After their six month fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude, the fellows in the field of performing arts Desiré Davids, Dorine Mokha, Thami Manekehla & Marwen Abouda presented their new piece NO THERE YES MAYBE HERE at Nord, the off-site space of the Schauspiel Stuttgart, on Nov 14, 2014. The show explored the (national) boundaries and possibilities of mobility. What does this mean for their work as freelance artists? Who has the power to allow or deny access? – Read more in the online publication with videos, interviews & pictures.
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VISA derived from lat. visum (videre) that which has been seen
VERB: Provide / Endorse /Approve officially
NOUN: An endorsement made in a passport that allows the bearer to enter the country issuing it
Our everyday lives consist of a maze of rules and regulations, written and unwritten. But who is it that has the power to decide, and what do we accept? As independent international artists, we are dependent on VISAs. Therefore we have an uncomfortable and ambivalent relationship with VISAs. MOVEMENT constitutes our lives as performing artists in a physical and a global sense. Mobility is the ability to move and work freely at any time in any space. Mobility is a means of survival. Who has the power to grant or deny access, not only in terms of mobility, but also in terms of a VISA ‘to be’? By delving into this vital questioning as artists with the means of movement and performance, we are constantly confronted with: issues of information, negotiation, navigation, appropriation, affirmation, validation and economic power. How do we negotiate, navigate and act in and around an overwhelmingly capitalist world? A world, where the lines between private and public have become blurred? A world, where money grants mobility, and mobility grants money and lifestyle?
Text by Desiré Davids, Dorine Mokha, Thami Manekehla
Publication: http://nothereyesmaybehere-publication.com/
