Darat al Funun currently on

So, like etching another text onto that urban surface, Hiyari's wall contributes a new layer to the Darat's history. (The foundation, the name of which means "home for the arts," was established by Shoman, the granddaughter of Palestinian politician Ahmad Hilmi Basha, and her late husband Khalid, the son of Arab Bank founder Abdel-Hameed Shoman. In addition to a regular schedule of exhibitions, Darat al-Funun has, over the past decade, built up a solid program of summer workshops, artist-in-residency programs, films screenings, musical performances, literary meetings, and more.)

"You'll notice that the walls are the same height as those next to them. Part of that is to make good neighbors," explains Hiyari, "and part of that is to provide continuity." As an independent, nonprofit arts foundation in the Arab world, Darat al-Funun's mission is tightly bound to both the idea of keeping historical links alive and the importance of pushing the arts ahead. "The project became a hybrid," adds Hiyari. "The result is a new entity that relates to both."

In addition to the exterior facade, Hiyari has also constructed a black room inside the foundation's upper-most building to house an installation of his work. With backlit drawings and austere maquettes representing various building projects in Jordan, Yemen, and Kuwait, the installation makes a fine mesh of architecture and contemporary art. The vibe of Hiyari's work echoes again at the lower end of the Darat complex, in a darkened room where Hatoum's video is screening.

"So Much I Want to Say" was recorded as a satellite transmission of a slowscan exchange between Vancouver and Vienna in 1983. A voice repeats the title line at regular and consistent speed, while the image on screen, of a woman's face being gagged by a man's hands, freezes still and then updates in a top-to-bottom sweep every eight seconds. The delay between sound and image reinforces the work's strong sense of dislocation, of communication breaking down, failing to connect, or getting stuck in the throat, the words too numerous or overwhelming to ever be fully expressed.