Resilience and Remembrance - Mey Seifan / Tanween company & slowfuture

In the organizer's words:

In addition to the stage program, works by the artists Heba Y. Amin, Maeve Brennan and Mey Seifan / Tanween company & slowfuture. In their works, the artists reflect diverse perspectives on political and social issues associated with flight and homeland. They explore the effects of geopolitical changes on an individual and collective level as well as the personal stories and emotions that accompany them. "Operation Sunken Sea" (2018 - ongoing) by Heba Y. Amin is a multifaceted research project that responds to the current political uncertainty in Europe, the unrest and collapse of nation states in the Middle East and the neoliberal failure of globalization in Africa. Heba Y. Amin examines the transformation of territorial constructs, their impact on new geopolitical alliances and global politics. "Operation Sunken Sea" imitates the language of fascist regimes and encourages the creation of a new vision for Africa and the Middle East. It draws attention to what could be achieved by and for those who have been most affected by the wars for oil, resources and power over the last 100 years. The sculpture "Visions of the Sea I" (2018) and the photograph "The Master's Tools I (Restaging of Herman Soergal's Portrait)" (2018) from the project will be presented as part of "Patterns for Life". "The Embroiderers" (2016) by Maeve Brennan documents the stories of six women who work with Palestinian embroidery today: Umm Ibrahim (Amman, Jordan), Wahiba Mohammad Ali Tawafsha (Sinjil, Palestine), Raja Sabri el-Zeer (Salfit, Palestine), Suhair Odeh (Dheisheh Camp, Bethlehem, Palestine), Nawal Mahmoud (Saida, Lebanon) and Maryam Malakha Abu Laban (Amman, Jordan). Through personal accounts, the film recounts the importance of this intimate and deeply political craft and shows how it gives shape to notions of Palestinian heritage, history, labor and resistance. The film repeatedly shows Umm Ibrahim's hands turning the pages of a book of Palestinian embroidery patterns. Each set of patterns represents a different city with its own unique colors and motifs, evoking the landscape of Palestine with each stitch.Mey Seifan / Tanween company & slowfuture take on dreams of fledglings in their VR installation "How Am I Here?" (2023) focuses on the dreams of refugees and traumatized people and their feelings about a possible return. Millions of people are displaced by war and forced to leave their homes. "Where is the protective shelter when returning home becomes a nightmare?" asked Mey Seifan in the interviews she conducted for the project. The stories reported by the interviewees emerge in the vacuum between the nightmarish return home and the oppressive reality of exile. The project includes choreographic elements as well as AI-generated material and thus transfers the dreams into virtual reality, in which visitors can immerse themselves in a dream archive. In various virtual rooms, the viewer experiences an audiovisual journey, each room representing themes of recurring dreams.

Heba Y. Amin and Maeve Brennan have unfortunately withdrawn their participation in the festival. Further information here.