Memory of Birds by Tania El Khoury

Memory of Birds is an interactive sound installation in trees in collaboration with a trauma therapist and migrating birds.

The work explores political violence that literally and figuratively gets buried in contested lands.

A guided somatic experience, Memory of Birds is a work that eats itself, designed to be forgotten

This performance is part of Mayfest: Bristol's international festival of contemporary theatre and live performance, curated and produced by MAYK.
Check out the full programme at mayk.org.uk/mayfest, @mayfestbristol

Age: 14+
Duration: 45 mins, no interval

ACCESS INFORMATION
- This event will take place outdoors at St Georges Park. There are toilets including an accessible toilet available at the park. There will be relaxed seating with chairs and stools. Further information about the location will be updated shortly.
- This experience requires participants to be able to lie flat for 30 minutes in a hammock-like structure, suspended approximately 2′ off the ground. One step is required to transfer to the structure.
- One structure will be available at a lower level for those with mobility impairments.
- Audience members are also able to experience the work seated or lying on the ground, this is suitable for those that are unable to climb into the structure.

Venue Information
This event will take place outdoors at St Georges Park. The park is wheelchair accessible and has a wheelchair accessible toilet available. There will be relaxed seating with chairs and blanket. Further information about the location will be updated shortly.

Content guidance
Memory of Birds is a story of bird migration, survival and connection to land. It also refers to experiences of surviving war and colonial trauma.

About Tania El Khoury
Tania El Khoury is a live artist whose work focuses on audience interactivity and its political potential. She creates installations and performances in which the audience is a witness and an active collaborator. Tania’s work has been translated to multiple languages and shown in 32 countries across 6 continents in spaces ranging from national museums to small boats in the Mediterranean Sea.
She is the recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Soros Art Fellowship, the Bessie Outstanding Production Award, the International Live Art Prize, the Total Theatre Innovation Award, and the Arches Brick Award.
Tania is Distinguished Artist in Residence of Theater & Performance and the Director of the Center for Human Rights & the Arts at Bard College in New York. She holds a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London. She is associated with Forest Fringe collective of artists in the UK and is a co-founder of the urban research and live art collective, Dictaphone Group in Lebanon.

Credits
Commissioned by Bard Fisher Center LAB Biennial Common Ground 2023
Interactive sound installation by Tania El Khoury
Text & Narration: Tania El Khoury
Space Design: Thena Tak & Ross Adams
Music & Sound Design: Fadi Tabbal
Guided Somatic Experience: Coral Franchi LCSW, SEP
Dramaturgy: James Stenhouse Mask Design: Oscar
Singing Voice: Laila Samy

Illustration & Graphic Design: Haitham Haddad
Commissioned by Bard Fisher Center LAB Biennial Common Ground 2023
Main images: Polina Malikin &

taniaelkhoury.com
Instagram, X/Twitter: @taniaelk
Facebook: @taniaelkhourypage

#Mayfest
@mayfestbristol

Entry requirements: 14+ — Read more — Read less