Catalogue > At random

In Migratie (9min 26sec), humans and puppets come together to tell a parable on Migration by Flemish writer, director and performing artist Pieter De Buysser. The performers wear masks, distorted reproductions of their own faces. Interactions between puppets and humans serve the purpose of doing things that would be outrageous/not allowed in real (i.e. setting a politician on fire). All this creates a very weird, alienating effect, increasing its impact for the viewers. The exaggerated game between reality and imagination opens up further possibilities on how to act. Using the detour of the imaginary and the artificial to be able to speak directly, might be a better strategy for relating film as a construction to parrhesia.

Eleni Kamma (Athens, 1973) is a visual artist, film maker and researcher. Her practice moves along a Moebius strip schema, that keeps circulating from her as individual artist to dialogical collaborations Kamma is based in both Maastricht and Brussels. She holds two nationalities, Greek and Cypriot. Due to her father’s refugee status in Greece and to the occupation of the northern part of Cyprus where her family originates, she experienced the feeling of ‘not properly belonging’ from an early age. This has led her to consider herself as a pároikos — someone living close to others as a temporary dweller — leaving her with questions of how to raise one’s voice in relation to one’s identity in times of migration and mobility. Whom and how to address? Kamma’s practice is informed by the inherent gaps, blind spots and contradictions within existing cultural narratives and structures. These involve issues of memory, authenticity and identity, often in the context of an increasingly paradoxical Europe. Since 2015, she is investigating parrhesia, the ancient Greek notion of the obligation to speak for the common good, even at personal risk. Kamma is part of the Brussels-based artist run organization Jubilee – Platform for artistic research and production.