Liquid Border of Solid Hope

Performance by Jasmin İhraç

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  Liquid Border of Solid Hope 1 – Passagierschiffsrouten/Babakale/Lesbos

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  Liquid Border of Solid Hope 2 – Verschwommenes Bild von 5 Personen, die tanzen.

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  Liquid Border of Solid Hope 3 – Ein Bild von der Wasseroberfläche eines Meeres, dahinter der blaue Horizont.

The Mediterranean is a place of simultaneity. “Liquid Border of Solid Hope” by Jasmin İhraç explores this diasporic space, which has been shaped by movement, encounter and migration for centuries. The performance premieres in December in Radialsystem. It combines elements of archival research and interviews from central migration points such as Marseille, Lampedusa and western Turkey with movement/dance and live sound. Musicians and dancers encounter the audience in an open archive, weaving together individual exploration and communal ritual, and questioning the meaning of empathy and solidarity.

When 58,000 Armenians fled from genocide in the Ottoman Empire to Marseille in the 1920s, they used passenger ships, travelling with legal transit documents. These ships connected cities which are hardly possible to access directly via waterways today due to changed political circumstances, providing safe escape routes that no longer exist. Over 35,000 people have lost their lives on the central Mediterranean route since 2014 due to restrictive European migration politics. “Liquid Border of Solid Hope” is a dedication to those who never arrived in a new life. It is also a dedication to the sea itself as an ecosystem, a geophysical balance of power, and a place of longing and fascination.

“Liquid border of Solid Hope” is presented at Radialsystem as part of the :LOVE: cooperation between Tanzfabrik Berlin and Radialsystem. “Radialsystem ♥ Tanzfabrik” is an initiative specifically designed to improve conditions for dance professionals.

Artists/Collaborators: Jasmin İhraç (Künstlerische Leitung, Choreografie, Tanz, Performance und Raum), Tamar Sonn , Maia Joseph, Omagbitse Omagbemi (Tanz, Performance und choreografische Mitarbeit), Grégoire Simon , Merve Salgar (Live-Musik und Komposition), Catalina Fernández (Lichtdesign und Technische Leitung), Natalia Orendain (Raum und (Papier-)Objekte), Ketan Bhatti (Sound und Komposition), Dora Đurkesac (Video), Lidy Mouw (Dramaturgie), Martina Neu (Künstlerische Produktionsleitung), Juan Corres Benito , Malika Lamwersiek (Choreografische Recherche), Thelma Bonavita (Kostümberatung), Büşra Mutlu (Assistenz), Marcelo Vilela (Presse und Kommunikation)

A production by Jasmin İhraç. Funded by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Radial Foundation.

Co-produced by Radialsystem, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Theater im Ballsaal Bonn, Uferstudios, Life Long Burning, and Futures Lost and Found, co-financed by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Special thanks to everyone who generously contributed their time for an interview. Further thanks to Astrid Artin-Loussikian and Houry Varjabedian, as well as the entire team at ARAM – L’association pour la recherche et l’archivage de la mémoire arménienne, Marseille for their introduction to the archive; to visual artist Silvina Der-Meguerditchian; to Leil Zehra of Watch The Med Alarmphone; to Naomi Holz of Seapunks; and to UNITED for Intercultural Action and its campaign “Fortress Europe: No More Deaths” for permission to use the List of Refugee Deaths. Many thanks also to Joshua Wicke, Marion Sparber, Torsten Podraza and Sasha Waltz & Guests.

Radialsystem Media Partners: The Berliner, tip Berlin, taz. die tageszeitung.

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 17/December/2026 20:00 ( 3 more dates )
• Venue Radialsystem V
• Address Holzmarktstraße 33, 10243 Berlin-Friedrichshain