In quest of our Cities in the world
Reading of texts written by Doha Hassan, Golan Hajj, Jamal Shahid, Jumana al-Yasiri, Rasha Omran, Orwa Al Mokdad
Moderator: Hasan Daoud
In light of the Syrian artists' dispersion around the world, it seems that their relationship with their Syrian cities, which they left or decided to stay in, remains fundamental and substantial, though it has moved into other levels of pain, hope, loss, anger, orphanhood and rootlessness.
Over the past seven years, the Syrians have settled in new cities and started a journey in search of their old cities. They settled in new houses for short periods, walked on new sidewalks, re-discovered old sidewalks and redefined them in the context of new cities and towns. They tried to devise their own Daraa, Homs, Lattakia, Musayaf, Damascus and Deir Al-Zour. They created new maps and rediscovered their cities between Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris and other cities.
What is the image of the new city? How do Syrian cities manifest in the daily lives of exiled Syrians? What remains of the memory of places? How can we re-invent what we have lost? What is the nature of relationship with the new cities? How has the relationship with Syrian cities changed today for those who still live there?
This session is an invitation to six artists and writers to provide honest testimonies about the cities and to discuss the political, social, and artistic changes in an artistic form followed by an open discussion with the public.
The testimonies will be published later in Arabic and English on Ettijahat-Independent Culture website.
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