Al Halqa

On 28 April, a bomb exploded in a crowded café on Djemaa El-Fna square in Marrakesh. It was no random attack on some tourist magnet or other, it was an assault on a place with a special aura: the square is the only place where the “Halaiqi” perform – musicians, acrobats and especially storytellers, around whom “Halqas”, or circles of onlookers, form every day as they recite new improvisations or reinterpretations of previous performances.

UNESCO has listed this dwindling culture as “World Intangible Cultural Heritage”. The documentary “Al-Halqa” addresses this fading culture. Removed from Djemaa El-Fna, the project sensuously interprets the physicality of this unique cultural experience through interaction, projection and acoustics, creating an abstract pendant to the square itself.

Mon 11.7. 19 h

Finissage:“Al-Halqa. In the Storyteller’s Circle” – a documentary film by Thomas Ladenburger about the last storyteller in Marrakesh.

Followed by a discussion with the artists

Supported by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes