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18.11.04 | 17:30 | Pumpe
ARAB - Egypt
By and with Nora Amin

Music: Nader Sami, Neveen Mohamed
Duration: approx. 60 min.
Language: Arabic and English

The multi-media solo performance ARAB is based on four poems from the collection Muslim, which Nora Amin wrote in English during her 2003-2004 stay in the US. The show also includes an element of Arabic and videoclips from two short films shot by the writer in the US, Space Within, in collaboration with Meg Kowalski, and Project ME: I in U.
ARAB is „an attempt to question definitions, break the rules and taboos, shift the borders betwee cultures and genres, and finally recreate the cultural identity of the artist through its live and artistic performance“. It exposes the invisible side of labels and explores what is hidden behind layers of tags imposed on us by contemporary society. ARAB is about what is not on the label. Before witnessing ARAB, one is in a state of ignorance, caught in a wave of Arabophobia which has been part of western culture since the Crusades. ARAB questions attitudes and negative stereotypes of Arabs deeply rooted in western popular culture.
A native of Cairo, Nora Amin is a playwright, novelist and poet, as well as a performer, a theater director and the founder of an independent theater company in Cairo, "La Musica." She also founded the first Egyptian independent international theater and dance festival, "JADAYEL."