The Orient isn’t simply “there”, just like the Occident isn’t simply “there”. Both of them are ideas that were formulated centuries ago by philosophers, writers and historians in Europe. The Orient represents what is foreign, the Occident represents what is familiar. They are two terms that emerge from the horizon of the beholder. Why were these terms coined? Who profits from them?
While director Guy Weizman addresses this question with a transcultural ensemble on the main stage in the production All die Düfte Arabiens, young people in Groningen and Hanover will set out to see whether and how these notions still determine their lives today. They will present the results of their work together at Hanover’s Sprengel Museum.