Laila Soliman: NO TIME FOR ART 0.3.
Photo: Gunnar Lüsch
October 6th at 8.00 p.m.
In No Time for Art 0.3. a dialogue takes place between two young men, trapped in a system that poses a serious threat to their respective futures. One of the men serves an obligatory military service; whilst his country is in flames and undergoing a dramatic change, the army nevertheless goes on functioning and following military hierarchy; business as usual. The other man is being held in the Egyptian prison due to a wrongful conviction, waiting for the trial to begin anew. His views of the prison and the country along with his obsessive clinging to the life outside the prison cell, are expressed in the letters, smuggled from the prison and placed in the hands of his sister, who performs his part, and the director. Both testimonies bear a surprising resemblance and their intertwinement gives birth to a metanarrative that gives us insight and encourages our own reflection with regard to how we treat imposed systems that allow for neither questions nor changes.
Concept and direction: Laila Soliman, Ahmed El Gendy, Habiba Hegazy, Sherin Hegazy
Based on the testimonies by: Ahmed El Gendy, Habiba Hegazy, Sherif Hegazy
Production, lighting design and video: Ruud Gielens
Special thanks to: Nedjma Hadj
Organization: Mesto žensk
The performance will be followed by a conversation with the artists on the subject of the political dimension in art: how can art be-(come) a political entity and what would that mean in a contemporary (capitalist) society? Where’s the border between political activism and critical art, who determines it and why is it so important in the first place? We will talk about the approaches and the strategies that art could employ to intervene in the contemporary time-space and about the possible consequences and effects of such interventions, also in relation to the change that such interventions bring about for the position of an artist. In other words, how can art intervene in time that is not a time for art?
Conversation conceptualized and hosted by: Lana Zdravković (KITCH)
