DAI Confluence nr. 1 ~ PAF (St. Erme). November 22 till 29, 2023

tag: St.Erme

Alaa Abu Asad ~ Wild Plants of Palestine, Photoessay, 2018, ed. of 25, riso print, 20 X 14.5 cm

Wild Plants of Palestine, a photo-essay by Alaa Abu Asad (DAI, 2018), 2018, edition of 25, riso print, 20 X 14.5 cm. Courtesy: the artist.

Dear all,

"Such a boundless hankering for friendship"

~ these words adorn the 'Homomonument', as it is called by Amsterdammers, in the centre of the Dutch capital, the first monument in the world to commemorate gays and lesbians who were killed by the Nazis. They are taken from the poem "To a Young Fisherman" by queer Dutch Jewish poet, novelist, lawyer, journalist and activist Jacob Israël de Haan (b.1881 in a small town in the East of the Netherlands). In 1919 de Haan immigrated to Palestine as a Zionist, but he very soon turned into a staunch anti-Zionist and became part of the pro-Palestinian Haredi Jewish community. In 1924 the Zionist paramilitary organization Haganah put and end to his life, with a targetted, political killing in the streets of Jerusalem.

~ 22 November, 2023: the day of the Dutch elections that could turn the racist, Islamophobic party of far-right, populist Geert Wilders into the largest party of the Netherlands. I can't believe I am writing this.

~ 22 November, 2023: today our 67 incoming and returning students are traveling to warm and welcoming PAF, the Performing Arts Forum in a former monastery in the tiny village of St. Erme in the North of France. For the entire duration of DAI Confluence 1 we will be indulging in semi-monastic life: studying, eating and sleeping together, making imaginative use of PAF's inspiring spaces and facilities. In this context, the students will soon be joined by incoming and returning tutors for extensive introductions to our Syllabus 2023-2024. A wealth of seminars and study groups will offer the next iteration of DAI's ongoing efforts to unlearn and counter, through the lens of art and theory, domineering Western, Eurocentric readings of past and present.

That said: we are acutely aware that many within our community are going through an extremely difficult period of anger, frustation, disbelief, fear, exhaustion, pain and grief, about what is happening in and around Gaza, the West Bank and beyond, steered by the powers that be, with the complicity of "our" politicians, right and left. We therefore fully embrace the initiative from the part of our theory tutors, joined by several COOP tutors, to organise Palestine Solidarity Teach Outs for two hours during each DAI Confluence of this academic year (beginning here at PAF). They will include films, podcasts, texts, guest speakers (on zoom) and a session organised by the students.

This initiative enables me to end this preamble on a hopeful note, wishing our students a great, transformative time, at the DAI ~ in indivisible friendship. Please find below all the names of those present at PAF + the full program from day to day.

With care,

Gabriëlle Schleijpen

artistic director | head of program

We excitedly welcome incoming students:

Alkmini Gkousiari, Alva Roselius, Anna Buyvid , Annette Rodriguez Fiorillo, Antonia Rebekka Truninger, Bel McLaughlin, Christelle Makris, Clara Smith, Davide La Montagna, Echo (Yijia Guo), Edwin Safari, Eszter Dobos, Foad Alijani, Gráinne Charlton, Helena Estrela, Ivčo Ružić, Liam Warren, Lisa Vlamings, Maria Miguel Pratas, Mia Tamme, Nada Gambier, Öykü Ozgencil, Qiaoling Cai, Sam Mountford, Sara Alberani, Simone Bacco, Tereza Darmovzalová, Tuba Kılıç, Vlio Velema.

as well as cherished returning students:

Anastasia Nefedova, Ania Yilmaz, Astrée Duval, Celeste Perret, Chloë Janssens, Ian Nolan, Gabriel Acevedo, Gamze Öztürk, Gloria Sogl, Julia von Schantz, Kıvanç Sert, Lena Pfäffli, Clara von Schantz, Claudia Meideros Cardoso, Cristina Ramos Gonzalez, Dalia Maini, Daniël van der Giessen, Elif Cadoux, Evija Kristopane, Federica Nicastro, Louis Schou-Hansen, Meii Soh, Noam Youngrak Son, Rex Collins, Saverio Cantoni, Savva Dudin, Seán Bean, Shaza Omran, Sille Kima, Stephen McEvoy, Thamyres Matarozzi, Tomer Fruchter, Valeria Moro, Zoé Couppé, Tereza Dvořáková, Francesca Pionati, Baoxin Liao and Yi Hong Wang.

Proud to name our 2023-2024 core institutional affiliations:

*ARCHIVE (Berlin, Dakar, Milan), *Bulegoa z/b (Bilbao), *de Appel Amsterdam (Amsterdam), *If I Can't Dance I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution (Amsterdam), *Neringa Forest Architecture (Nida) and *SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin).

DAI CONFLUENCE 1 FEATURES:

Tutorial teams, guests and DAI crew members on board this month, all contributing to the introduction of the SYLLABUS 2023-2024 with the 4 curriculum components of our program, which are:

How To Do Things With Theory 2023-2024:

Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, Dr. Ana Teixeira Pinto, Dr. Amit S. Rai, Dr. Ghalya Saadawi, Dr. Grant Watson and Dr. Hypatia Vourloumis. HTDTWT's education leader is Dr. Florian Göttke.

COOP Study Groups 2023-2024:

Noor Abuarafeh, Lilia Di Bella, Marina Christodoulidou, Jurga Daubaraitė, Chiara Figone, Leon Filter , Hubert Gromny, Egija Inzule, Hajra Haider Karrar, Dr.Leire Vergara, Jonas Žukauskas. Remote contributions by Frédérique Bergholtz, Lara Khaldi & Dr.Snejanka Mihaylova. COOP's education leader is Nikos Doulos.

WEAVER 2023-24:

Introduced by Gabriëlle Schleijpen, Nikos Doulos, Rik Fernhout, COUNCIL (represented by students Dalia Maini, Elif Cadoux and Noam Youngrak Son).

Kitchen | AEROPONIC Acts 2023-2024

The Kitchen will not only be thoroughly introduced by Gabriëlle Schleijpen and Peter Sattler, it will immediately see its first iteration with the input of 9 student presenters, while our guests Renan Laru-an and Dr.Giulia Damiani will share their improvised responses and reflections with the presenters and performers and with the student body at large.

The 9 Kitchen presentations will be attended by Elisa Guliano, who will later offer feedback to the presenters in preparation of the AEROPONIC ACTS 2024, which will be co-curated between her and Giulia Crispiani in close conversation with Gabriëlle Schleijpen and Peter Sattler.

Extracurricular support structure

Last but not least, we are delighted to introduce

The DAI Friends & Alumni Association:

represented by alum Marika Vandekraats

In-space

Wanderley Santos, joining us "in real life" to welcome you to In-space: an online supportive thinking space to reflect on issues around 'your own and others’ experiences as a member of the DAI community'.

Crew (making it all possible!!!!) present at PAF:

*Senior co-ordinator logistics & production Roaming Academy | emergency response certificate holder: Jacq van der Spek and hospitality manager Kastė Šeškevičiūtė.

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

*Culinary input for this DAI Confluence by chef Sophia Braddel & Giulia Tognon, assisted by Koen Scheffer.

*Back Office (remotely): Our travel agent Monique Hemmink (Hemminkways), Friends & Family booklets, student pages & more: Ricardo Liong-A-Kong , admissions coordinator Rebecca Sakoun, our bookkeeper Corine van der Wal.

Please consult our Crew-webpage for a more complete overview and more info about the division of tasks.