Open Minded Body
Choreographer Alice Ripoll will further accompany Moroccan dancer and choreographer Mehdi Dahkan as he develops the solo piece KMs of Resistance, which explores the act of celebrating as a form of protest and resistance. Ripoll said: “In the era of virtual encounters, face-to-face encounters cry out for spaces. Dance can remind us that we are made of flesh, we have texture, smell, temperature, a muscle that pulsates in the chest, and the overwhelming flow of air that tirelessly enters and leaves our lungs. Breathing, that connects us erotically, unceremoniously passing from our mouths and noses to those of others, is the key brought by my mentee Mehdi Dahkan to approach a unique experience of communion and togetherness through dance.”
A Place Beyond Fear
Documentary filmmaker Tomer Heymann will continue to work with filmmaker Hao Zhou, who hails from southwest China, on his film Correct me if I’m Wrong. Heymann said: “Each of my nominees has a fascinating project full of potential, and presented unique storytelling skills. In Zhou’s project, I discovered a deep personal story with a unique point of view intertwined with high-quality cinematic aesthetics. Zhou has the courage to investigate unfamiliar places of family and gender identity without fear or judgment. Zhou’s materials reveal his challenging confrontation, both as a director and protagonist, with his family traumas and tensions in a fearless way, indicating a promising visionary director. It will be my pleasure to advise Zhou in the next steps of his project.”
Images Invisible to Our Naked Eye
Photographer Lieko Shiga will continue to work with Amsterdam-based artist and filmmaker Mei Liu on her multimedia project Homesick for Another World, a speculative screenplay which explores the impact of involuntary confinement on the psyches of fictional characters. In a meditative and hypnotic image-based journey, the project will convey an embodied experience about confinement and emancipation while tapping into other dimensions. Lieko Shiga said: “Essentially, Mei Liu is trying to convey what is happening in this world according to her beliefs and using all manners and methods of media production to tell us about the touch of our spirit’s essential freedom. I believe that we, the audience, are being asked what we think through Mei’s expressions.”
Expanding Your Voice
Composer and performer Ute Wassermann will further accompany Paris-based Chilean artist Camil Navarro’s project Ecological Assemblage. Wassermann said: “I am delighted to have had the opportunity to work with all three nominees, all of whom have very different perspectives on the relationships their voices can form with our world today. Inés Terra’s Vocal Self-Portrait thrilled the audience with her many-facetted voice and its various representations. With H(er)istory, Sha Sha Chen demonstrated courage and perseverance and an outstanding talent for composing electronic sounds and their use in a visually compelling live performance. They also demonstrated a natural and extraordinary stage presence. I was moved by Camil Navarros’ research into an environmental disaster for their project. With their intense somatic performance, they explored how an absent ecological entity can be present in one‘s perception. This approach makes me very curious, which I see as a good prerequisite for mentoring. I look forward to working with Camil and to exploring the complexity of their work.”
Paradoxical Imaginings: Ideas and Objects
Designer Fiona Raby will accompany Germany and Iceland-based designer Johanna Seelemann on her exploration of transformative approaches to farming in the project De agri cultura. Raby said: “We entered into the rigorously researched worlds of three very talented design storytellers—Justin Bean confronting the HyperObject of climate change with humor, satire and poignancy. Mali Weil using poetic rituals to imagine interspecies diplomacy through new laws and institutional structures. And Johanna Seelemann drawing our attention to the microscopic and the microbial processes of digestion essential for ecological health. Of course I want to work with them all! But Johanna’s focus on material transformations from her Industrial Design training is unusual. Given this particular pocket of time for experimentation within this very specific context of Forecast, it’s an opportunity to go deeper into the role of objects, storytelling, and speculative thought, raising questions around nonhuman worlds and addressing the paradox of an unknowable living ecology within the inert materiality of design.”
Shapes of the Unknown
Artist Theo Eshetu will further accompany Vietnamese theatermaker Trà Nguyễn on the development of her piece Mother doesn’t know Mnemosyne. Eshetu said: “The three nominees all lived up to the challenge of using multiple media to explore and express aspects of their inner life. Léllé Demertzi brilliantly revived a Dionysian ritual that she witnessed as a child in Greece to restaged it for video which she filmed in a barren landscape that had been devastated by wildfires. Mudassir Sheikh used his experiences in Germany as a stepping stone to make a multi-level analyse of the rites and rituals from his home town in Pakistan and the cultural inputs he was absorbing while living in Weimar. Trà Nguyễn dug deeply into childhood memories to develop a powerfully emotional work that relied on stillness and repetition to convey its strength. She revealed introspection with a rare sense of self confidence that made me believe she might be the one who could benefit most from the exchange that Forecast offers. I look forward to supporting and guiding her development in the next phase of the program and expect more surprises from her as we move forward.”
