REVOLUTION17
CAFÉS - 2014
Happystan - Chronicles of Life and Migration
3 December 2014 | Rich Mix, London
Between Heaven and Earth was a ground-breaking and timely exhibition which brought to UK audiences a strong sense of the overlooked, yet exceptionally vibrant contemporary art that is being made in the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as in Afghanistan and Mongolia. As part of Dash Arts Central Asian Season, we teamed up with Calvert 22 who presented this exhibition an invited curator David Elliot to share some insights into his curatorial decisions and the scene in general with Dash Arts artistic director Josephine Burton. With music spun by DJ Mourrka, this was a lively and fascinating evening.
Image by Almagul Menlibayeva.
Aisha Orazbayeva presents a night of Kazakh music
5 November 2014 | Rich Mix, London
Acclaimed violinist Aisha Orazbayeva presented an evening of Kazakh culture, through the prism of her own experiences, coming of age in a predominantly Russian speaking family in early 90s Almaty. She created a video collage and performed a unique improvisation with her violin, especially for this evening, reflecting on the eclectic culture of the country with its Russian, Soviet and Western influences. Our Cafe presented her own personal take on Kazakhstan, incorporating old propaganda films, folk, contemporary classical repertoire, some Soviet footage and a few contemporary video clips.The evening was opened by Kazakh actor and filmstar Gulnara Dusmatova, performing work by the Soviet poet and activist Oljas Suleimenov.
For more information about Aisha do check out her website www.aishaorazbayeva.com.
To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die (cert. 15)
A film by Tajik director Djamshed Usmonov
1 October 2014 | Rich Mix, London
“A jolting journey towards a swaggering notion of manhood, directed with assured expertise by Djamshed Usmonov” David Gritten, The Telegraph
The Dash Art's Central Asian Season continued with the striking and poetic TO GET TO HEAVEN FIRST YOU HAVE TO DIE. Sparer, bleaker and much more unsettling than his previous films, it stars Khurched Golibekov as the sullen, wide-eyed Kamal, who has been married for a few months, but is unable to consummate his marriage. Learning that there is nothing physically wrong with him after visiting a doctor, Kamal sets off to the city in an attempt to cure his impotence. With his child-like, country-boy naiveté, he struggles to meet anyone until a chance encounter on a bus when he picks up a young married Russian factory worker. This accidental meeting takes him on a far more troubling and darker journey than he was counting on.
Likened by critics to Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 'A Short Film About Love', Usmonov's absolutely sure-footed direction and storytelling make for a film that gently, gradually pulls the rug out from under our feet, in a classic example of less-is-more film-making.
This bold film reflects issues of national identity and cultural politics across Central Asia. The interplay between Russian and Tajik culture and languages, spoken throughout the film, helps to present a challenging world that pushes protagonist Kamal to search out the unfamiliar as cultures collide around him.
As part of the event we hosted a pre-show conversation with Dr. Shirin Akiner which helped to set the scene and put the film in context.
Dzhamilya
A Film Screening and post-Film discussion
3 September 2014 | Rich Mix, London
We kicked off Dash Art's Central Asian Season with Dzhamilya, a romantic fable based on the great Kyrghiz writer, Chingiz Aitmatov. The story, filmed and set on the harsh steppes of Kyrghizstan, reflects the wistful memories of Seit, a New York based painter as he reminisces about his youthful, innocent love affair with Jamilia during the 1940's. Jamilia was beautiful, the best horseback rider in town and unfortunately, married to his older brother in an arranged ceremony.
A discussion took place after the film hosted by Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton with Rahima Abduvalieva from the Aitmatove Academy.
Produced in partnership with the Aitmatov Academy.
Lilith Guegamian
2 July 2014 | Rich Mix, London
We launched our Dash Blaze series of events by presenting Armenian singer songewriter Lilith Guegamian live in concert in association with Music of Armenia.
Guegamian is an accomplished Armenian folk singer with a fairy–tale voice, full of delicacy and imagination.
You can hear her bewitching sounds here .
The Colour of Pomegranates
4 June 2014 | Rich Mix, London
In collaboration with the British Georgian Society we presented The Colour of Pomegranates; a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song). One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov's film reveals the poet's life depicting the poet's coming of age, discovery of the female form, falling in love, entering a monastery and dying, all framed through both Sergei Parajanov's imagination and Sayat Nova's poems. The film was illicitly smuggled out of the Soviet Union in 70s for its UK premiere at the ICA. As part of a pre-show chat, we explored this story with Bill McAllister and Donald Rayfield.
As an opener to this amazing film, alternative singer and multi-instrumentalist THéKO transported us into an intimate poetic landscape shaped with tales and notes of her own human tragedies and quixotic moments, with ukulele, djembe and guitar adornments.
Brodsky Night: A celebration of the work of Joseph Brodsky
7 May 2014 | Rich Mix London
"The energy and precision of a master and the moral authority of a prophet"
Washington Post
Dash Arts served up a first rate evening of poetry, prose, music, discussion and film that explored the remarkable work and life of Russian poet, Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky. This was an evening for both those who knew nothing of Brodsky and those who knew everything. The evening kicked off with a rabble rousing set from Nigel Burch and the Flea Pit Orchestra and prgressed to a fascinating debate hosted by Founding Joint Artistic Director Tim Supple with Glyn Maxwell and Valentina Polukhina with readngs from Michael Pennington.
Throughout the evening we raised money for the Stephen Spender/Joseph Brodsky prize for translation.
You can hear a recording of the event here.
The Dash Arts Cosmonaut's Party
2 April 2014 | Rich Mix, London
On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin made the first human flight in space. In April, Dash Arts, Russian Revels, Obskura Films and Radio Gagarin celebrated his achievements by presenting an evening inspired by the Soviet Space Programme. We dined on Leica Hot Dogs and watched some classic and unusual Soviet space cinema and then danced to extra terrestrial tunes as DJ Mourrka took to the decks.
Theatrical chefs Katrina and Karina from Russian Revels will provided a cosmic menu and we enjoyed our Hot Dog or Hot Cat (veggie version) whilst watching Obskura's selection of fascinating films. Lyda Kavina then performed an astonishing set on her Theremin. It was an out of this world party.
Ukraine: A Flight Over the Black Sea
5 March 2014 | Rich Mix, London
The Dash Cafe, the British Ukrainian Society and English PEN presented the work of Ukrainian poet Ihor Pavlyuk. Ihor’s work paints an extraordinary and complex picture of Ukraine and we used it as inspiration to begin a conversation about the country today. The evening featured the haunting and soulful music of Olesya Zdorovetska and a panel chaired by Dash Artistic Director Josephine Burton with Journalist Annabelle Chapman, translator Steve Komanyckyj and Ihor himself. This was a celebration of Ukrainian voices that gave us a unique perspective on the current political situation.
About Ihor Pavlyuk and A Flight Over the Black Sea
Ihor Pavlyuk was born in the Volyn region of Ukraine in January 1967 and studied at the St Petersburg Military University, which he left in order to pursue his career as a writer. He was, as a result, sentenced to a period of hard labour in the Taiga working on but regained his liberty in the chaos accompanying the fall of the Soviet Union. He was able subsequently to complete his education and become a Doctor of Social Communication. His numerous poetry collections include Islands of youth (Ukrainian Острови юності) (1990), Magma (Ukrainian Магма) (2005), Ukraine at smoke (Ukrainian Україна в диму) (2009), Masculine fortunetelling (Ukrainian Чоловічe ворожіння) (2013). His work has been translated into several languages including English, French, Polish, Russian and Japanese.
A Flight over the Black Sea is translated from Ukrainian by Stephen Komarnyckj and published by Waterloo Press . The book consists of 75 of Ihor's poems in translation. The poems create a powerful mythic world in some ways akin to the confessional poetry of Sylvia Plath but with a focus on questions of language, empire and identity. Pavlyuk's poetic world, the internal cosmos he created in exile in St. Petersburg has resulted in a subjective, confessional poetry in a Slavic language. A Flight Over the Black Sea received an English PEN Writers in Translation award for 2014. English PEN promotes both the freedom to read and the freedom to write and campaigns for persecuted writers around the world. PEN’s Translation programme aims to celebrate books of outstanding literary value, dedication to free speech and inter-cultural understanding.
The Dash Café presents: Hammer & Tickle
5 February 2014 | Rich Mix, London
Inspired by Ben Lewis’ excellent documentary ‘Hammer and Tickle’ we will show choice scenes and jokes from the film and explore why humour and art more generally was so scary for the authorities in the Soviet Union. Hosted by Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton, Ben will talk a little about his research and journeys across the FSU region and eastern bloc in pursuit of punch-lines and history, writer and comedian David Schneider will share suppressive soviet insights from his forthcoming play 'Making Stalin Laugh’ and journalist and writer Vitali Vitaliev will offer his experiences of life as a writer under the Soviet Regime.
About Hammer & Tickle
What would happen if they introduced Communism to Saudi Arabia? Nothing at first but soon there would be a shortage of sand. Under the oppressive Communist regimes of the Soviet Union and its satellites, ordinary people told thousands of jokes about the society they lived in and the political system they suffered under. Denied free speech, and confronted daily with the gap between political propaganda and everyday reality, jokes became the language of truth in the world of Communism. They were a way for ordinary people to resist the regime – but the Communist regimes also used jokes to diffuse opposition. Jokes were thus the real battleground between state and people under Communism.
Using this unique folkloric archive, this funny and insightful feature-length documentary tells the real history of Communism through the jokes. Uncovering extraordinary stories never before told on television, director Ben Lewis met the man who collected jokes for Ronald Reagan, the Polish prankster who gave away toilet paper to deprived fellow citizens, and the Romanian amateur statistician who collected and analysed Communist jokes scientifically to reveal the part they played in the downfall of the system.