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Reinventing the Margin: Tales of Syrians around the World and a New Narrative for the Future

Writing the Histories of Ordinary People through Theater

Reinventing the Margin: Tales of Syrians around the World is an international artistic cooperation project between theater workers. Together, these present a truthful image which reflects the Syrian migrant population of more than seven million people – the world’s largest modern migration movement. Migration combines elements of nomadic existence and urbanism to create a new concept of civilization. At its core, the project is a criticism of how the world has dealt with the disaster of Syrian exodus and its abhorrent labeling as a ‘crisis’.

The project is built on a desire to promote dialogue about the disappearance and fragmentation of public space, which is the core venue for discussion and building free societies. In this sense, public discussions on Syrian migration creates opportunities for participants to talk about local issues in the countries covered by the project.

The project is based on the philosophy of theater as a public space created for citizens to be able to discuss civil issues under conditions of equality. At a deeper level, the project prompts participants to reconsider imagination versus reality. For the past ten years, the approach taken to dealing with issues of asylum and immigration have been based on the adoption of reality. This creates a dilemma when we judge work of arts in terms of honesty and truth. As such, we believe that imagination can be a space for creating reality, a space where migration and migrants can triumphing in a global context.

The project also promotes the concept of theater as a space for controversy and creative clashes with the values currently governing societies in Europe and the Arab region. Theater attempts to dismantle existing systems in favor of diverse creative practices. In this sense, we dismantled the contemporary concept of migration and all the vocabulary of migration: the tent, the camp, the legal papers, the laws, and the culture. Crucially, the project frames the Syrian situation as a learning space: it is the story of a total global failure, and an opportunity for new generations to think differently.

The project is built on a desire to promote dialogue about the disappearance and fragmentation of public space, which is the core venue for discussion and building free societies. In this sense, public discussions on Syrian migration creates opportunities for participants to talk about local issues in the countries covered by the project.

The project is based on the philosophy of theater as a public space created for citizens to be able to discuss civil issues under conditions of equality. At a deeper level, the project prompts participants to reconsider imagination versus reality. For the past ten years, the approach taken to dealing with issues of asylum and immigration have been based on the adoption of reality. This creates a dilemma when we judge work of arts in terms of honesty and truth. As such, we believe that imagination can be a space for creating reality, a space where migration and migrants can triumphing in a global context.

The project also promotes the concept of theater as a space for controversy and creative clashes with the values currently governing societies in Europe and the Arab region. Theater attempts to dismantle existing systems in favor of diverse creative practices. In this sense, we dismantled the contemporary concept of migration and all the vocabulary of migration: the tent, the camp, the legal papers, the laws, and the culture. Crucially, the project frames the Syrian situation as a learning space: it is the story of a total global failure, and an opportunity for new generations to think differently.