Riace Project – A Theatre Performance
Migrants’ narratives as artistic affirmation of our human dignity and a call for political awareness
More rehearsal pictures. A larger group and a deeper narrative
We are still open for more participants.
No artistic background required
Musicians, poets and dance performers very welcome as well
Contact: info@ondaitaliana.org
Riace Project – A Theatre Performance
Migrants’ narratives as artistic affirmation of our human dignity and a call for political awareness
Pictures from our first meeting and rehearsal
A great beginning and a journey of artistic and political awareness
We are still open for more participants. Women participants especially welcome 🙂
No artistic background required
Musicians, poets and dance performers very welcome as well 🙂
Contact: info@ondaitaliana.org
Riace Project – A Performance
Migrants’ narratives as artistic affirmation of our human dignity and a call for political awareness
A project by AstaroTheatro
Artwork kindly by Visual Artist Golrokh Nafisi
We need to go beyond the banality of borders. Borders do not create anything. Borders destroy. What we want is creation, because creating is life itself. It is as fundamental as the air we breathe.
Migration is as old as mankind. Today, however, the migration has been politicised. The guardians of the borders have turned migration into a tool used to spread hate, intolerance, dissociation, social unrest and insecurity. It’s an increasingly effective way to divide people. More than the good old ‘divide et impera,’ the current form of migration is used to separating people socially and humanly.
To understand this dangerous political agenda is to see how it undermines our politics, and our humanity.
We’ve chosen to name our project Riace so as to pay homage to the Southern Italian’s town homonymous ‘Riace Model.’ That model refers to how this small town became a safe haven for hundreds of migrants by promoting an integrated way of life and sustainable coexistence with the local population.
We believe the arts need to engage society; they need to represent today’s turmoil. Moreover, we acknowledge the cathartic function of the arts, and we are aware of arts’ potential as a means of raising awareness. Words, sounds, images need to transcend the fixity of our everyday and provoke the audience into rising above the level of the given to that of the possible. Through this process, the uselessness of borders is made evident, giving way to the human necessity found in peaceful coexistence.
To this end we come together as migrants, political refugees and locals in order to create a performance: an act of theatre, poetry, music, performance art, choreography. And an act of activism, of human and political togetherness. Although most of the participants are not professional artists, their performance will be one of artistic character, containing human and political meaning. Although similar works are regularly performed in other countries, projects such as this one are seldom seen in the Netherlands. Hence our artistic intervention. It’s time to stop seeing the migrant as ‘problematic’ or ‘troublesome.’ It’s time to go beyond the politics of social segregation as mass distraction.
Our performance seeks to transcend the political pitfalls of discrimination and hate peculiar to our present and confused world. We want our performance to be a safe haven, a place where diversity is richness and discrimination can only vanish. Our performance is our Riace.
Be welcome!
(AstaroTheatro will be dedicated to develop and rehearse this performance in the months of January, February, March and April 2019. Performances are expected from May onwards in various venues. Fell free to contact us for information, support and collaboration)
Memories of AstaroTheatro 2018
‘Urgent Rebellion’
‘Agora of Resistance’
‘Marx is Back’
Long Duration Performance ‘The Sound of Souls’ ‘Grains’
‘The Volcanoes’
Pictures by Tatjana Todorovic
Memories of AstaroTheatro 2018
‘On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco’
Pictures by Cenk Dövyap
Revenir
81 mins/2018
a film by David Fedele and Kumut Imesh
Special Event: Screening and Q&A
Both David and Kumut are present during the screening and are available for Q&A
Saturday 15 December, 20:30
AstaroTheatro
Sint Jansstraat 37 Amsterdam
A controversial film experiment, a courageous journey and a unique collaboration between filmmaker and refugee; which is not without consequences.
For years, the stories of West African migrants and refugees have been told through the lenses of foreign journalists. Now there is a story from the inside.
Part road-trip, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, REVENIR (2018, 81mins) follows Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast now living in France, as he returns to the African continent and attempts to retrace the same journey that he himself took when forced to flee civil war in his country … But this time with a camera in his hand.
Traveling alone, Kumut will be documenting his own journey; both as the main protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it, revealing the human struggle for freedom and dignity on one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world.
Facebook Event
Entrance by Donation
(note: all donations will be used to reimburse the travel expenses of Kumut and David)
Marx is Back (a Play on History)
Sunday 25 November, 21:00
International Institute for Research and Education
Lombokstraat 40 Amsterdam
“Why have I returned? to clear my name!”
AstaroTheatro presents a monologue by Howard Zinn adapted and performed by Roberto Bacchilega at IIRE during the annual International Youth School.
Karl Marx has had enough of seeing his revolution taken over by opportunists organizing each time a new priesthood and a new hierarchy, with excommunications and indexes, with inquisitions and firing squads. He is disgusted by media declaring him dead again and again. Karl Marx is back to remind us that his ideas are more alive than ever. He revisits memories of his courageous life and revolutionary theories. We learn about his family, his struggles and the boils on his arse.
Entrance by Donation
AstaroTheatro
Omnia Sunt Communia
AstaroTheatro is an independent, non-mainstream open space for theatre, arts, and activism. A place to meet people for real and to share. AstaroTheatro aims at creating community and awareness
Revenir
81 mins/2018
a film by David Fedele and Kumut Imesh
Special Event: Screening and Q&A
Both David and Kumut are present during the screening and are available for Q&A
Saturday 15 December, 20:30
AstaroTheatro
Sint Jansstraat 37 Amsterdam
A controversial film experiment, a courageous journey and a unique collaboration between filmmaker and refugee; which is not without consequences.
For years, the stories of West African migrants and refugees have been told through the lenses of foreign journalists. Now there is a story from the inside.
Part road-trip, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, REVENIR (2018, 81mins) follows Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast now living in France, as he returns to the African continent and attempts to retrace the same journey that he himself took when forced to flee civil war in his country … But this time with a camera in his hand.
Traveling alone, Kumut will be documenting his own journey; both as the main protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it, revealing the human struggle for freedom and dignity on one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world.
Entrance by Donation
(note: all donations will be used to reimburse the travel expenses of Kumut and David)
