Photo: Bente Stachowske
Time of Exile
In the ‘Time of Exile’ interview series, we explore the concept of exile together with our dialogue partners. Cultural journalist Melanie von Bismarck interviews protagonists of the days of exile and talks to them about their lives and creative work in exile, about flight, alienation and arrival. The series kicks off with a conversation with the writer Ilija Trojanow, who gave the first speech on exile in 2017. This will be followed by further instalments with Olga Grjasnowa, Ayham Majid Agha and Nino Haratischwili.
Melanie von Bismarck studied art history in Hamburg and completed her doctorate. She works as a freelance cultural journalist for radio, mainly for NDR. She also works as an author, presenter and producer of audio guides.
Interview with Khaled Barakeh
In his work, the Syrian conceptual artist and cultural activist Khaled Barakeh explores the themes of migration and power structures. He focuses his attention on the victims of war and flight and on the topic of exile. In conversation with Melanie von Bismarck, Barakeh emphasises how important freedom is for his own artistic development. He reflects on how censorship impairs the artistic-creative process and how difficult it is to break through this wall. Barakeh now lives in Berlin. He is the founder of many initiatives, including coculture.org, a Syrian contact platform for artists.
Interview with Nino Haratischwili
‘People with shared biographies lose a certain naturalness,’ says award-winning author and theatre director Nino Haratischwili in an interview with Melanie von Bismarck. In Time of Exile, she explores the question of how Georgia is changing and talks about freedom and a young Georgian generation whose new awareness of civil society issues gives hope. A reading from Haratischwili’s family epic The Eighth Life (For Brilka) by actress Katharina Schütz will complement the discussion.
Interview with Olga Grjasnowa
and Ayham Majid Agha
The writer Olga Grjasnowa and her husband Ayham Majid Agha explore the questions of how to arrive in a society, what tools you need and what role language plays. The discussion will be complemented by a reading from Grjasnowa’s work God is not shy by actress Katharina Schütz.
Interview with Ilija Trojanow
‘You could say that the German language is an immigrant language...’, says Ilija Trojanow in an interview. He draws a line from his own experience of fleeing to his debut novel and his essay Nach der Flucht, published in 2017. In poetic language, he talks about arriving, life in exile and the country he left behind. The discussion will be rounded off with short text passages from Trojanow’s work, read by actress Katharina Schütz.
