Abhishek Thapar

Audio installation about the untold stories from local restaurant kitchens – and about invisible labor and life in exile.

Under the title EXILE TODAY and in cooperation with the Körber-Stiftung, Kampnagel and the Summer Festival are regularly inviting theater makers to residencies to develop works that address life in exile.

Artist Abhishek Thapar was born and raised in the Indian state of Punjab, which experienced one of the largest mass migrations in history. After more than 13 stops in various cities, he has found his home in Amsterdam. In RESILIENT AND CLEAN, URGENTLY NEEDED he addresses the experience of many migrants and exiled people in Europe: Regardless of their own education, knowledge and experience, they often work in so-called 'unskilled' jobs – for example in hotels and restaurants, as kitchen staff and dish washers. What is not visible or audible to restaurant visitors, exept when they happen to pass by the back entrances of these dining places, now becomes the subject of an audio installation for one spectator at a time: At a fancy table you are served a menu consisting of the stories and narratives of these kitchen workers in Hamburg restaurants. The bearers of these stories might be invisible and so is their labor. Yet they are real. Their voices ask you to listen deeply, to be transposed behind the closed kitchen doors.

On Saturday, August 21, the audience is invited to meet the storytellers and enter into an informal conversation over lunch in the Festival Avant-Garden. During your visit of the sound installation you'll get the opportunity to sign up for the dinner (until all places are taken).

Program as PDF-Download here!

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