years to include Chloé Dall’Olio, Camille Regli, Francesca Brusa, and Elisa Bernardoni. The OTO Sound Museum is a nomadic museum with an aim to advance experimental sound-based practices and amplify voices.
