Residencies

• 22.06 > 27.06.2026

In the spi­ri­tu­al tra­di­ti­on of the Zoroastrians, the sacred ele­ments are Earth, Fire, Water and Air, and they must not be con­ta­mi­na­ted. In astro­lo­gy, the foun­da­ti­o­nal ele­ments of the pla­nets as well as the signs of the zodi­ac in the sky are the same. Likewise, the­se are the basis for all living and non-living beings on earth. The ele­ments on earth are the same as the ele­ments in the sky: As Above, So Below.

Together with the intan­gi­ble fifth ele­ment Aether (al-atheer) and a sha­red meal, a sto­ry is nar­ra­ted about our inter­con­nec­ted­ness with the cos­mos. The foods ser­ved are Za’tar and oli­ve oil, oli­ves, dates, tahi­ni, Rummaniyeh and bread. Each dish is based on a plant that grows some­whe­re bet­ween cen­tral Asia and Europe. Following the agri­cul­tu­ral appro­ach of ancient far­ming texts, the plants we har­vest are con­nec­ted with a pla­net. Historically, fol­lo­wing the astro­lo­gi­cal calen­dar was impor­tant for get­ting the right ​‘vibra­ti­on’ from the cos­mos for the plant, and the­re­fo­re into our bodies. In this per­for­man­ce, a dra­wing of the earth and the sky unra­vels a sto­ry bet­ween food, astro­lo­gy, and our unex­pec­ted con­nec­ti­ons with plants, and the poli­ti­cal events that have taken away the­se rela­ti­ons­hips, dis­rup­ting the deli­ca­te eco­lo­gy of inter­con­nec­ted­ness we have lived in for thou­sands of years.

This work was pre­sen­ted in 2025 in Rooms Festival (Marres, Maastricht), Beyond the Black Box Festival (De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam), Belluard Festival (Freiburg), Far Festival (Nyon) and Beyond the Black Box (Kaaitheater, Brussels).