What does the space know

Fareh Saleh (UK, Palestine), Mirjam Sögner (Germany)

Spaces are temporal. And a potential for a shared moment.
In WHAT DOES THE SPACE KNOW they unfold, come to life, and then transform. We wonder how their resonance remains with us? How does the knowledge they have produced inform the places we are creating now?
In this dance duet we investigate how spaces turn into places through connecting the past, present and future of the individual and the collective. Memories and imagination guide us through the creation of temporary embodied ways of relating.

WHAT DOES THE SPACE KNOW is an interactive dance performance / installation choreographed and performed by Farah Saleh (PAL / UK) and Mirjam Sögner (DE/ AT).

The project was initiated by the Goethe Institute Ramallah, which invited us to engage with and respond to testimonies of vanished architectural heritage in Palestine.

The aim of the resulting piece is to create both a performative and spatial structure that guides the audience through an embodied experience of the spaces around and within them, which allows them to perceive spaces differently and that inspires them to collectively envision unthinkable architectures.

Space was not only the artistic focus of the work in terms of content but was also reflected at the production level: the piece was created in a very international context and spanned a large geographical space from Edinburgh to Ramallah, from Berlin to Madrid to Tallinn.


Choreography and performance: Farah Saleh and Mirjam Sögner | Composition: Samuel Hertz | Dramaturgy: Luke Pell | Set and costumes: Sara Evelyn | Funded by: International Coproduction Fund - Goethe Institut | 
Supported by: More Than This Network, Dance Base Edinburgh, Tanzfabrik Berlin