Based between Morocco and Italy, Wissal Houbabi is a spoken‑word performer, writer, multidisciplinary artist and artistic director of Spore — a festival dedicated to diasporic experiences approached non‑conventionally — and a long‑time practitioner of hip‑hop. She is also the founder of the Hip‑Hop Research Centre in Bologna. For the past decade her work has treated poetry as a tool for apprehending contemporary life: media, propaganda and new communicative codes. Her research explores the ties between coloniality, institutional languages and orality, as well as the relationships between vocal sonorities, social stigma and common sense. She is currently preparing SAWT, a creation devoted to the Aïta tradition, supported by FONDO — a network for emerging creativity coordinated by Santarcangelo dei Teatri.