During the residency the artists meet for example horticulturalists, artists, botanists and residents of Södertälje  and work towards a healing ritual that emerges from the place of the residency. The healing ritual is then brought to a table, created by aghili/karlsson which is placed in (a) public space. A performative conversation between the artist-in-residence and invited guests takes place around the table.

The invited artists are:
Cecilia Germain
Dima Mabsout
Timimie Märak
Vreni Michelini Castillo

aghili/karlsson (Nasim Aghili and Björn Karlsson) is an artist duo working with participatory practices and art in the public space. Their work often deal with the experience of existing and living in different forms of exile and focuses on the potential of creating grievability and healing through art, often through collective rituals. Reorientations is a continuation of the duo’s work Safar – a performance series that revolves around utopian realities and takes invited guests and participants on a journey from central Stockholm to the duo’s studio in the countryside outside Södertälje. 

www.aghili-karlsson.se

Reorientations is supported by Kulturrådet/Swedish Art Council, Konstnärsnämnden/The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Region Stockholm and in collaboration with Södertälje Konsthall.

Video, 360, interactive screen

Dima Mabsout / Reorientations

Participants: Dima Mabsout, Sarasvati Shrestha, Rami Khoury, Nasim Aghili, Björn Karlsson

Around the table, situated in a forest in Tullgarns nature reserve, sits Dima Mabsout and guests. They have walked together using the moss, the trees, movement, the camera and Sara Ahmed as points of orientation. Dima starts the conversation through asking the guests how they use their artistic practice and personal history as orientation in relation to migration, the connection to soil and the dichotomy rural/urban.

Cecilia Germain / Reorientations

Participants: Cecilia Germain, Otilia Björndahl Joao, Sarasvati Shrestha, Nasim Aghili

The conversation between Cecilia and her invited guests starts with a ritual, by Cecilia called A Collective Afrofuturistic Libation. Cecilia puts four Vinca Minor in the ground next to the table. The table is placed in a grove outside of aghili/karlsson’s garden. For Cecilia this plant is a symbol and a guide in understanding the complex history of her black heritage, centered around survival and a respectful symbiotic relationship to plant life. After the ritual a conversation continues about land/soil in relation to diaspora and through cultivating as practice.

Timimie Gassko Märak / Reorientations

Participants: Timimie Gassko Märak, Pussel Akatåps, Moa Johansson, Nasim Aghili

What’s the best thing with your queerness? The conversation between Timimie Gassko Märak and their friends starts with this question. Around the table, placed in a field close to the ocean in Yttereneby nature reserve, a coffee ritual and a duodji hangout is played out. The conversation between the four participants centers their queerness – especially in relation to identity as a multi minoritized person or raised in a rural setting – and how these experiences are expressed through clothes, crafts and community.

Vreni Michelini Castillo / Reorientations 

Participants: Vreni Michelini Castillo, Rossana Mercado-Rojas, Nasim Aghili, Björn Karlsson

Vreni Michelini Castillo invites their guests to the table, this time situated in a field in Hölö, outside of Södertälje. The conversation raises questions about the participants’ connections to rituals, collective celebrations and the historic and contemporary violence of colonialism and its consequences on both everyday life and on the spiritual landscapes of the guests. The conversation ends with Vreni presenting a sonic landscape capturing field recordings of Järna/Södertälje county, music from aghili/karlsson’s vinyl collection and quotes from books capturing the thematic undercurrents of the project Reorientations