Tracing Erased Memories | A site-specific multimedia guided walk

Tracing Erased Memories is a site-specific multimedia guided walk, that aims to connect Amsterdam and Cairo through their harboured memories of resistance against state violence. Throughout the walk, participants experience the changing image of both Amsterdam and Cairo in relation to recent socio-political turning points. The walk is layered with testimonies from people who were directly involved in the 2011 Egyptian revolution and the students’ and squatters’ protests of 2015 in Amsterdam. This period forms a pivotal moment in the political climate of both cities, as waves of resistance rose against austerity measures and authoritative regimes. Through a choreographed roadmap, visitors walk through the city center in Amsterdam with headphones and a tablet. Whilst seeing Amsterdam ahead of them, the road of Cairo starts unfolding. Sounds of car honks in Cairo juxtapose with bicycles; a building in Amsterdam starts to dissolve into a burned down political party headquarters in Cairo. This experience of mixed up and intertwined realities echoes that of Moucharrafieh and Mohamed when they first moved to Amsterdam trying to make sense of this seemingly untroubled city. Through casual conversations with the guides, who bring in their own stories and perspectives, all these different layers connect towards a collective voice of resistance.

This interactive performance takes the form of a guided walk for one or two people at a time and will take place during scheduled time slots that visitors can sign up for.

Hilda Moucharrafieh (The NarrativeCollective) is a multimedia artist based in Amsterdam. Through her artistic research practice, she investigates our contemporary social condition through the lens of political history, with a particular focus on economic and political influences in the shaping of public spaces. In her recent autonomous and collaborative projects, she has worked on issues of gentrification and exclusion of dissident voices from the public sphere, capitalist extraction of natural resources in the South Globe, and the impact of self-learning algorithms used by life insurance companies on assessing life value in a neoliberal market economy. Her work often takes form as intimate discursive setups and audience participatory installations both in public space as well as non-conventional spaces.

Dina A.Mohamed is an artist and social thinker with a cross-disciplinary background who works through the different mediums of video, performance, and writing. Her research and artistic practice are concerned with understanding the political despondency caused by the complex intertwining structures of economics, politics, and information technology. She is busy with the question of how individuals and groups can regain political agency under the deterministic logic of technology and the overflow of information . More importantly, how can such information be turned into knowledge?

NEW ADMISSION POLICY | PAY IT FORWARD

W139 is changing their admission policy to explore a principle of solidarity in a new way: Pay-it-forward.

This new move is part of a sustainable plan to create a diversity of funding sources for W139. When visiting W139, your entrance ticket costs €3, but you can pay €6, €9 or more to pay-it-forward, for someone in the community who also wants to see art or join events, but is less financially fortunate.

Community Ticket

This ticket is for the community members that are unable to afford the €3 entry fee.

Someone else has bought a community ticket in order to finance this ticket.

Ticket For Yourself | €3

This ticket is for yourself

Ticket For Yourself + 1 Community Ticket | €6

This ticket is for yourself and a community member

Ticket For Yourself + 2 Community Tickets | €9

This ticket is for yourself and two community members

Tickets to enter the exhibition are for sale at the entrance of W139.

Online tickets are only for the public program and events.

See our page for visitor information and COVID regulations.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

W139, 139 Warmoesstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands