Date: Tuesday 10 June, 2025
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Moussem Studio – Zeemtouwersstraat 6, 1070 Brussels
Admission: Free, reservation required, via this link.
Saidoun: 31.841439, 34.903802 is a digital landscape in development that uses a hybrid methodology combining game design, cartographic research, open-source intelligence (OSINT), image analysis and fieldwork.
On Tuesday 10 June, Moussem will present a first version of the game design by Shayma Nader and Axel Korban. Shayma Nader was in residence at Moussem for two months. She invited Axel Korban to collaborate on the digital reconstruction of the Palestinian village of Saydun.
About the work
They approach the village, located in the al-Ramla district, of which only the GPS coordinates “remain”, located in the district of al-Ramla as both a spatial archive and a speculative world, as it existed prior to its depopulation and destruction by Israeli forces during the 1948 Nakba. By carefully rebuilding the village’s topography, architecture, and environmental features through open-source data and memory maps, the project attempts to provide a contrast to the ongoing erasure of Palestinian life and place. Rather than merely simulating the past, the game renders Saydun as a fugitive space—one that resists disappearance and forgetfulness and reclaims the right to be mapped, remembered, and inhabited anew. In doing so, the project explores the potential of digital tools in reconstructing disappeared geographies and speculating practices of return.
About the artists
Shayma Nader is a Palestinian artist, curator, and researcher based in Brussels. Her work looks into anticolonial and anti-disciplinary imaginaries, often wandering through land-based practices, collective memory, and speculative fabulations. Walking is central to her practice—as a method of research, orientation, and being in relation. She’s currently a PhD candidate in artistic research at Sint Lucas School of Arts (KdG) and the University of Antwerp. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Birzeit University and a master’s degree in Creative & Cultural Industries from SOAS, University of London.
Axel Korban is a 3D artist with a background in documentary photography and installation art. His work focuses on the digital reconstruction of scenographic and architectural environments, often engaging with human rights and legal contexts through spatial storytelling. With a BFA in documentary photography and an MFA in
installation art, his practice combines strong fieldwork methods, investigative research and a technical, problem-solving approach to visualizing contested spaces. He is currently developing his work within research-based artistic contexts, exploring how digital environments can serve as critical tools for witnessing and memory.
Date: Tuesday 10 June, 2025
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Moussem Studio – Zeemtouwersstraat 6, 1070 Brussels
Admission: Free, reservation required, via this link.
Saidoun: 31.841439, 34.903802 is a digital landscape in development that uses a hybrid methodology combining game design, cartographic research, open-source intelligence (OSINT), image analysis and fieldwork.
On Tuesday 10 June, Moussem will present a first version of the game design by Shayma Nader and Axel Korban. Shayma Nader was in residence at Moussem for two months. She invited Axel Korban to collaborate on the digital reconstruction of the Palestinian village of Saydun.
About the work
They approach the village, located in the al-Ramla district, of which only the GPS coordinates “remain”, located in the district of al-Ramla as both a spatial archive and a speculative world, as it existed prior to its depopulation and destruction by Israeli forces during the 1948 Nakba. By carefully rebuilding the village’s topography, architecture, and environmental features through open-source data and memory maps, the project attempts to provide a contrast to the ongoing erasure of Palestinian life and place. Rather than merely simulating the past, the game renders Saydun as a fugitive space—one that resists disappearance and forgetfulness and reclaims the right to be mapped, remembered, and inhabited anew. In doing so, the project explores the potential of digital tools in reconstructing disappeared geographies and speculating practices of return.
About the artists
Shayma Nader is a Palestinian artist, curator, and researcher based in Brussels. Her work looks into anticolonial and anti-disciplinary imaginaries, often wandering through land-based practices, collective memory, and speculative fabulations. Walking is central to her practice—as a method of research, orientation, and being in relation. She’s currently a PhD candidate in artistic research at Sint Lucas School of Arts (KdG) and the University of Antwerp. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Birzeit University and a master’s degree in Creative & Cultural Industries from SOAS, University of London.
Axel Korban is a 3D artist with a background in documentary photography and installation art. His work focuses on the digital reconstruction of scenographic and architectural environments, often engaging with human rights and legal contexts through spatial storytelling. With a BFA in documentary photography and an MFA in
installation art, his practice combines strong fieldwork methods, investigative research and a technical, problem-solving approach to visualizing contested spaces. He is currently developing his work within research-based artistic contexts, exploring how digital environments can serve as critical tools for witnessing and memory.
