In 2011, the New Museum presented the launch of Fatima Al Qadiri’s new EP Genre-Specific Xperience, a performance event organized by Rhizome as part of the New Silent series. For this event Al Qadiri, a New York-based Kuwaiti artist and musician, showcased five pieces of music that reinterpreted five sub-genres of dance music: Juke, Hip Hop, Dubstep, Electro-Tropicalia, and early-’90s Gregorian trance. Al Qadiri collaborated with six artists to create original music videos—Kamau Patton, Tabor Robak, Thunder Horse, Sophia Al-Maria, Ryan Trecartin and Rhett LaRue. On the evening of October 21, the videos premiered, and Al Qadiri discussed the process and ideas around GSX with Patton.

The New Silent was a series of programs, presented by the New Museum and organized by its affiliate organization Rhizome, that explored contemporary art engaged with emerging technology and examined the ways digital technologies alter our lives and experiences of urban spaces. The series comprised screenings and performances, as well as a critical conversational strand, which brought together leading scholars, artists, critics, and public figures to illuminate the complex interactions between technology, culture, and creative practice. Named for the generational theories of Neil Howe and William Strauss, the New Silent presented artists working at the furthest reaches of technological experimentation as well as those responding to the broader aesthetic and political implications of new tools and media.