»Welcome to Exilistan« Exhibit & »Afghan Memories Studio«

Invitation to the reopening of the »Welcome to Exilistan« exhibition and the launch of the »Afghan Memories Studio«!

»Welcome to Exilistan«

The exhibition was developed jointly by a group of Afghan and Berlin youth who over the time of two months worked on offering alternative views of both Afghanistan and of German asylum policy. By contrasting journalistic interviews with public figures from the realms of politics, law and civil rights with intimate portraits of Afghan refugees in Berlin, »Welcome to Exilistan« questions dominant, one-sided narratives about the country and develops critical counterarguments. Photographic explorations of the asylum process and snapshots of memories round out the youth reporters’ depictions.

On SATURDAY, Dec. 17th (2 – 6pm) the young artists will lead tours through the exhibition to discuss both their work and their memories in more detail.

–

»Afghan Memories Studio«

Afghan Memories is an initiative by an interdisciplinary and multinational team from the fields of film, photography, journalism, human rights and performance based in Berlin, Germany. From December 15th to 28th we invite you to join our team and run a community-based recording studio with us. The studio will be open to Afghan people of all different backgrounds to tell stories from their lives that they want to remember and to share – the hardest and the most beautiful, the simplest and the most extraordinary, stories from the past and from the present.

Anybody can step into the role of an interviewer and invite someone with a story to tell into the studio with them. The conversations will be recorded for the storyteller to take home as a personal memory and to be collected on this platform as a shared archive. With these stories, we want to raise awareness about people’s lived realities and experiences connected to Afghanistan and Exile.

Reserve a day & time at the studio here: www.afghanmemories.org

For questions and comments, please send us an email at:

–

Series of Programs

Friday Dec. 16, 2016 / 7pm
Film Screening: War and Love in Kabul
(Dari, Pashto, English with German Subtitles). Directed by Helga Reidemeister (2009 / 87 Minutes), Introduction by Hewad Laraway.
Hossein and Shaima have loved each other since childhood. As teenagers they were separated by war. They meet again in Kabul in the 1990s. This film describes a love story infringing on societal taboos, the outcome of which is still uncertain. In an environment where war and want have dealt heavy blows on compassion and humanity and the family is the only remaining social bond, the chances of personal happiness are very slim indeed.

Monday Dec. 19, 2016 / 7pm
Discussion: Exploring the history, politics and pluralism of Afghanistan and the possibility for social healing.
Heela Najibullah, peace consultant, researcher, and daughter of former Afghan president Dr. Najibullah, and Dr. Thomas Loy, professor and researcher from the Institute of African and Asian Studies at Humboldt University, will share excerpts from their research and together delve into the complexity of Afghanistan’s story.
Heela Najibullah is the author of the forthcoming book “Reconciliation and Social Healing in Afghanistan”, detailing the socio-political chain of events from the times of the republic to the Soviet takeover of power.
Dr. Loy’s work as researcher and publisher curates documentary narratives from Afghanistan dating back to the 1960s to reveal a country unknown today in its diversity and richness of religious traditions.

Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016 / 7pm
“Portals” and YAAR – A discussion with Omid Habibi and Kava Spartak about strategic concepts merging the arts and community building.
How do we facilitate exchanges between the Afghan diaspora, Western host societies, and Afghan civil society back home?  Shared Studios carves wormholes across the world by connecting people all over through immersive, real time, video chat Portals. Global installations revitalize public spaces – this month, a Portal has landed at Berlin’s Tempelhof refugee center airport hangars.  YAAR works to connect and empower Afghan refugees in Berlin as a Cultural and Community Center offering language classes, cultural programs and counseling, linking people to legal and social services.

The series of programs will be held in Dari, Pashto and Farsi, as well as in German and English. All programs are free of charge.

Visit us on facebook for latest infos!

[postinfo meta_key=’enable_postinfo’ meta_value=’1′ default=’1′ class=’se-dbox’][postinfo meta_key=’enable_venuebox’ meta_value=’1′ default=’1′ id=’venuebox’ class=’se-vbox’]