HUM III: From Port to Port, A Sonic Convening

sound installation by Hajra Waheed, with Peter Cole

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 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 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 across ports from Durban to Oakland, Sydney to London, Chattogram, Jaffa and beyond; understanding the 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.

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, 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.  The  series traces histories of transnational maritime organising 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, including the 3 October General Public Assembly hosted at CAP (Circolo Autorità Portuale), Genova in preparation for the 30 October International Day of Action of Dockworkers and Port Workers, possibly the largest international port action recorded in history.

HUM III (2026) at Scalone Dogale, Palazzo Ducale, Genova

For over a thousand years, the Port of Genova, Italy’s busiest, has been a key logistics corridor linking Southern and Central Europe to the Mediterranean world and beyond. From the 11th century until 1797, Genova was the centre of a powerful maritime republic whose fleets controlled key Mediterranean routes and trade networks; the city became known as La Superba—“the Superb One.” Its fleet and Saint George’s flag were so feared across the Mediterranean that, according to longstanding tradition, England sought permission to fly the Genoese flag on its ships in order to benefit from its protection. A later tradition claims that the English monarchy paid an annual tax for this privilege. The red cross represents St George, patron saint of Genova, a longstanding symbol of courage, protection, and the city’s maritime power.

Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, the public square at the foot of Palazzo Ducale, has long been a site of political mobilisation and labour struggle, including repeated actions by Genova’s dockworkers. Installed on the staircase descending from the historic emblem of St George and into the public square, HUM III brings histories of collective resistance into relation with Genova’s own histories of maritime power, organised labour, and collective struggle.

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 internationally, including at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (2026); 36th São Paulo Biennial (2025); 15th Shanghai Biennial (2025); Fragmentos, Bogotá (2025); Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2024); Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi (2024); Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2023); Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2023); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2021); Portikus, Frankfurt (2020); Lahore Biennial 02 (2020); 57th Venice Biennale (2017); and 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016). She holds a BFA, an MA in Cultural Studies and 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 Montreal 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 recently curated (2025-26) the show Material for an Exhibition: Stories, Memories and Struggles from Palestine and the Mediterranean at Fondazione Brescia Musei. Her projects have been presented in numerous international institutions: documenta, La Biennale di Venezia, Manifesta, de Appel Amsterdam, Centro Pecci, Fondazione Brescia Musei, RomaEuropa Festival, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Museo delle Civiltà, Istituto Svizzero di Roma, MANN, Museo Nazionale Romano, Real Academia de España en Roma, La Virreina Centre de l’Image, Short Theatre Festival. 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.

Public program, 19 – 20 september 2026

HUM III: From Port to Port, A Sonic Convening

Public Program co-organized by Hajra Waheed and Sara Alberani

Palazzo Ducale
Armoury

19 September 2026, ore 10.00