Kenda Hmeidan & Sebastian Nübling. Ein Text von Etel Adnan:
To be in a Time of War

Say nothing, do nothing, mark the time, bend down, stand up, reproach yourself, get up, go to the window, make up your mind, return to the chair, get up again, go to the bathroom, close the door.

Like individual gunshots, the first verse of «To be in a Time of War» by Etel Adnan begins. The poet, essayist and visual artist was considered one of the most famous contemporary Arab-American artists of her time. She wrote «To be in a Time of War» in 2003 under the impression of the second Iraq war. Looking through a magnifying glass, she describes her daily routine and records it in her notebook. As the world falls apart, writing becomes a window into a reality in which she is still able to organise things despite the catastrophe. Transforming reality into text becomes a form of resistance against the looming abyss.

Actress Kenda Hmeidan and director Sebastian Nübling began staging the production in 2024 in the catacombs of a Syrian restaurant in Berlin. Now they are resuming their work. Together, they are staging Adnan's text as a coarse, pounding heartbeat in the basement of the Hirscheneck.

Duration: ca. 60 Minuten

Venue: Hirscheneck
 

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