Julien Rathje

Statement
To grasp “interculturality” as the inbetween of geographies as well as artistic mediated practices is a main focus of studying at the Philosophy Department at the University of Hildesheim.
SEE DJERBA gives me a different field to apply and attach these discourses to a concrete context, also under a critical self-reflecting perspective.  To get in touch with people from different backgrounds in Djerba can only be enriching.

SEE DJERBA Contribution
I am interested in the role of the project itself, the function and effects it wants to provide – how is it connected with the local scene/community? What does/can/will SEE DJERBA and its spin-offs represent?

Focus
The focus of Julien Rathjes research is on the productive dimensions of art and aesthetic practices and its critical relation to capitalist mechanisms.

Development
2017: Studies of Philosophy and Art Management (Istanbul)
Since 2016: Kunstraum 53 (Gallery, Hildesheim)
Since 2015: Studies of Intercultural Philosophy and Arts (Hildesheim)
Until 2015: Studies of Social Sciences and Philosophy (Leipzig)

Sonja Karolin Tautz

STATEMENT

As a student of international cultural policy I am very interested in the influences art can have on society and political thoughts and processes. Coming to Djerba is a special opportunity for me as it is my third chance to be a part of discussions about art and community in Africa. The first project I participated in was in 2016 at the East African Performing Arts Market in Uganda followed by a three-month-internship at the District Six Museum in Cape Town. Both of these experiences have opened my mind to the idea of art as a political tool that can formulate statements about the social structures we live in that are sometimes hard to grasp. I am looking forward to get to know Tunisia and to learn how this country finds itself in its unique position between Europe and Africa.

SEE DJERBA CONTRIBUTION

ART MATTERS Documentary and Evaluation

FOCUS

My work is focused on questions about art as part of political activism, art and culture as a medium to sustain democracy and about the different perceptions and perspectives on art and culture from a european and an african point of view.

DEVELOPMENT

2017: studies of Design, Photography and Film at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria
Since 2015: focus on International Cultural Policy in the context of Bachelor Plus, Hildesheim
Since 2014: Cultural Studies and Aesthetics with focus on Literature and Media, Hildesheim

LINKS

Bernadette Schnabel

STATEMENT

Having the opportunity to participate in the SEE DJERBA project seems very excitcing to me. As a student of cultural studies and applied arts (university of Hildesheim) I’m highly interested in intersectional artistic, cultural and political discourses. I’m looking forward to meet, discuss, see..!

SEE DJERBA CONTRIBUTION

Together with Henry I’m planning to conduct an interactive project in Djerba about the personal dimensions of light and darkness and how we use these terms as metaphors in order to describe what we see and feel.

FOCUS

Beside university I’m mainly involved in theater and dance (-pedagogical) projects. I’m passionate about taking part and observing the complex processes of opening oneself up and get to know each other through movement. I’m very curious to experience in which way lightart can initiate those kind of processes – how it will impact our minds, the (public) spaces and our interaction.

DEVELOPMENT

Since 2013 degree course “Cultural studies and applied arts” at the University of Hildesheim

2015/16 (within the Erasmus program) “Discipline dell’Arte, della Musica e dello Spettacolo” at the University of Bologna

LINK

Jule Kriesel

STATEMENT

I am glad to join the SEE SJERBA Program this year and I am looking forward to connect with enlightening people. Especially the trans-disciplinary convent interests me here. I think light as an additional and fleeting element, the base of visual perception is a great instrument to change (public/ private) space and our interaction with it, without transforming environment in its physical material.
Whats the matter of art in Djerba though, and how can we connect as creative thinking and creating group in a permeabel and long-lasting way?
What light and darkness elements will be experience?

SEE DJERBA CONTRIBUTION
(1) Workshop with Judith Greitemann

FOCUS
I am focused on media & camera (light) and the possibility of the self representation through and by it. I would like to discover different models of self introspection or representation through light, always swinging in between the public and intimate space and our understanding of those terms. Do we have similar bounderies in self representation? What changes do we experience through different persons of surveillance behind the camera? What do you feel, when you are the one who sets the perspective and how can a public projection interact with reality? How does your light projection perform, how is the projection performed by the space and place of the screen?

DEVELOPMENT
I am in the bachelor degree of „cultural science and aesthetic praxis” with the subjects theatre and media at the university of Hildesheim since 2013

Since 2015 I joined the study program “cultural policy in international comparison” in Hildesheim and spent one year in Istanbul for studying and internship.

LINKS

Henry Cyrenius

STATEMENT
When I first started studying Creative Writing in Hildesheim, Germany, I could only take a glance at the Lichtungen festival. Nevertheless, the responses I witnessed from those who had been there were impressive. To be given the oppotunity to work in close quarters with the people responsible for the Lichtungen festival and the ART MATTERS Collective is something I wouldn’t want to be missing out on, and which I am very grateful for. As a writer, I look for stories to tell. As a photographer, I let my sourroundings tell me theirs. As a person engaged in social work, I contemplate the relations between giving and receiving, being and acting. Then, there is Djerba. What and whom will I find here? Together with Bernadette, we take a look at that which can’t be seen, but has to be shown. How do we see ourselves and how do we see others? What is there to learn from confronting ourselves with our persona and with how another person perceives us?
I am very much looking forward to getting in touch with so many different, creative people and their works.

SEE DJERBA CONTRIBUTION
Together with Bernadette I’m planning to conduct an interactive project in Djerba about the personal dimensions of light and darkness and how we use these terms as metaphors in order to describe what we see and feel.

FOCUS
After having spent a semester in Nepal studying Buddhist philosophy and being strongly influenced by it, I explore the meaning, dimensions and effects of impermanence. This includes the ways we construct the world sourrounding us, that which we take for granted, through performing according to cultural, social and linguistic codes. To question the fragility of these alleged constants, and how this contributes to personal development and social changes is the main focus of my work.

DEVELOPMENT
2016 | Co-founder of Rigardu, a non-profit registered association, working with refugees on the European continent
Since October 2015 | Studies of Creative Writing at Hildesheim Univesity
2008 – 2012 | Studies of Philosophy at FU Berlin and Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal
2004 – 2008 | Studies of Medicine at Ruhr Universität Bochum and Universidad de Oviedo, Spain

LINKS
Literaturinstitut Hildesheim
Rigardu

Aylin Michel

STATEMENT
As a student of Arts, Aesthetics and Cultural Studies in addition to Cultural Policy in an International Context at the University of Hildesheim, I am highly interested in the connection of theory and practice in international, interdisciplinary art and culture projects. I want to take this great opportunity to get in touch with innovative creatives and figure out how we as a collective can create a new perception of a place like Djerba, which is by its history transitional, and to sound out the definition of a public space from different perspectives.
I am very curious to learn more about the role of art in Tunisia and how art matters in various ways.

SEE DJERBA CONTRIBUTION
[1] Workshop: Djerba online seen from Germany

FOCUS
In this project, I want to focus on the role of social media, the pictures and resultantly the image it creates of Djerba. To see the possibilities and the shifting perspectives it can evoke, highlighting the inter- and transcultural practices. Much like my work at MAVIBLAU, a Turkish-German Magazine for Culture, Arts and Society.

DEVELOPMENT
Since 2015| Studies of Cultural Policy in an international Context at Bilgi University Istanbul
Since 2013| Studies of Arts, Aesthetics and Cultural Studies at University Hildesheim

LINKS
MAVIBLAU

Houssem Abida

STATEMENT

Heritage dosen’t mean museums and just old souvenirs. Heritage is daily evolution and : That’s something Interferences Festival prooved to me last year, and encouraged me to mork more on this point with all tools possible. In fact, all projects in the medina are strongly linked. For example, during Interferences festival, the number of views of Wikipedia articles our team in MedinaPedia wrote increased enormously and helped us reach our main goal which is to make people know more about heritage. And that’s why we want to repeat the experience this year with Djerba.

SEE DJERBA CONTRIBUTION
[1]  Wikipedia writing workshop // Impact of festivals on Wikipedia researches // How to write a wikipedia article

FOCUS

Houssem is discovering his heritage and surrounding culture, and trys to promote it to people who are not aware of its wealth, but in a new modern way. He also, works on the SDGs(Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations throught projects and trainings. He was given the title of Arab Youth ChangeMaker by the United Nations Development Program.

DEVELOPMENT

Since 2017 |  Tunisia Chapter National Office Representative of the African Union Students’Council
Since 2016 | Beb 18
Since 2015 | Carthagina member
Since 2014 | Medicine School of Tunis
Since 2012 | Junior Chamber International

LINKS
Linkedin

IJOU GDENA

 

STATEMENT

FOCUS

DEVELOPPMENT

2016 |
2017 |

LINKS
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM

TOURISM OFFICE OF TUNISIA IN GERMANY

From Riadh Dekhili, Director of the Tourism Office of Tunisia in Germany

After the inspiring light festival in the Medina of Tunis – “Interference” – in September last year, SEE DJERBA is now the second project of the Tunisian-German collective. Site-specific artworks and light installations will feature selected sites and the special architecture of the island capital Houmt Souk. Inhabitants and tourists can deeply immerse in the so special culture of the island and experience the creativity of an international community. SEE DJERBA is a sustainable art and culture tourism project which promotes the exchange between Tunisian and German artists and thus has the potential to become an annual festival of art on the popular holiday island.

LINK
Tourism Office of Tunisia in Germany

DJERBA INSOLITE

Djerba insolite association was created in the aim and idea to promote alternative tourism in Djerba.
Its objectives are: to make visible the negative impacts of mass tourism on the Djerbian society and its environment and to give another vision of the journey, based on principles of equity, mutual respect, preservation of heritage and cultural exchange.

LINK

Djerba Insolite