theatercombinat | 31th october - 5th november 2016 thoughts meet space cairo in vienna – research and installation by claudia bosse | 4th november 2016 confronting documents. confronting history installation with live performance |5th november 2016 confronting pratice lab presentation, in the framework of"out of b/order", tanzquartier vienna (a).

sprache/language: deutsch/english

dossier thoughts meet space cairo

part of the cycle: (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise

used material from the collection: some democratic fictions

thoughts meet space cairo in vienna is a laboratory and a walk-in installation as a continuation of the same-named installation that was taking place in cairo at hotel viennoise in january 2015. the starting point were research trips of the artist and choreographer claudia bosse with the sound artist günther auer in october 2011 and january/february 2015 in cairo and alexandria. during these trips they were conducting interviews on the subjects concepts of freedom and democracy, legal forms, ways of living which became part of the interview collection some democratic fictions.

in the one-week research confronting documents. confronting history claudia bosse and günther auer develop multimedia setting with video and audio documents from egypt. in the second week the artists interviewed in cairo – video artist kaya behkalam, theatre maker and cultural manager abdalla daif and the artist huda lutfi – will work in and with this generated installative setting and present their their today's view on the same questions confronting themselves in a live performance with the video documents from the past.

in the performative installation confronting documents. confronting history the interviews from 2011 and 2015 will collide in different media interconnections and with the current positions of same of the formerly interviewed cairo based artists kaya behkalam, abdalla daif and huda lutfi.
it is about a confrontation of interview documents from 2011 and 2015, of historic documents as individual interviews with different visions and experiences by several people in the aftermath of the egyptian revolution; and of interviews that were recorded after the coup of general al-sisi who established a new regime in egypt. the juxtaposition of these materials from different times breaks open the changed perspectives, political developments, relations, estimations, disappointments. the juxtaposition of thoughts spoken out in a live situation in a dialogue with the documented material by themselves (kaya behkalem, abdalla daif, huda lutfi) as a additional layer enables a leap in time in its mutual interrogation of document and present. an attempt of an examination, of reflection, of actualisation and relocation of history and its description. through the artistic approach on the documentary material a space of present time evolves which is confronting the invitees with themselves and the changed perception of political systems and at the same time, confronting ourselves with the recent time. opening of the installation with the live positions on november 4th.

in the second research week – confronting practice – the cairo based artists will reflect together with the vienna based artist helmut weber and claudia bosse on the impacts and involvement of their own practice in different geopolitical contexts, colonial suspicions, failed projects, consequences for their own artistic practice and the changes due to shifting political constellations and economies. questions of censorship, responsibility and (political) aesthetics and societal effectiveness. a comparison and a confrontation of working methods and strategies in using global and local relations from or in which one is producing – with, in, without oder against them. the artistic research lab will be opened for the audience on november 5th and present the insights and agencies of the research week as well as the raised questions. in a second step the single practices of the individual artists from cairo and vienna will be introduced in confronting practice and discussed together.

thoughts meet space cairo in vienna
by claudia bosse, in collaboration with günther auer and the invitees: kaya behkalam, abdalla daif, huda lutfi, helmut weber (bitter / weber, urban subjects) and christina linortner.
a production by theatercombinat, supported by change of scene, a programme by robert bosch foundation, in cooperation with international theatre institute and wien kultur. the research in vienna is supported by tanzquartier vienna.

confronting documents. confronting history
concept: claudia bosse, with media support by günther auer. with documents from the collection some democratic fictions from cairo and alexandria 2011 and 2015 and the live participation of kaya behkalam, adalla daif and huda lutfi.

confronting pratice
with: kaya behkalam, claudia bosse, abdalla daif, huda lutfi, helmut weber (bitter / weber, urban subjects)

confronting documents. confronting history
4th november 2016, 9pm
installative setting, a confrontation of documents and material from 2011 and 2015 of the project thoughts meet space cairo with live performance.

confronting pratice
5th november 2016, 2pm
lab presentation, afterwards individual presentations of the artists involved and discussion

location:
tanzquartier wien, studios,
museumsplatz 1, 1070 vienna

free admission!

interviewed persons in cairo 2015 ragheb abushahba, ahmed al attar, khaled ali, samaher alkadi, doa aly, shayma aziz, kaya behkalam, abdalla daif, ezz darwiesh, shady elnoshokaty, ismail fayed, paul geday, amira hanafi, amanda kerdahi, huda lutfi, moataz nasr, sadek neaimi, deborah stokes, william wells, stefan winkler, salam yousry und cairo 2011 hana al bayati, hamdy alhussini, edin hassan bahey, dalia basouny, adham hafez, cornelia kaufmann, thomas nader, sadek naemi, omar nagati, moataz nasr, hany temraz, william wells, salem yousry

thank you for your thoughts!

VERSIONS OF PUBLISHING THE SOME DEMOCRATIC FICTIONS MATERIAL AS TEMPORARY ARCHIVE UNTIL NOW:
after the use of the american interviews in the installation dominant powers – landscapes of unease (may 2011 in and outside the cartographic institute, vienna), some egyptian interviews became a part of the performance dominant powers. what is to be done then? in vienna and tunis, as well as in zagreb museum of contemporary art accompanied and intermingled with the installation biographical landscapes of new zagreb. this installation explored the concrete urban environment of new zagreb with the help of some residents, their memories and the conditions of their lives. the interviews of the local participants where encountered in the space of the museum with some other produced earlier in egypt. in february 2012 the archive was partially used in the public space installation and performance burning beasts in frankfurt. for this project in the displaced car bodies inside the city centre audio interview material of the archive was implemented together with sounds of music and descriptive reconstruction of media pictures representing failure of political orders. thoughts meet space in may/june 2013 was an installation in 18 different spaces where the interviews were confronted with media scenarios of spelling reality. here, for the first time, the majority of the archive material became part of this artistic operation called “thoughts meet space”, as a virtual space of three-dimensional thought presented in the old customs canteen in vienna accompanied by 2 performances in relation to the installation as a coproduction with tanzquartier vienna. all this material, including the interviews produced in athens is part of the overall project (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise. in april 2014 what about catastrophes? premiered in tanzquartier vienna. in september 2014 in dusseldorf was the world premiere of catastrophic paradise in coproduction with FFT dusseldorf in the framework of the series "DECOLONIZE! performative strategies for a (post)colonial age". in this context took place the symposium politics of paradise and catastrophes. thoughts meet space athens in october was a site-specific multimedia installation at Bhive in athens, turning the neoclassical villa into a talking house, speaking with voices of the transnational archive of thoughts. the installation thoughts meet space cairo presented at hotel viennoise the nomadic archive. for the second time interviews had been conducted in cairo after 2011. the installation was accompanied by a 5 day event called reflection zone that functions as a discoursive and performative salon with contributions of artists and theoreticians based in cairo. in april / may 2015, at the donaufestival in krems the performance and installation a first step to IDEAL PARADISE created a workroom about rituals and political thought. this work was the first sketch for the series IDEAL PARADISE that is the final of the overall project (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise. in the last production of this series, the last IDEAL PARADISE, parts of the interview collection were confronted as video projections and audio stations with the material of the series IDEAL PARADISE.

chronology of research travels and interviews new york – january/february 2011 / cairo - october 2011 / alexandria - october 2011 / tunis - january 2012 / frankfurt - february 2012 / tel aviv - may 2012 / jerusalem - may 2012 / brussels (matonge) april 2013 / beirut october 2013 / athens october 2014 / cairo january/february 2015

(katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise is the fourth part of the series of "political hybrids" (performances developed since 2010 in vienna, dusseldorf, new york, tunis and zagreb), which will generate various artistic formats - performances, choreographies and theatre works as well as installations, interventions, lectures, workshops and an academy / conference until the end of 2015.