WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW?

Contemplations on the notions of hostipitality

Man of misery, whose land have I lit on now?
What are they here—violent, savage, lawless?
or friendly to strangers, god-fearing people?

Odysseus upon his return to Ithaca: Homer, The Odyssey, Book 6:131.

now that our soil has become co-conspirator
eating up our dreams and dusty tears
bearing the fruit of our horrors
in orange navels
rooting us yet stronger
firmer to our ancestors’ bones

we ask

when did stones
become the comrades of sunken boys
who utilize rubber bullets and empty shells
as toys
?

Suheir Hammad, children of stone: Born Palestinian, Born Black (Brooklyn, New York: UpSet Press, 2010), 43.

WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW? Contemplations on the Notions of Hostipitality unfolds through an exhibition, performances, lectures, film screenings and other time-based experiences to deliberate on concepts of hospitality and the triggers of hostility in hospitality. Much is happening today that calls for a reflection on hospitality in Germany, in Europe, and in the world at large. While departing from the national context of Germany, and taking Derrida's notion of "hostipitality" - that is the presence of hostility in all hospitality and hosting - as a point of commencement, the project is not limited in geography, history, philosophy nor culture to these origins, but rather addresses concepts of hospitality in a global context. By inviting, and being host to, artists, curators, musicians and other thinkers to reflect on the various thought and lived concepts of hospitality, the project creates a space for exchange, mutual respect and learning to pose questions that might instigate further thoughts. In an age of flourishing resentments and antipathy towards all that seems conceptually or physically ‘strange’/ a ‘stranger’, in a time when the historical violence of the guest (as a colonizer) over the host is reiterated and fortified, and in an era that increasingly turns hospitality into a neoliberal commodity, it becomes urgent to reconsider hospitality’s gradients of power.

WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW? is conceived across interrelated ‘spaces of contemplation’ which will be activated and animated through an exhibition and a weekend of invocations including performances, concerts, lectures and talks:

I Guest, I Host. Who is the Ghost? explores power gradients between host, guest and becoming ghost - the zombifying transformation process between guest and host, as well as the violences implicated in these transitions through looking at settler colonialist projects and their perverting of who is ‘guest’ and who is ‘host’.

Forging a Bridge: From ‘Wir schaffen das’ to ‘Das Boot ist voll’ probes the gradual shift of hospitality towards hostility. Unpacking the breakdown of the German ‘Willkommenskultur’ after the arrival of mostly Syrian migrants in Germany in the summer of 2015, we observe how the summer of grace became the autumn of rage and the winter of nightmares, as the initial goodwill turned into the resurgence of the extreme right in Germany.

Caressing the Phantom Limb: 'Heimat' - Progression, Regression, Stagnation?  looks at the power of the notion of Heimat that has come to characterize privileges and the common denominators of those who are viewed by the majority as eligible to partake in the privileges. 'Heimat' could be the sum of our singular beings, cultures, religions and philosophies. 'Heimat' could be inclusive and unifying – sensitive to the historical, political and economical realities that have made people move forcefully or willingly. Isn’t the current state of Heimat rather regressive and a mere caressing of a phantom limb?

Riding the Tide: On Hostipicapitalism revisits the notion of hospitality in neoliberal capitalism, which has successfully transformed hospitality from virtue into ubiquitous commodity.

Abbas Akhavan: Untitled. 2017 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Abbas Akhavan: Untitled. 2017 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Antje Engelmann: Ihr Seid Zu Schwer, Ich Kann Euch Nicht tragen. 2017| Photo: Marvin Systermans
Antje Engelmann: Ihr Seid Zu Schwer, Ich Kann Euch Nicht tragen. 2017| Photo: Marvin Systermans
Doris Maninger: Austrian Landscape. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Doris Maninger: Austrian Landscape. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Doris Maninger: Austrian Landscape. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Doris Maninger: Austrian Landscape. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Banu Cennetoğlu: Library of Spirits III – Deutschland. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Banu Cennetoğlu: Library of Spirits III – Deutschland. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Emeka Okereke: Bariga Nights. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Emeka Okereke: Bariga Nights. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Emeka Okereke: Bariga Nights. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Emeka Okereke: Bariga Nights. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Deanna Bowen: "1911 Anti Creek-Negro Petition" From Immigration of Negroes from the United States To West Canada 1910–1911. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Deanna Bowen: "1911 Anti Creek-Negro Petition" From Immigration of Negroes from the United States To West Canada 1910–1911. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Eva Leitolf: Postcards From Europe. 2006–ongoing  | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Eva Leitolf: Postcards From Europe. 2006–ongoing | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Eva Leitolf: Postcards From Europe. 2006–ongoing  | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Eva Leitolf: Postcards From Europe. 2006–ongoing | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Louis Henderson: Bring Breath To The Death Of Rocks. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Louis Henderson: Bring Breath To The Death Of Rocks. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Louis Henderson: These Lowest Depths, These Deeps. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Louis Henderson: These Lowest Depths, These Deeps. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Colonial Neighbours in conversation with Marcio Carvalho: Demythologize That History and Put it to Rest. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Colonial Neighbours in conversation with Marcio Carvalho: Demythologize That History and Put it to Rest. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Colonial Neighbours in conversation with Marcio Carvalho: Demythologize That History and Put it to Rest. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Colonial Neighbours in conversation with Marcio Carvalho: Demythologize That History and Put it to Rest. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Peter Morin: Tahltan Territory. 2015 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Peter Morin: Tahltan Territory. 2015 | Photo: Marvin Systermans

Throughout this project we look from the micro-level to broader entanglements - from  SAVVY Contemporary’s home, role and presence in its space in Wedding as host to artists and other collaborators, as well as guest within the context of our neighborhood, to the possibilities of moments of unconditional hospitality and the nation state’s strategies of hostility towards its weakest citizens and the newly arrived.  Our examination of these concepts encompasses narratives emerging from the legacies of, and resistance to, settler imaginaries and Or Gallery's presence on First Nations territories in North America.

WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW? is a project within the framework of 4Cs: From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture, a collaborative project that investigates conflict and models for intercultural dialogue co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. 4Cs was developed amongst the following partners: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas Universidade Católica Portuguesa FCH|UCP (PT), Tensta Konsthall (SE), SAVVY Contemporary (DE), Royal College of Art (UK), Fundació Antoni Tàpies (ES), Vilnius Academy of Arts (LT), Museet for Samtidskunst (DK) and ENSAD (FR).

Sabelo Mlangeni: Black Men in Dress. 2011 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Sabelo Mlangeni: Black Men in Dress. 2011 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Steeve Bauras: 3K Proect. 2013 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Steeve Bauras: 3K Proect. 2013 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Stephanie Comilang: Yesterday in the Years 1886 and 2017. 2017 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Stephanie Comilang: Yesterday in the Years 1886 and 2017. 2017 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Victor Ehikhamenor: Welcome Goodbye. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Victor Ehikhamenor: Welcome Goodbye. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Wolfgang Tilmans: Protect the European Union. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Wolfgang Tilmans: Protect the European Union. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Tinofireyi Zhou: Chitema ne Chirungu. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Tinofireyi Zhou: Chitema ne Chirungu. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Tinofireyi Zhou: Chitema Ne Chirungu. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Tinofireyi Zhou: Chitema Ne Chirungu. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Victor Ehikhamenor: Welcome Goodbye. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Victor Ehikhamenor: Welcome Goodbye. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Mounira Al Solh: س/سمع SAM’AA/MAA’S. 2104 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Mounira Al Solh: س/سمع SAM’AA/MAA’S. 2104 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Neda Saeedi: Formal Investigation #2 – Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Neda Saeedi: Formal Investigation #2 – Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Mounira al Solh: س/سمع  Sam
Mounira al Solh: س/سمع Sam'aa/ Maa's. 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Ming Wong: Life of Imitation. 2009/2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Ming Wong: Life of Imitation. 2009/2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Wolfgang Tilmans: Protect the European Union (Installation in Public Space in Berlin). 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Wolfgang Tilmans: Protect the European Union (Installation in Public Space in Berlin). 2018 | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Emeka Okereke: Bariga Nights. 2018 (Installation in Public Space in Berlin) | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Emeka Okereke: Bariga Nights. 2018 (Installation in Public Space in Berlin) | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Meriç Algün: Billboards and Postcards. 2018 (Installation in Public Space in Berlin) | Photo: Marvin Systermans
Meriç Algün: Billboards and Postcards. 2018 (Installation in Public Space in Berlin) | Photo: Marvin Systermans