Dog Days Lebanon (working title; 2017 ongoing) refers to the hottest days between the concrete and cars and the culmination of discussions and observations - in metaphors about visible and invisible demarcation lines in the city, still inhabited by the past.
The foto/film/sound and text collage “El sama bi Bayroute helweh - Der Himmel ist schön über Beirut” was part of the Long Night of Worldreligions at Thalia Thater in Hamburg in January featuring the cities Beirut, Hamburg and New York - whileas I focused on the city as a texture, invisible demarcations and figures representing tensions I compare to plate tectonics in the fabric of the city Beirut. In Geology the relative motion determines the type of boundary where the plates meet: convergent, divergent or transform. Earthquakes and vulcanic activities are consequences. In Beirut the eruptions are of a different quality.
The photos interrogate the potencial. Yet where friction is, warmth occur.
To allow a polyphonic approach I included voices of friends and encounters about their own perception of the city. The textlayer was read by actors on the stage - with the cathartic mesmerizing Soundcontribution that encompasses what the city is too despite the pockets of tension: Energy! The great Departed - Old Copper | Khaled Soubeih; Metro Al Madina & Al-Rahel Al-Kabir, Beirut 2016
