Hidden Hope / Deep in my chest*
*quote Abdul Samad Haidari from the book The Red Ribbon (2019)

As part of the international studio scholarship of the city of Mönchengladbach, funded by the Josef and Hilde-Wilberz Foundation, the artist and filmmaker Cana Bilir-Meier, has curated an online event series with three parts entitled “Hidden Hope / Deep in my chest”. The event series is organized in cooperation with the Kulturbüro Mönchengladbach Municipal Cultural Office, the Kunstverein Jesteburg and the KÖNTGES of the Initiative Altstadt Mönchengladbach.In addition to the series of events, an artistic catalog will be published in spring 2021, in which the artist addresses themes like archives, memory, solidarity, revolution(s), migration and work in the form of poetry, texts and images, marking the artistic conclusion of her fellowship in Mönchengladbach.In the first event of the “Hidden Hope / Deep in my chest” series, on Feb. 21, 2021 at 5 p.m., journalist Amina Aziz will discuss with writer Abdul Samad Haidari his poetry collection „The Red Ribbon“ (2019), in which Haidari describes his story as a refugee and his fleeing from Afghanistan to Iran and Indonesia. It is a story of violence and loss, though the lyrical treatment of his story holds hope. The evening will be accompanied by film clips from Cana Bilir-Meier’s film „This Makes Me Want to Predict the Past.“

The second event in the series will follow on Feb. 23, 2021 at 7 pm. with a poetry reading from the book „Haymatlos“ featuring Bahati, Tamer Düzyol, Taudy Pathmanathan and actress Süheyla Ünlü, who will read poems by Semra Ertan and commemorate the poet and activist. The evening will be moderated by Cana Bilir-Meier and with music by G Lady S.

The third and final online event on Feb. 25, 2021 closes the series with the art collective „Oriental Futurism“ by artists Seba Kayan and Betül Seyma Küpeli and a resistant and inspiring performance of a collage of music, sound and texts.

With Abdul Samad Haidari, Amina Aziz, Bahati, Betül Seyma Küpeli, Cana Bilir-Meier, G Lady S, Seba Kayan, Tamer Düzyol and Süheyla Ünlü.