Breathing In Babylon Conversation

Date:Sep 23, 2022
Location: Bar Bario
Event type: Talk

We want to give thanks to those of you who joined us for our screening of Babylon (1977) at Bar Bario. This film, its cinematography, the feelings and sounds already vibrated through the room before it was even screened. It sparked a conversation that resonated with us and left us with questions such as: How can we avoid being complicit in oppressive forms of power as we try to survive and breathe? How can we avoid loveless criticality coming when some of us pick up on that complicity and want to call it out? We want to gather at Bario again to continue these conversations and delve deeper into surviving in Babylon together. We’ve invited artists Kenneth Aidoo @kennethjames Marcel van den Berg @m_van_den_b to come and speak on these issues with Raziyah Heath @squishybvb moderating. Please join us at Bar Bario on September 23rd at 19:30

Metro54 is focusing this year on the collective research project Breathing as a Methodology, a research project that delves into breathing as a liberatory methodology and practice. This conversation is part of Breathing Room: a series. Breathing Room is a series of research gatherings in the form of podcasts, essays, readings, exhibitions, and intimate meetings.

Breathing Room is a poetic and artistic contemplation focused on everyday realities and speculative futures. The respiratory distress of corona patients was symbolically summarized with the slogan “I can't breathe”, the worldwide mantra of a world in respiratory distress. It now bears witness to the ways the pandemic is interwoven with ubiquitous structures of institutional racism. It symbolizes a lifelong grieving process, mourning for all that we have lost. As we catch our breaths in the streets, we also honor the breath of lives that were lost in the Mediterranean sea.

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