2065 BC
Commissioned for the 130th anniversary of the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884, where Africa and the Middle East were partitioned by European and American colonial powers, HaRaKa Platform created a durational conference reenactment performance, utilizing constructed sign language, Egyptian dance gestures, live sound manipulation and video-mapping projections
2065 BC a still from a series of public performances, and video installations
(Right to left, Lamia Gouda, Alaa Abdellateef, Mona Gamil, Fatma Kamal)
Photograph by Nurah Farahat
2065 BC examined the dynamics of power in framing a non-western body. Specifically here African-Arab bodies, of women staging a conference where they announce a reversal of roles. Egypt is set to colonize the UK, Algeria to colonize France, Congo to take over Belgium, through a long list of visceral declarations part conference, part protest.
قام العرض باستكشاف كيف تم تأطير الأجساد الغير غربية وتحديداً الأجساد العربية والافريقية. عن طريق المزج بين الواقع والخيال، يستخدم العرض النصوص الأصلية لمؤتمر 1884 الذي يعتبر لحظة حاسمة في تاريخ الإستعمار والإحتلال الغربي
2065 BC Multimedia conference reenactment performance
Photograph by Ian Douglas
The performance combined live speeches delivered within a faux-conference setting, with prerecorded video performances that trace colonial architecture in Berlin, the city where the original 1884 conference took place. The choreography insisted on density and inaccessibility, echoing the cognitive injustice enacted on African and Middle Eastern bodies by colonial powers, that historically used language to divide and not to unite.
جمع الأداء الخطب الحية التي ألقيت في إطار مؤتمر زائف ، مع عروض فيديو مسجلة مسبقًا تتتبع العمارة الاستعمارية في برلين ، المدينة التي انعقد فيها مؤتمر 1884 الأصلي. أصر تصميم الرقصات على الكثافة والغموض ، مرددًا الظلم المعرفي الذي فرضته القوى الاستعمارية على أجساد الناس في إفريقيا والشرق الأوسط ، هذه القوى الاستعمارية التي استخدمت اللغة تاريخيًا للتقسيم وليس لتوحيد المعارف
2065 BC performed at Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin
Photograph by Rana El Nemr
Choreography and directing: Adham Hafez
Performance by: Lamia Gouda, Mona Gamil, Fatma Kamal, Alaa Abdellateef, Charls Ava, Salma Abdelsalam
Music by: Zuli
Costume research: Redaa Gharib, Lamia Gouda
Costume: Nermine Said
Make-up research and design: Zeinab Khashab / Zozouba Studios
Training: Mona Gamil, Marie Al Fajr
Production management: Seif Abdel Salam, Redaa Ghareeb
Research: Lamia Gouda, Marilena Roussoglou
Sound composition: Zuli, Adham Hafez
Music notation: Nader Hafez
Stage design and equipment: Samir Kordy
3D mapping, videos, and light design: Nurah Farahat
Graphic design: Ahmad Aiyad
Costume making: Mohamed El Sabakhawy, Wafaa Latif, Sobhy El Mohamadi, Nefisa Sayed
Accessories: Redaa Ghareeb, Hala Ghareeb
Choreography notation: Fatma Kamal
Business consulting: Mohamed Hafez
Production: Adham Hafez Company 2014-2015
Coproduction: HAU Hebbel am Ufer
Supported by DorkyPark | Constanza Macras, Dr. Yehia Gouda, and Wessam Abou El Seoud, Zozouba Studios.
“Return to Sender” is funded by the TURN Foundation of the Federal Cultural Foundation