Joseph Audeh is a Palestinian-American artist whose multi-disciplinary approach engages architecture, political ecology, industrial design, and emerging technologies.

Presenting in Amman for the first time, his artist talk will highlight questions of art and environmental activism through a presentation of his most recent project Machine for Raising Water.

Machine for Raising Water examines how we might imaginatively update a water extraction system devised by medieval Arab engineer Al-Jazari. It acts as a hypothetical prototype for small-scale, personal hydraulic technology in the Jordan basin. This system speculates on the future of the parched Middle East, and a climate crisis shared for Palestinians and Jordanians alike. It also questions if we can produce positive ecological change by engaging in the radical practice of extracting our own water.

The river has two bank is an ongoing curatorial initiative that addresses the growing distance between cultural practitioners living on both sides of the River Jordan by instigating contemporary connections and rethinking shared social and political histories. It is initiated by Shuruq Hrab, Toleen Touq and Samah Hijawi.