(THIS IS A ONE-TO-ONE PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION)

“And everyone who rejects this and rebels is a terrorist. Accused, for example, of raising their index finger.”

As Far As My Fingertips Take Me is a conversation through a gallery wall between an audience member and a refugee. Through touch and sound, the audience member and performer share stories of people who have recently challenged border discrimination. The stories can be kept or washed away.

This piece explores empathy, affect, and some people's apparent need to “feel a refugee” in order to stand up against discriminatory border policies. It also asks us to consider whose crisis is it really when we talk about refugee crisis in the west. It reflects on the notion of fingertips as a delicate membrane that facilitates touch but that is also used by authorities as a prison trap.

Credits:
One-on-one installation performance by Tania El Khoury
Performed by Basel Zaraa
Song by Basel Zaraa (vocals, bass and keyboard) with Emily Churchill Zaraa (vocals), Pete Churchill (music production) and Katie Stevens (flute and clarinet).

Commissioned by “On the Move” LIFT 2016 in partnership with Royal Court Theatre.

“His tale doesn’t just touch me in a fleeting way – as the many stories and images reported in the newspapers do – it goes further. It marks me.”
- Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

ABOUT TANIA EL KHOURY:

Tania El Khoury is an artist working between London and Beirut. She creates interactive installations and challenging performances in which the audience is an active collaborator. Tania’s solo work has toured internationally, and for which she is the recipient of the Total Theatre Innovation Award, the Arches Brick Award and the 2017 ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art. She is the co-founder of Dictaphone Group, a research and performance collective aiming at reclaiming public space in Lebanon.

taniaelkhoury.com

This event is part of Bodies Beyond Borders: Territory 2017

A project by osborn&møller

OSBORNMOLLER.ORG