Death spells

Mena El Shazly (Egypt), ongoing project (Germany), zeitraumexit e.V. (Germany)

Death concerns every human being. It is an ever-present cloud on the horizon, whatever civilisations rise and fall on earth. The sense of dread we feel at the thought of our own ‘disappearance’ would be very familiar to the people of Ancient Egypt. We long for immortality, just as they did. Death Spells questions the parallel promises made by ancient rituals and social media. It searches for the core of contemporary society’s worldview using a true format of our times- a TV talk show complete with cookery demonstrations.
Your hosts are the Egyptian artist Mena El Shazly and her collaborators, the collective ongoing project. They will be in conversation with a panel of guests who are each in their own way an ‘expert in death’. A live band, will provide the music, with other contributions coming in via video link. The whole spectacle will be broadcast internationally, making this a truly global world premiere. It also promises to be a memorable evening, with a peculiarly taboo subject at its heart and a delicious shared meal at its conclusion. 

Artistic director & concept: Mena El Shazly & ongoing project.| Live Bands: Hester (Mannheim), Procession Towards The Unknown (Cairo)  | Guests: Salima Ikram, Amr Fekry, Andeel, Anwar, Salma Said, Hany Rashed, Ramadan Hussein, Gabriele Pieke, Thomas Macho, Tina Beck, Asiem El Difraoui, Lukas Bohnenkämper, Mina Ibrahim, Wassim El Sisi, Somaya and others. | Additional TV footage: Frank Schmitt  | Moderation: ongoing project, Mena El Shazly, Sally Abed | Recording and Voice Over: Adham Zidan | Live streaming: Kroma Projekts | Partner networks: Medrar TV 

Special thanks to:Kroma Projects, Mohamed Allam, Jan-Philipp Possmann, Nadah El Shazly, Triada Kovalenko, Sarah Allam, Marwa Hafez, Sami Khatib, Sammy Sayed, Jasmina Metwaly, Sidy Benamar, Luis A. Ávila C.

A Co-production with the International Coproduction Fund of Goethe-Institut.

Co-producers and partner venues: zeitraumexit e. V. Mannheim, The French Institute, Orient Productions (D-CAF), Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim.