On Your Own Doorstep

What is this woman struggling with? Elmira Ghafoori, looking stiff, stretches her arms and legs. She moves across the stage as if she’s struggling against an invisible force. Behind her, a film is being projected of a person writhing in shackles. A nightmare? "Unruhe" (Unrest) is the name of this second part of the project "Morgen Grauen" (Crack of Dawn). It is Hamburg’s transnational ensemble Hajusom’s guest performance at the symposium "Digitalization as an opportunity for inclusion?", which is part of the boat people project in Göttingen. It is a hybrid event, live on site and streamed at the same time, in which participants discuss whether and how digitization can enable access to cultural events for many people who would otherwise have no chance to participate.

Of course, there was a focus on technology: a musician from the boat people project and a singer who lives in Stockholm demonstrated how to make music together in virtual space, live and without delays. In addition, the possibility of using online projects to strengthen international cooperation and democratize art were discussed. Is the internet now another stage that should, without fail, continue to be used, even after corona? Or was it a stopgap solution that artists will be only too happy to leave behind should pandemic-related restrictions fall? There was definitely disagreement about this. There was agreement, however, that the network and its tools break down barriers when it comes to transnational co-productions and their costs.

The symposium was just one of the visible results of the project "Solidarische Landschaften" (Landscapes of Solidarity), for which the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr in Mülheim is collaborating with the boat people project in Göttingen and the trans-national ensemble Hajusom in Hamburg, and which the Fonds Darstellende Künste is funding through the #TakeNote program. In the joint project, the two theater groups, the majority of whom are non-white but often directed by white Germans, and the production house critically examine this situation. "How can we live in solidarity?" is how Jasmin Maghames from the Ringlokschuppen puts it. "To what extent can the participants be empowered? Or, when does this commitment tend to slow them down? And what does that mean for the organization, the administration?"

The idea of connective solidarity is not new, but has already been tried and tested — within the Post-Heimat network — in which six multilingual ensembles have joined forces to create long-term bilingual art and theater projects. Among them are the Collective Ma'louba, part of the Theater an der Ruhr, which is connected to the Ringlokschuppen via the vier.ruhr network, the boat people project and the Hajusom ensemble. Therefore, the contacts already existed when the three players initiated "Landscapes of Solidarity". The partners are working on different focal points: The boat people project is examining diversity and digitalization, as at the symposium in July. Hajusom is focusing on diversity and language, for example in readings and discussions. And the Ringlokschuppen is concerned with diversity and curating: what does putting a program and artists together in a responsible way mean for a diverse society?

Each area is assigned its own program: In May 2021, the Hajusom Center for Transnational Arts hosted workshops that had to take place online due to corona; a discourse program of workshops, readings, and talks will follow at the end of August. In July, the hybrid symposium took place in Göttingen. And in September, the vier.ruhr network will offer various formats parallel to the Ringlokschuppen's post-migrant young talent festival Hundert Pro, such as workshops on empowerment or diversity-sensitive and discrimination-critical art and cultural work, as well as a panel on curating as an anti-racist practice.

The collaboration doesn’t only consist of an exchange of ideas and guest performances, such as that of the Hajusom Ensemble in Göttingen, but also of joint events. For example, Golschan Hashemi, cultural scientist, lecturer on education critical of racism and anti-Semitism, and freelance artist, led a workshop on how white theater professionals can implement diversity. For BIPoC artists, an empowerment workshop will be offered in parallel.

"These workshops are safe spaces," says Jasmin Maghames of Ringlokschuppen. "I participated in a workshop like this once. It was great not to be alone with your experiences on the cultural scene. Young colleagues are often very insecure. It helps to know that you are not alone in these organizations."

After all, the topic is not new, says Maghames. "But the question of whether we are actually working in a diversity-sensitive way, especially within existing structures, is even more urgent today. What are production conditions actually like? Does everyone have their say here, is everyone seen equally? And who makes the decisions in the end?" Experiences of racism like the one that the actor Ron Iyamu had at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus happen everywhere, because the problem does not lie with individual people, but in the organizations. "Then questions arise such as: does artistic freedom still apply if something is racist? How do we want to discuss such cases? And can we even do that if we don't put our own house in order first?"

So, in this difficult second corona year, the three collaborative partners are carefully feeling their way towards those topics the pandemic has pushed into the background of public perception. These subjects are not only important for transnational groups and theaters, they concern us all: power and organizations, language and mindfulness, and the question of how we want to work together in the future.

Other dates for Landscapes of Solidarity in 2021:

August 27 & 28, Hajusom (Hamburg, Program)
September 23-26, „Kultur der Vielfalt – Chancen des Perspektivwechsels“ (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Program)

In the series "Kunst trotz(t) Krise" (Art despite the Crisis), cultural journalists Elena Philipp and Georg Kasch take a look behind the scenes of funded projects on behalf of the Fonds Darstellende Künste. What is the impact of the Fund's #TakeThat funding as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR program of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media?