Gold Fever, Amman observes how belief survives rupture and migrates from oral tradition into digital platforms.
The work emerges from a widespread belief that, as the Ottoman Empire withdrew, gold was buried along the Hijaz Railway to be reclaimed one day. Passed through rumor rather than record, the story persists and fuels illegal digging, even though any discovered treasure would be claimed by the state.
The video is presented through a YouTube interface. When projected, it appears as online content surrounded by suggested thumbnails—placing the myth within a contemporary economy of circulation and repetition. Three men shift attention away from the ground and toward the railway itself, rubbing the rail and concluding that the gold is embedded in the infrastructure.
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Details:
- One-channel video installation
- Dur.: 02:46 min
- 4K uhd | stereo | 16:9
- Main performer: Hassan Abu Jarar
- Performer 2: Khalid Abi Jarar
- Performer 3: Muhammad Reziq
- Comm. by: HKW, Berlin, DE