Port of Genova
September 18–November 5, 2026
HUM III: From Port to Port, A Sonic Convening unfolds across Genova from September 18 to November 5, 2026, bringing together a site-specific sound installation and a decentralised seven-week public programme. Rooted in Genova’s traditions of radical labour organising, anti-fascism, and internationalism, the convening draws on histories of direct action while standing alongside dockworkers and organisers who continue these struggles today.
Developed over three and a half years of research, HUM III (2026) is the final volume in Hajra Waheed’s trilogy of multichannel sound installations, with Peter Cole, labour historian and organiser, serving as project historian. The site-specific installation occupying the Scalone Dogale at Palazzo Ducale is curated by Sara Alberani and accompanied by a bilingual Reader edited by Harry Burke.
HUM, which translates as “We” in Urdu, is composed of humming and other vocalizations produced with the lips sealed shut. The first volume, HUM (2020) centres the vital role of political prisoners as leaders in liberation struggles; HUM II (2023) highlights women’s participation and leadership in social movements. HUM III turns to the radical labour organising of dockworkers and port communities in support of anti-colonial, anti-apartheid and anti-war movements.
The work traces histories of transnational maritime solidarity from Durban to Oakland, Sydney to London, Chattogram, Jaffa and beyond; understanding our ocean as a highway and the port as a choke point of global capital. In Sydney, dockworkers blocked Dutch military convoys in support of Indonesian independence. In London, they organised boycotts of goods from apartheid South Africa and stood alongside anti-colonial movements across Asia. Today, dockworkers across the Mediterranean and Europe continue to organise against the movement of arms, war and genocide, including in support of Palestinian liberation.
Public programme
The public programme is co-organised by Hajra Waheed and Sara Alberani, in collaboration with local and international dockworkers, cultural workers, community partners and organizations, including: CALP (Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali), CAP (Circolo Autorità Portuale), Palazzo Ducale, the Municipality of Genova, Palazzo Bronzo, Cinemino Ad Astra and Radio Al Hara.
The public programme opens September 19–20 at Palazzo Ducale, focusing on direct action, the circulation of arms through civilian ports, transnational maritime solidarity, and the role of sound, radio, moving image and archives in labour organising. A dockworker-led walk through Genova, brings the port’s political histories into view through the knowledge of those who organise there. Across conversations, screenings, broadcasts, walking tours, educational initiatives and the Reader, it centres knowledge produced through collective action and asks what workers can do when ports become conduits for war, and what forms of solidarity become possible when those who move the world’s goods refuse to move its weapons.
The seven-week programme continues with a broadcast series produced as part of HUM III and aired every Tuesday from September 29 through November 3 on Radio Al Hara, with the station embedded at CAP (Circolo Autorità Portuale). The series traces histories of transnational maritime solidarity across ports. Weekly screenings on Thursdays at Cinemino Ad Astra bring historical and contemporary films into dialogue with labour organising in the present. Together, these encounters create spaces for the transmission of shared histories and the exchange of knowledge in support of ongoing organising against war and for dignified labour, alongside the 3 October Public Assembly hosted at CAP, in preparation for the 30 October International Day of Action of Dockworkers and Port Workers, possibly the largest international port action recorded in history.
Bios
Hajra Waheed is an artist and educator whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, video and sound, sculpture and installation, exploring the nature of power, the human impact of displacement and incarceration, and the transformative possibilities of liberation struggles. Waheed’s work has been exhibited worldwide. She holds a BFA, an MA in Cultural Studies & Education, and pursued doctoral research in International and Comparative Education. Before focusing on her artistic practice full-time, she taught extensively and worked within popular and informal education movements, developing practices of collective learning. She lives and works between Montréal and Yogyakarta.
Sara Alberani is an independent curator and cultural organizer based in Rome. In 2020, she co-founded LOCALES, a platform dedicated to site-specific interventions and decolonial practices in public space. She co-curated the Trampoline House collective at documenta fifteen, and her curatorial practice explores the intersections of political ecology, labour struggles, and social and climate justice. She is currently investigating the impacts of extractivism on the water ecosystems of Northeast Italy and the Adriatic Sea as the recipient of the Tentacular Fellowship 2026–27 at Ocean Space / TBA21-Academy, Venice.
HUM III by Hajra Waheed in Genova is under the patronage of the Municipality of Genova, supported by the Palazzo Ducale, the Canada Council for the Arts and in collaboration with: CAP (Circolo Autorità Portuale), CALP (Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali), Palazzo Bronzo, Cinemino Ad Astra and Radio Al Hara.
The public programme offers live interpretation in Italian and English for all indoor events. Subsequent translation from Italian to English will be provided for the Dockworker-Led Port Walk.
Press inquiries:
Studio of Hajra Waheed: admin.studiohajrawaheed@gmail.com
Sara Alberani, Curator: alberanisara@gmail.com
