Nicolás Jaar is a Chilean electronic music producer, composer, and recording artist who has gained critical acclaim for his innovative tracks. Jaar's work is characterized by its unique blend of minimal techno, ambient sounds, and experimental electronic elements, which often incorporate field recordings, piano compositions, and unconventional rhythms that create atmospheric and deeply textured sonic landscapes. Debuting with the release of his 2011 album Space Is Only Noise, Jaar has since established himself as an electronic music pioneer. He is the son of Chilean conceptual artist Alfredo Jaar, whose ancestry can be traced back to Bethlehem in Palestine, and who has been outspoken in favor of international solidarity with the Palestinian cause and popular protest.
Nicolás Jaar at Dar Jacir (Photo by Emily Jacir)
Jaar’s sounds emit like sonic sculptures, in uneven and unexpected syncopations that emanate from non-traditional instruments. Influences from his own heritage and surroundings infiltrate, mix within, and share an auditory space of eclectic composition. His albums’ cover art often constitutes an artwork of its own, as is the case of his 2016 vinyl record Sirens. Initially a silver-coated record wrapped in a plastic sleeve, the package also contains a US quarter—the purpose of which is to scratch away at the silver coating to reveal an image. The resulting photograph depicts New York City’s Times Square, and is itself titled A Logo For America (1987). The work, snapped by Jaar’s father, extends a critique of US imperialism and its policy towards Latin America.
In addition to his solo work, Jaar is one half of Darkside, a long-standing collaborative project with multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington. The duo’s releases—Psychic (2013) and Spiral (2021)—explore a rich, slow-burning terrain where psychedelic improvisation, analog electronics, and meditative repetition intertwine. In contrast to his more experimental solo compositions, Darkside offers a communal, atmospheric experience built around live interaction and expanded instrumentation.
In 2025, during a Darkside set at Coachella, Jaar used the platform to address the genocide in Gaza. “It is a tragedy of our time that speaking against genocide is controversial,” he said. “We stand with Palestine.” His remarks were widely circulated, reaffirming Jaar’s long standing engagement with social and political issues through music and public presence.
Nicolás Jaar \ Space is Only Noise, 2011 and Nicolás Jaar \ Cenizas, 2020 (album covers)
Nicolás Jaar advances his father’s decolonial critique of the United States in his own way, highlighting a contemporary aspect of his approach: a deeper connection to personal family heritage. The Jaar family emigrated to Chile during the 1920s and has since kept Palestinian traditions and recipes alive. More particularly, Nicolás Jaar has actively maintained a relationship with the Palestinian music scene. In 2016, in what he called a “highlight of his life,” Jaar performed Sirens live in Ramallah, in addition to playing at the Palestinian-owned club Kabareet in Haifa—cultivating togetherness through soundwaves and responding to the emergent need for release.
Nicholás Jaar at Dar Jacir (Photo by Emily Jacir)
In 2019, Jaar was one of the artists-in-residence at Dar Jacir, a 19th-century Bethlehem home that serves as a space for residents to engage with the region’s contemporary conditions through research, education, and artistic production. Founded by acclaimed artist Emily Jacir, Dar Jacir operates as a vital space for cultural and political work in Bethlehem. Jacir, known for her internationally exhibited projects exploring Palestinian history, exile, and return, has received numerous awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale.
Jaar transformed a storage space within the building into a sound studio, where he began creating site-specific pieces and leading workshops focused on sonic practices. His residency quickly grew into a longer-term engagement: for six years and counting, Jaar has remained part of the Dar Jacir team, facilitating artist residencies and educational programs rooted in sound, memory, and transnational solidarity.
Dar Jacir Art Center damaged after Israeli raid
Dar Jacir’s programming has maintained strong ties with Latin America—especially Chile, which hosts the largest population of the Palestinian diaspora outside the Arab world. Half a million descendants of Palestinians from Bethlehem live in Santiago de Chile, a community whose emigration began in the late 19th century as an effort to avoid Ottoman conscription. These migrations intensified after the Nakba and Naksa, as families followed earlier emigrants and sought stability in established communities abroad. The surname “Jaar” originates from the Bethlehem region, which warmly invited the artist to reclaim his roots up close and on-site.
Jaar’s contribution to Chapter II of Falastin, Collecteurs’ multi-part digital exhibition chronicling resistance, loss, and cultural survival in Palestine, reflects his deep connection to both land and community. Titled Crack in the Sky, the chapter also included a contribution by Emily Jacir, bringing the ongoing collaboration between the two artists into a shared curatorial space. Jaar’s sonic work—shaped by years of engagement with Palestinian artists, audiences, and institutions—resonates not only as an act of solidarity, but as part of a larger cultural infrastructure of care and refusal.
Jaar’s activism and connection to the realities on Palestinian ground have only strengthened with time. In 2020, he appeared on a live broadcast with artists such as Mykki Blanco for an 80-hour protest against Israel’s planned annexation of the West Bank. The following year, he recorded “One Sound for Palestine” for the Sonic Liberation Front. In 2024, he contributed a track to Enough!, a compilation based in Amman and initiated by DJ Mayss to raise funds for Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah’s Children’s Fund.
Sound Workshop with Nicolás Jaar in residency at Dar Jacir
