I Grew An Alien Inside of Me
Multi Media Perfpermance (2022)
In this multi-media performance, Rima Najdi explores birth and revolution in tandem. Drawing from the remembered, felt experiences of mothers in labour and protesters in the street, I Grew an Alien Inside of Me asks how the body is able to subvert, circumscribe, and repurpose meanings of the event. Digitized loops play with rhythm, repetition, breath, and expectation and invite audiences to engage and interact with testimonies of giving birth and participating in protest.
Far from following a linear logic or a singular ontology, the cyclical, chaotic experiences of labour and of finding and losing comrades in the street point to a different kind of clarity and vision that cannot be reduced to outcomes. The resulting choreography invites reflections on the most powerful of human experiences – those of giving birth and participating in revolution.
Created by Rima Najdi // Visuals Ana Nieves Moya // Light designer, technical director Carola Caggiano // Music Kathy Alberici // Additional music, sound design Sary Moussa (Tunefork studios) // Sound consultant Sandy Chamoun // Costume designer Hagar Ophir // Dramaturge Rayya ElZein, Elisa Liepsch // Outside eye Tania El Khoury, Yalda Younes // Graphic designer Maria Kassab // Production Racha Najdi, Björk Margarit Roi // Tour manager Nara Hawi // Curated by Tania ElKhoury and Bochra Triki .
A production by Rima Najdi in co-production with Tashweesh Festival, Akademie der Künste – INITIAL Programm (Berlin), L’Art Rue (Tunis), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), Goethe-Institut (Brussels), Tanzquartier Wien (Vienna). In cooperation with SOPHIENSÆLE (Berlin). Supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe and by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of #takecare.
Tashweesh is funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture, Civil Service and Sport.