Borrowed Light

Yara Mekawei and Amir Rezk

The moon captured during Yara Mekawei and Amir Rezk’s listening session, Moon Meat Lyrical (2026). Foto: Qu Chang – Nachthimmel mit Wolken und Vollmond hinter Bäumen, der schwaches Licht durch die Wolken hindurchscheinen lässt.

Do you not know that the body is a garment given to you for a season? Put on the light of the mind, so that the body itself may cease to be a burden and become a living song. When the spirit is illuminated, the flesh glows like a lamp in the night. 

—Yara Mekawei and Amir Rezk, inspired by writings of the Desert Fathers 

Borrowed Light is an electroacoustic composition by Yara Mekawei and Amir Rezk that explores the ontological bond between human flesh and lunar cycles. The sonic performance weaves a layered landscape of sound: deep, earthy bass and organic drums capture the weight of the physical body, while drifting guitar and textured electronics rise like shimmering moonlight. Woven throughout the piece is a spoken voice reciting Coptic liturgical texts such as the midnight praises (Tasbeha), drawing on a living Egyptian heritage to understand the moon as a celestial restorer of earthly flesh. By translating early conceptions of cosmological interconnectedness into an immersive contemporary soundscape, Mekawei and Rezk present an evolving sonic experience that functions as a typological blueprint of the nocturnal realm. Here the night is understood not as an empty expanse, but as a sacred ecosystem, a site of cyclical transfiguration and gathered memories.

Next date:

• Date Friday, 30/October/2026 21:00
• Venue Haus der Kulturen der Welt
• Address John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin-Tiergarten