The Art Centre

NASHAZ is an Arabic term that by definition means; a combination of sounds that strikes the ear harshly. An off-tune. A Dissonance.

In Music, Dissonance is a categorization of simultaneous sounds; it is associated with harshness, unpleasantness, or unacceptability. Even though dissonant sounds objectively identified, it more often is a subjective, conventional, cultural, and style- and/or period-dependent factor that decides what is acceptable and what is not. Dissonance can then be defined as a combination of sounds that does not belong to the style under consideration. Although dissonance in music may make some listeners feel uneasy, it ultimately helps to create tension and a sense of motion in compositions. You can compare musical dissonance to the conflict between characters in a story. The tension builds and rises to a peak, and then is resolved by the story's calm conclusion. Dissonance in music is often, but not always, followed by harmonic resolution in musical pieces.

In Society, Dissonance is defying the norm. It is swimming against current, colouring outside the lines and as F. Scott Fitzgerald puts it, “it is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."

In this exhibition, NASHAZ, a group of Bahraini creatives gets together to produce conceptual art installations reflecting dissonance in societies through social norms and attitudes often overseen in daily lives.  The exhibition coincides with the Bahrain International Music Festival.