A personal, almost secretive act, humming is performed for our own selves in our individual space, consciously or involuntarily, often without intending to project the sound to the outside world. It is a device to look inwards, to reflect on memories and feelings we cannot describe or illustrate in words. Humming is nostalgia, innocence, and lack of clarity rolled into one medium: the secret sound of uncertainty.

In Humming in Abandoned Places, set within and around Germany’s first pulmonary hospital, a scattered group of people performs dissonant humming. Yassin selected the abandoned and crumbling complex in Autumn 2020 not only to capture the relentless passing of time, but also to allude to a dark, apocalyptic future.

Our current situation is depicted through acts of doubt: disconnection between people, the forced inwardness of isolation, and the fear of others are phenomena that betray our natural instincts as individual humans, making us withdraw from togetherness in the world. This series of performances, casting the dilapidated spaces as silent witnesses, thus acts as a eulogy for our time.

Beyond our situation, though, the work is a testament to a collective act that grows spontaneously and organically, thus somehow restoring faith in human unity. Each performer begins with an individually hummed melody that subsequently spreads to the others, blending into one unified, synchronous melody. In perhaps a more positive take on the idea of an echo chamber, the work proposes a moment of soothing, subtly celebrating the quiet power to unite.