DAI Confluence nr. 4 ~ Essaouira, Morocco. April 17 till 27, 2024

tag: Essaouira

Dear all,

With this bulletin we want to update you on how we are faring in Morocco, where for the duration of the DAI's 4th confluence of this academic year, the small, wind-swept yet warm and welcoming city of Essaouira is the seat of learning for our students, faculty and guests. Teaming with life in a myriad of facets, contemporary Essaouira reflects a long splintered history of exchanges and intersections between creeds, cultures and continents. To bask in the glow of some past and present, celebrated or not yet fully celebrated, multiculturalisms of the African continent, is a blessing, particularly at this current catatonic moment for the world.

As program for study and research, we are outraged by Israel's violent and total destruction of all schools and universities in Gaza: according to the United Nations special rapporteur 625.000 young people are currently deprived of any form of education. We are also deeply concerned about those academic colleagues worldwide, who are speaking truth to power and have consequently been denied access to international platforms for discussion and exchange of knowledge. For example, Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, the recently appointed Glasgow University rector and plastic surgeon was held at the German border and prevented from traveling to Berlin for a conference about Palestine, while Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, an esteemed professor who teaches in the departments of criminology and social work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London, has been arrested. We stand in solidarity with them, as well as with the growing number of rallying students and young artists, who, from Columbia University in the United States to the Venice Biennale in Italy are true agents of change. 

From the art world in Venice back to worlding in Essaouira: the warm and supportive welcome given to the DAI by Kaoutar Chakir of Cultural Centre Dar Souiri Association Essaouira Mogador and by Ghita Rabouli of House of Memory Bayt Dakira fills us with joy. We deeply appreciate their commitment to interfaith dialogue, heritage and cultural exchange (under the protection of Mr. André Azoulay, to whom we extend our heartfelt gratitude). 

We furthermore thank the Institut français d'Essaouira as well as a wide variety of hospitable people at private spaces, most notably Hayat Ennachiri and Jean Gabriel Nucci of Ryad Watier: without their tireless support our landing here would not have been possible. 

Flashback to mid March 2020: hosted in Sidi Bou Said, by our alumna, curator Aziza Harmel, DAI students and tutors were first introduced to the Sufi spiritual traditions of North Africa during the unforgettable Roaming Assembly#27 Force Times Distance - On Labour and its Sonic Ecologies, convened by our then partner sonsbeek20-24 with artistic director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and invited curator Beya Othmani. While we danced till dawn to the rythm of the krakebs, the world woke up, frozen in the nightmare of the global pandemic which brought our confluence in Tunisia to a panic stricken, premature ending.

Fast forward to what Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa calls “Fluid Now”: DAI returns to the Maghreb to pick up some threads. Aziza Harmel travels from Tunis to Essaouira to write a reflection on a collaboration between DAI and LE18 from Marrakech. Laila Hida (LE18 founding member, artist and cultural worker interested in exploring the structures and dynamics underlying systems of representation and belief through the production of images) is the convener of Roaming Assembly#31, our open-to-the-public symposium. On the 23th of April we will listen to, move with, and learn from diverse forms of transmission and languages that can or cannot be understood or apprehended. From the cryptic style of protest poetry of the Ghiwanes to the lament of the Aita singers; words, tones, and ritual spaces serve as transmitters of subtle and encoded messages of a fragmented history:

Roaming Assembly#31 The Seven Colours of the Universe  

With warmth and oceanic greetings from Essaouira, 

Gabriëlle Schleijpen, artistic director / head of program 

 

FROM DAY TO DAY (including the names of all tutors and guests)

DAI Confluence nr.4 ~  April 17 till 27, 2024 ~

The four curriculum components HTDTWT, COOP, The Kitchen and WEAVER are elaborately introduced in our Syllabus 2023-2024 

WEDNESDAY April 17

 

At the core of each confluence is of course, as always,

the amazing input of our entire student body

Today: arrival of the students in Essaouira

*

THURSDAY April 18

Opening lecture by

Nadia Bouras: The Social and Political Fabric of Present-day Morocco, with a specific focus on Essaouira.

WEAVER program of April 18, 2024

*

April 19-20-21

We welcome our theory tutors 

Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, Dr. Ana Teixeira Pinto, Dr.Amit S. RaiDr. Ghalya Saadawi, Dr. Grant Watson and Dr. Hypatia Vourloumis and their guest  Júlia Nueno 

to Essaouira

FRIDAY April 19 

HTDTWT program of April 19, 2024

*

SATURDAY April 20

This morning at 10.15 the HTDTWT tutors

will host Palestine Teach Out#3

HTDTWT program for the rest of April 20, 2024

*

SUNDAY April 21

HTDTWT program of April 21, 2024

*

MONDAY April 22

This Kitchen iteration welcomes Aziza Harmel and Yvon Langué who are to share their improvised responses and reflections on 10 student presentations with the presenters and performers and with the student body at large.  Elisa Giuliano will return to our midst to further engage on a series face to face conversations with 2nd year presenters in preparation of the AEROPONIC ACTS 2024.

KITCHEN program of April 22, 2024 

*

TUESDAY April 23

Today we warmly welcome 

Gilles Aubry, Ghassan El Hakim, Badreddine Haoutar, Laila Hida, Fatima-Zahra LakrissaYvon Langué, Amine Nawny/Cheika Warda and Bouchra Ouizguen (together with Milouda El Maataoui, Kabboura Aït Ben Hmadand Halima Sahmoud). 

They will all be contributing to our OPEN -TO-THE-PUBLIC event

Roaming Assembly#31 ~ The Seven Colors of the Universe

*

 April 24-25-26

We welcome our COOP tutors and their guests

Laila Sit Aboha, Noor Abuarafeh, Lilia Di Bella, Frédérique Bergholtz, Marina ChristodoulidouJurga Daubaraitė, Chiara Figone, Samira Ghoualmia, Hamid El Kanbouhi, Dr.Snejanka Mihaylova, Iman Salem, Dr.Leire Vergara, Dr. Grant Watson and Jonas Žukauskas

to Essaouira.

This year's COOP partnerships are with If I Can't Dance I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution (Amsterdam), Bulegoa z/b (Bilbao), Neringa Forest Architecture (Nida), ARCHIVE (Berlin, Dakar, Milan),  de Appel Amsterdam (Amsterdam).

WEDNESDAY April 24

COOP program 24 April, 2024

*

THURSDAY April 25

 COOP program 25 April, 2024

*

FRIDAY April 26

COOP program 26 April, 2024

*

SATURDAY April 27

Departure ALL

*

DAI crew present In Essaouira:

*artistic director| head of program: Gabriëlle Schleijpen

*education leader HTDTWT: Florian Göttke

*education leader COOP: Nikos Doulos   

*senior production leader Roaming Academy & facilitator technical support to students and tutors: Peter Sattler.

*senior co-ordinator logistics & production Roaming Academy | emergency response certificate holderJacq van der Spek

* hospitality manager Kastė Šeškevičiūtė.

*archive and documentation: Baha Görkem Yalim

*student assistant Foad Alijani (DAI, 2025): photo-documentation on location.

*culinary input by Myriam Taouriri

Back Office (remotely)

* travel agent Monique Hemmink (Hemminkways), *Friends & Family booklets, student pages and more: Ricardo Liong-A-Kong, *web-support, student assistant Anastasia Nefedova (DAI, 2024).* house style and communication design Lauren Alexander & Hanna Rullmann,* bookkeeper Corine van der Wal and *admissions co-ordinator Marika Vandekraats

Students: WHO TO CONTACT; WHEN AND ABOUT WHAT ?

INFORMATION 

Medical assistance & info in  case of an EMERGENCY: dial 150

Overview LOCATIONS: Accommodation/Classes/Venues

Explore Essaouira