Installation & Performance: All the names

Zoukak Sidewalks 2018 - The Festival presents:

All the names
Installation & Performance
Alaa Aldin Alem
Sunday 11 November 2018 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (series of 12 one-to-one performances) at Koon Studio
Duration of the one-to-one performance : 15 minutes

Free Entry
Tickets are available through ihjoz.com and at the door  

Synopsis

All the Names is an interactive installation project inspired by Kafka’s The Trial and The Castle, and All the Names by José Saramago.
As Arab and Syrian youths, we are gripped by the question of "self": what happened to our "selves" during, and following on from our experiences of war? Where is the self in the midst of what we are living today, in the shadow of the volatile situation in the Arab region?What is the structure of the place that contains all our names, and what is the magic it holds, that deprives us of our will (as citizens, as observers) and takes our choices for us? What are these mixed feelings of self-loss and finding at the same time; when an Arab takes European papers proving and recognizing his identity and his existence on the one hand, but severing him from his origins on the other hand?
Between these binaries, All the Names places the audience within a specific administrative space, or system. At the beginning of the show, each spectator will select a name and will go through an official procedure, moving from one space to another to experience the act of compliance that we perform when our identity is processed in an official setting.
The first administrative system that we have selected is the prison system, because the issue of detention and prison conditions is a topical one in Syria today, especially after the exposure of the killing of thousands of detainees in the security branches, whose families had simply been informed that they had died.
During half an hour, the spectator will chase an official document linked to the name he has chosen, a name which corresponds to the story of a real detainee. We have documented real detainees’ stories, but names have been changed. The spectator will eventually discover that the papers have been forwarded to the civil registry office, meaning that the detainee has died.

Credits
Performers: Seba Kourani- Maher Abu Merra- Hamzah Hamadeh- Grace Alahmar- Adeeb Razzouk- Maan Hamza
Text based on: Franz Kafka’s works: “The Trial”, “The Castle”, and “All the Names” by José Saramago
Director: Alaa Eddin Alalem
Dramaturgy: Hisham Hmedan
Light and sound designer: Norma Bernieh
Scenography: Karam Abu Ayash
Coordination: Reham Mohamad
Supported by: The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Arab Theatre Training Centre’s Home Arts Homecoming Project, and Tamasi.  

Artist's Biography
Alaa Eddin Alalem is a theater director, researcher, and dramaturge. He works in Syrian cultural affairs and has bachelor degrees in Arabic literature, and theatrical studies. He has run many workshops in Damascus and Beirut, is a co-teacher at HIDA in Damascus. He has directed No Exit (2015), and was dramaturge for The Other Side of the Garden (2018). He has worked on research entitled “Quality standards in Syrian contemporary theater” (2015).

Zoukak Sidewalks – The festival 2018 is supported by: Drosos Foundation, AFAC – Arab Fund for Art and Culture, the Sundance Institute, the Goethe Institute, the British Council, the French Institute – Paris, the French Institute – Lebanon, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Beirut Office, Salon Du Livre Francophone.