English Sum of Events 2016-2017

Libby Sacer Foundation Sum of events

2016 -17

Libby Sacer Foundation Sum of eventss2016-17/Contents

2013-2015

The previous period was particularly rich…………….….....9-15

2016

The body without a password, the gendered body…....…16-29

2017

Then followed another intense period...............................30-32 Why Turkey?…….………………….…...…………….……..33-39 OK, why Turkey though? ………………...………….…......40-55 The full program o the festival……………….…...….….....56-57 After the festival, a phonecall…………...……......………..58-69

Thanks……….……………..…………………….……...…….….……....…70-71 Press.............................…..………………….………..…….…………...…72-74 Colophon………………………..…...…...…….…….....……………..……76-77

Contents

Libby Sacer in the masks room, at her house. Whether she lived in Ethiopia or the United Kingdom, Sacer always had a room in her house, which would be devoted to her mask collection.

The previous period was particularly rich.

If

2013

was full of debate, thought and

exploration - What form would the Libby Sacer project take? What was its goal and what would be the means? Who was Libby Sacer and why did she exist? - the period that followed that, the year

2015,

was full of activity. Dozens of

discussions, visual

2014 -

arts

presentations, exhibitions,

talks, live

performances and shows formed the cycle of events entitled "Passport please".

More than seventy visual and performance artists, musicians, theorists, academics and scientists, writers and architects from Greece and abroad collaborated with the

Libby

Sacer

Foundation

for

this

series of events.

The effect that these events had, spread across three levels. On the one hand, there was the occasional audience to the events that summed up to several hundreds of people, each of whom was following their own, individual, interests. On the other hand, as the programmed events were taking place one by one, week by week and month by month a "steady" audience started to develop, that is, a core of people who would come to our events regularly, even when these events would oncern very

different things, outside their immediate interests.

If the first audience category was made up, for example, by poetry lovers who would come hear their beloved poet Katerina Aggelaki-Rourke talk, but would not come back to find out who Camilo Vergara is, the second audience category – which was clearly smaller in size – engaged in our program of events in much greater trust. Those were the people who bothered to engage in an adventure, who came for one thing but stayed or another, who visited again and again, discovering people and ideas that might be unknowing to them previously.

This was, by far, our

favorite audience.

Breaking

down the safety barriers of their professional life, their social circle or their habits, they were the ones who fulfilled the desire onto which the entire structure of the “Passport please� was founded. (The role of a passport anyway, is to help people cross from one area to another.)

Apart from the casual and the regular visitors, the 2014-15 events also influenced another category of people: the participants themselves. These, did not only experience each and every thing that happened independently, each baring its own accomplishments and surprises, but also had a broader view of the overall venture, of its goals and rationale. In addition, a core

group of about 25 people didn’t only participate in bringing these activities to life but also in conceiving them, they were part of the research process and the opening up of possibilities. The effect that this process had on us is beyond measuring.

The particularly active for the Foundation period of 2014-15, succeeded a quiet

2016,

during which reflection

and internal processes for possible future plans were the main themes.

Quite a lot happened during this time, even though more internally, and not witnessed by anyone necessarily. Below, we are sharing one of these things.

What follows is the final thesis assignment of one of the collaborators

of the Libby Sacer Foundation, dancer and choreographer Olga Spyraki, who was actively involved in the discussions and activities of the previous period.

She delivered her thesis in 2016 and we are presenting it here – as a piece of a process, as a documentation of thoughts – exactly the way it was presented to the supervising professor (class: Identity Theories) without any editing or comments on behalf of the Foundation.

Libby Sacer Foundation. PASSPORT PLEASE. THE BODY WITHOUT A PASSWORD, THE GENDERED BODY. Class: Identity theories: feminist theater and minority theater, by Prof. Aggeliki Rosy.

Patras Theater Studies Department, post-Graduate Student Olga Spyraki, ΑΜ 838.

JANUARY 2016.

2. INTRODUCTION In this paper we will approach feminist and post-colonial theory as they apply to the series of events that took place in 2014 - 2015 at the Cheap Art gallery, having as a central point of reference the bisexual and woman by choice, African (originally), black in color, Jewish (in religion) Libby Sacer who died of old age in the spring of 2013 . The artists who formed the Libby Sacer Foundation team were based on her particular identity, of being between two genders, being a mulato Jew, a personality who traveled constantly and lived in obscurity with a constant need to protect herself. They realised that her maternal wealth and the education she owed to her bourgeois origins had offered a full life to someone who could have been wiped out just as well during her era, a life full of acquaintances with prominent personalities of her time, a life filled with political awareness and creative writing, however always within the limits drawn by anonymity and obscurity. Libby was a creature without identity - according to social stereotypes. Without a single sex, withought being associated to one color or one single religion... Libby lived a life free of stereotypes, like a ghost that traveled for a long time through the pages of our world history..

And essentially this is what it is about - for the team that set up this series of events, Libby Sacer constitutes the starting point for exploring the concept of Identity, the concept of Passport. With art shows, discussions and small durational performances, the team opens up a subject for discussion that concerns all of us: the boundaries that capitalism and liberalism have drawn, the authoritarianism of our political present that gives us our identity and classifies us strictly and stereotypically according to our religion, our gender, our color.

With Libby Sacer as a starting point, the events expanded to a wider thematic sphere that portrays facts and opens us a discurse with situations that concern today's capitalist viewpoint and separation of the world, through a vision that is founded on the basic.

principles of post-colonial theory. Colonialism constituted a condition of political domination imposed by old European powers on subjugated peoples

Nowadays, we are experiencing a differentiated system for economic dominance of the powerful against those who are weaker, which is currently undergoing a crisis and, with the aim of its recovering, causes a series of actions and reactions that become the cause for wars, civil wars, migrations that have political reasons or are just about survival. Even though the term "colonialism" no longer applies, our planet is being re-mapped and new groups of stateless and submissive people are being created, while the Third World, which past colonialism has built, continues to be the tangible proof that we are not all citizens of the world but first-class, second-class and third-class citizens.

Libby Sacer therefore constitutes a combination of elements that make her a weak link in the wider social grid: she is both transexual and at the same time when she has to choose between two genders she chooses the female gender - thus binding her personal feminist view of the female nature.

She didn't have any children, so her choice does not come from a need for post-mortem existence, but supports the Woman as the second sex in a patriarchal society. Feminist critique and the feminist movement have sought to explore the female perception and nature more broadly and beyond an aggressive rivalry with the male world. At the same time, Libby who is born in Africa, and is of mixed color, is automatically categorased as belonging in the Third World, even though her mother, a middle-class European-born wealthy woman, shared with her along with her blood, a national European identity, and a dominant religious identity. Libby therefore expresses with her existence a priori, a mix of gender, religions and colors, being a creature marked by feminist and post-colonial theory, and for these reasons, an ideal starting point of the dialectic on the concept of identity and passport, of homeland and borders.

Of all the performative events that took place within the framework of the Libby Sacer Foundation programming, we will focus on two that, with their themes and their way of realization, we see that they have the elements and identity of feminist theater and theater that speaks of the historical instead of the religious and national identity.

But in order to investigate and read the 2 performances consistently, we should initially focus on the terms on which our readings will be made. Therefore, we'll proceed by defining the concepts of feminist and post-colonial theory, but also of "Post-colonial Feminism".

3. FEMINIST THEORY AND POST-COLONIAL THEORY Post-colonial as well as feminist theory are theories with a range of dialectical and historical process of development and deepening. We will focus on a basic definition in order to relate them to their actual manifestation on the examples of performances we will be looking at, and we will also examine them based on the notion of the Identity of the individual.

In this context, we will first discuss post-colonial theory. In a world where certain States dominate others - States that also have a national identity - and at the same time at an era when globalization came about in order to unify or rather to homogenize, perhaps postcolonial theory is now a historical view of the earlier colonial politics of peoples that expected to conquer weaker countries for the benefit of their own empowerment and development.

Colonialism was a form of imperialism, with relations of power and exploitation. The least developed countries serve the most powerful capital states.

Post-colonial theory seeks differentiation, envisions the post-colonial nation where independence is prevalent in any relationship between strong and weak. According to Postcolonial theory, colonial politics are condemned. And critically described as failed. The main reason is the cultural specificities of every nation-state that cannot be possibly destroyed for the sake of a stronger country that controls the first one. Post-colonial theory speaks about the importance of identity as defined by space but also by cultural / ethnic origin. It supports independence and coexistence in a context where states of different religious beliefs, racial identity and cultural traditions experience coexist in fairness and equality.

Historically there have been anti-colonial movements of resistance in the colonial politics of stronger countries. A characteristic example would be Africa and resistance movements against the French colonialists. Women's contribution to these movements is of great interest. They were equally active with revolutionary action, even armed, alongside the revolutionary men. Feminism, therefore, was a practical application in the context of anticolonial action Women with their duality as gendered and colonial subjects, a condition of activity that reflects post-colonial theory, succeeded to coexist with men on equal terms, and here we can see the possibility that the two theories we are examining can assimilate one the other. However, it is also true that feminism is not indissolubly linked to post-colonial theory since men and women do not coexist within its framework. A feminist is not necessarily a nationalist, a nationalist is not necessarily a feminist. At the same time, however, an anti-imperialist ideology embraces equality and opposes oppression in every case. On the other hand ... a patriarchal structured society that acquires an internationalistic consciousness as it fights against oppression of one nation by another, remains structurally a patriarchal society.

Gender has been classified. We therefore move on to the interpretation of feminist theory, realizing that women are not stateless.. Feminism claims for women equal treatment and equal rights with that of men. However, there are issues of sexuality, biological differentiation, that de facto do not concern national identity but are placed within the framework of historical, cultural and religious identities and traditions. So what does Postcolonial Feminism mean? We will rely at this point very much on Deepika Bahri and her text entitled "Feminism in / and post-colonialism", where Feminist critique is defined in connection to post-colonial critique, basing this defining on conceptual constructs such as "Representation," "essentialism," "The Third World Woman." and "IDENTITY". Spivak, as mentioned in this article, quotes in a very pertinent way the meaning of all these concepts in post-colonial and feminist theory. She speaks of the necessary stand of detachment when she speaks as an Indian woman or as a Woman or as a Feminist, she speaks about the method of representation where she actually presents - represents the moment when she speaks of her identity. Because it is true that at the same time many subjectivities coexist within us "one thing is not just one thing". Essentialism is a strategy for the emergence of a "minority" group - while the people that make it up it is logical that have different characteristics - by presenting some common qualities as fixed, group qualities that do not change andare given by nature.

The Third World Woman is the woman whose points of oppression are inextricably linked to her national identity and possibly some inviolable principles imposed by the religion of her own people. This is mostly the woman of the East as the Woman of the West is considered to be more civilized in a more civilized reality. We arrive at a concept that assimilates all the previous ones in order to read them with a deeper understanding: The concept of Globalization in conjunction with the political perception of space, land, as our planet has mapped up and re-mapped nowadays in a painful way.

A person is first mapped out by a person's sexual identity, as individuality, and then as part of a nation, as a genetic bearer of traditions, religion and language, as a citizen of the land where he was born. In the capitalist regime that governs us, a person is mobile and what’s more moves out of need, because of hunger, because there is no food where this person came from, because this person's country is poor and of questionable sustainability, because the land that gave birth to that person and is home, is now a battlefield and a bombing site.

At the same time, liberalism opened the borders for people, motivating them to become citizens of the world, creating a new perspective for man as a part of a complex society that is a society for everyone... what home doesn't have a coca cola (of course in Madaya, Syria, today in 2016, people die of hunger, and certainly do not have coca cola in their fridges.)

Feminist Post-colonial Theory therefore not only stands as a term but also fits perfectly in our social and political current affairs. We are talking about Identity and at the same time we are talking about Passports. A woman also bares her national identity, her color, religion and place of birth; especially these days, these are the things that make up her conditions of existence and coexistence in a global context.

Libby Sacer is a carrier of the above concepts. She is a woman of choice, a mulatto (halfAfrican) Jew, and she happens to be a descendant of a middle-class family with a refined culture and critical thinking, dialectical power and survival capability thanks to her economic class mark. Starting from Libby Sacer, the series of events bares the title PASSPORT PLEASE and gives rise to reflection and debates where feminist and post-colonial theory are the basis and reference point.

4. PROJECT LIΒBY SACER – themes, shows.

“The group Libby Sacer Foundation begins a dialogue […] on issues that Libby Sacer embodies, our heritage and “ghosts”. This series of events, entitled “Passport please”, refers to boundaries and restrictions of the Body, of Space, of Identity, and of the concept of Mediation in art and public life.” (Trust / The archive of Libby Sacer, electronic on-line publication on ISSUU https://issuu.com/libbysacerfoundation/docs/trust )

Activities started in April 2014 with the opening event of the exhibition entitled "TRUST" where "original objects" from the Sacer archive were presented, "reconstructions and replicas" of archive objects, and creative approaches to the exhibits, based on her archive.

Afterwards, with the theme "Ghosts / Ghost songs", a new series of actions was launched: performances, artist talks and discussions took place, on issues such as Family as an ideological mechanism, Public Space and Demonstrations, the Ghost of Nation, Terror and Romanticism. The exhibition was renewed with new artistic creations based on the concept of ghosts, and a new cycle of performances was presented.

From the ghosts of History to our personal ghosts, whatever haunts us, insisting to exist regardless of time and space and remaining invisible despite of its manifestations, is part of our identity.

In 2013 in London, Libby Sacer's home opened to the world, bringing to light numerous artifacts of her life and work. As the findings concern and illuminate much of the art and thought of the previous century, what seems to awaken is the spirit of an era - the era from which we originate. Libby Sacer's spirit has begun to haunt us.

Ghosts can hide or reveal themselves, walk through walls and across centuries, trespassing boundaries and limitations, exhibiting complete disregard for any sort of Passports. No matter what we ask of them, they do not respond or comply, they retain the right to fully control and define themselves, being their own masters, while enjoying the dominant emblem of power: to be able to see us even when we cannot see them.

What ghosts 'haunt' us, compose us, dominate us, keep us company, torture and liberate us?

Which is their voice, well hidden within our own? Do they appear by default, did others cast them upon us or have our own thoughts and choices brought them forth? Are we haunted by the questions we neglected to pose or by unresolved problems?

Traditionally, before an entity can haunt the present it must first die, become the past. Death is a necessary condition for overcoming the limitations of matter. And paradoxically, it is precisely the ghosts’ return to life, their exposure to the light of current reality that may finally silence, paralyze and render them finally dead. But how would we find our way and who would we be without them? If a truth is what refuses oblivion, then what becomes of forgotten truths?

Are there ghosts whose presence we gladly nurture and cherish? Which ones would we prefer to get rid of and how? And finally, what ghosts are we talking about?

The basic team that represented the Libby Sacer Foundation and put together the series of events, defined their thematic axis and gathered the participating visual and performing artists, consisted of Myrto STambouloy, Eugenia Tzirtzilaki and Dimitri Halatsi. The text quoted above was the text of the press release that presented the series of GHOST SONGS (https://www.facebook.com/LibbySacer/photos/pb.526505937467641.2207520000.1452201929./599074660210768/?type=3&theater ). [‌] The performances all had as common characteristics: 1. being bi-gendered or trans, with the female side being the predominant one, was one starting point, and 2. the starting point of her ethnic-racial uniquness which resulted in her constant movement from country or forced emigration.

Also, all performances were durational and short so as to repeat, for example, per hour on the day they were presented, except for "Linda / Prima Vista", which was performed as a separate event with its own audience, and lasted about 40 minutes. Finally, there was always a correlation with the objects of the exhibition and the interaction of the performer with the audience and the space.

5.LIΒBY IDENTITY – representation – essentialism.

PASSPORT PLEASE – all activities were focusing on a stereotypically unfortunate figure. With an unacceptable sexuality, being both black and Jewish, Libby represented a priori a set of minority groups, while her way of living and her choices reflect a critical and political attitude towards the social status. Here it is important to note that Libby was a made-up person, a construction by the three main organizers of the events, a fact which was revealed long after the end of the exhibition. The choice to create Libby Sacer can therefore be considered an ideal choice of representation, as she is a figure that brings together key elements of different minority groups. Essencialism is therefore a key element in this symbolic character.

Libby balances between identities and displays her power of choice even within her complexity. She lives in obscurity - which makes sense, as her life would be jeopardized by exposing what she is on an everyday basis. Her homebase alternates and is a particular nomadic figure. Her passport is her complex nature that she herself has accepted and is protecting.

The two performances to be mentioned below are built on the basis of the complexity of the identity of a fake person, and speak of the complex world reality where politicians are serving the eshatblishment, where the establishment define nations, where nations are built up by societie, where societies are defined by Patriarchal models, and where all this contributes to an inhumane redistribution of land, to the formation of a sad Atlas that lists groups of people in a continuous process of migration, but also corpses - victims of their national identity, buried in ocean depths that constitute one more inaccessible "no man's land."

The entire series of actions of the Libby Sacer Foundation took place during the period when the bombing of Syria had begun. This resulted in the need for the composition of a performance that will be examining, entitled Traces. At the same time, the whole logic behind the series of actions led to the final interactive performance, "Linda / Prima Vista". In "Linda", again, the basis is the story of a woman who has migrated for economic reasons.

In both performances, the Body that represents - in one case, kinetically where she manifests though her presence, in the other case mentally, as we hear the interview given by Linda, an actual person - is a Symbol that puts the concept of the border , immigration, country, passport, Identity under examination. Libby becomes a barer of people without a specific name but with common features that are declared absent because of an imperialistically inhuman present..

6. PERFORMANCES. TRACES. LINDA PRIMA VISTA. The performance with the title TRACES was based on the concepts of IDENTITY and PASSPORT. Large pieces of white paper were stretched out on the floor like narrow corridors, while next to it were ink containers where the visitors could place parts in their body and then create prints of whatever form they wanted on the paper. So the spectators formed their own Traces on the ground. Then the dancer appeared in a white dress, symbolizing a ghost, perhaps the intangible figure of Libby who "walks" on the traces of the world.

However, the main element of the performance was sound: during the whole time that "Libby" was present in the room, and her movement was relating to the traces, a recording was heard, composed of Martin Luther King's talk, news and reports from Gaza, Syria, and the U.S., along with commercial radio spots mainly in English, advertising products highlighting the pattern of a successful middle-class white patriarchal family that, in advertising, is the only healthy sign of life on our planet. This action lasted 10 minutes, and was completed by the exit of "Libby" from the space, wrapping her body with the paper and leaving with it, so that new strips of white paper could be placed on the same spot after a while.

LINDA PRIMA VISTA was based on the book: "Discussing with Linda," edited by Eleni SyrigouRigou (Open Border editions), where an Albanian immigrant speaks about her life and Eleni Syrigou records her words. A documentary text was thus used in this collective performance.

There were participants who were actually performers and were instructed to participate so as to assist in guiding the audinece and support them in their attempt to participate in the process. The space was defined and separated by a big peice of fabric. Behind it was a table, a chair and a light. The text of Linda's interview was simply placed on the table, and any member of the audience who wanted to, could go behind the fabric and read out loud, addressing the rest of the audience, an extract from the text, first vista. On the other side of the curtain there were the chairs of the spectators. So, the readers were never fully visible, only their shadow appeared.

While the curtain offers an encouraging anonymity to those who read, it also helps those who listen: "We have eyes for the lies and ears for the truth, Voltaire said. Maybe Linda's words are better heard this way." (Extract from the press release for this event). In both performances, the body is present - with a feminine predominant side by choice in the first case and in a trans bi-gendered dimension sexually and pragmatically immaterial, in the second case in a dimension of spoken word as it expresses the experiences of a woman, mother and daughter, even though these words are spoken either by a man or a woman.

In the first case, the Body acts as a mediator between the present visual trace and the auditory past and present trace. In both cases, the performance is supported structuraly and dramurgically by concepts of border, mapping, national identity against a globalization era and a capitalist system. The female gender, combined with the identity of a woman from a Third unfortunate world, are the given data of the subject of the representation, thus portraying sets of minority groups as far as their common attributes are concerned. So the main code is the Body, and then the sound - words and images - the shadow, two performances are performed that discuss with the audience about Identity, the Passport that we people own.

7. BODIES WITHOUT A PASSPORT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF GENDER Linda's body is passed on to everyone, to every reader and to every listener. Her memories and experiences are assimilated to everyone involved in the performance. Something important is achieved here: each of us understands to what extent he or she relates to situations that we might have previously considered as unfamiliar. Unintentionally, each of us comes from a country that is in a certain position economically and geographically, and have experiences because of our given identity - national - religious, economic and geographic. In the performance where an immaterial past body walks on the traces of a present reality, we have a body that is again without a passport , without a stereotypically given sex, but is female within the frame of a conscious choice, that listens to the crisis of the international system with the detouched power of its complex identity, which deprives her of a given national temperament.

It is important here to mention that in the first showing of the exhibition, a durational performance was presented that was significant and introductory for the two subsequent ones that we are discussing. It was a 10-minute "appearence" of Libby in the exhibition space, who in silence met some of her basic physical needs and her need for safety: thirst, need for food, sleep, a roof over her head and heating. However, she was meeting all of these needs in a sense of Pleasure, so she walked in slowly in relaxed pace and sat beside the balcony to enjoy the warm light, she drank a bit of cognac and ate a small piece of chocolate, she gazed out the window and then closed his eyes as if sinking in a short midday nap. The performer was a slim figure who moved in both a male and a female way, dressed in men's clothing but with long hair and a childish, neutral face. The aim was to present to the audience the Body that symbolizes Libby and the critical thinking ideology behind Libby. So starting with her Body, which was introduced to the audience, there was a follow-up on the chain of storytelling and representation, and so came the following performances, and the final one, "Linda, Prima Vista".

The Body with the two sexes and the independent identity, the Body without a passport was the ideal medium and symbol in order to achieve a representation with reference to issues of feminist and post-colonial criticism.

8. AFTERWORD Libby Sacer was created to talk about our life through her life. An important part of this series of actions is that after the end of the events, it was revealed that this was an invented person.

All participating artists of course knew that from the beginning, but they worked together to keep the truth secret and to achieve a believable past life for Libby.

So it was necessary to construct a figure that has gathered elements that classify her into minority groups, combined with bourgeois roots and education that ensured her survival, given all these characteristics in the historical context of the events of the 20th century. A symbol was created because of her sexual, ethnic, racial and social identity. Nevertheless it was never interpreted as a symbol but as a person who lived, and her life is a teaching and a field of reflection and dialogue.

Libby Sacer open up issues of Space, borders, passport. The series of activities entitled PASSPORT PLEASE raises the interest of the recipient in the renegotiation as a citizen of the world, in a world that is divided, where people are categorized based on their gender, color, generation, religion, their roots... Feminist Criticism and Post-colonial Criticism remain relevant, and as the performing arts reflect current affairs with an instant creation but a timeless power to transfer thought and concerns, now have a conscious reference to these theories, even in an activist way, perhaps claiming a new "world order" or at least verbalising in a human (not necessarily humanitarian) way what is happening, in a real, actual manner.

The arts constitute a valuable field for political positioning and expression. Besides, art cannot possibly produce without interacting with the society from which it arises and to which it is addressed. And especially in our time, after our old continent, and every other continent on our planet too, has been in existance for so many years, it is clear that our social issues are related to the wider system that governs us. This system must be understood, interpreted, demonstrated. A great playwright who was also a great political activist was Harold Pinter, and his words are probably an ideal epilogue (from the pre-recorded acceptance speech that he sent when he was invited to receive the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature):

“I belive that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.

If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man.

the determination in which he speaks is nessesary for us today. And the theatrical convention is an ideal medium to inspire it into our fellow humans.

Olga Spyraki, ΑΜ 838, 16 January 2016.

9.BIBLIOGRAPHY Postcolonialism: A Historical Introduction Robert J. C. Young Blackwell Publishers, 2001.

“Beginning theory (third edition): An introduction to literary and cultural theory (Beginnings)” by Peter Barry, 3rd Revised edition by Peter Barry, 2009.

On Patriarchy,Veronica Beechey, Feminist Review, No. 3, p. 66 – 8, 1979.

“Feminism, citizenship, and radical democratic politics ”, Chantal Mouffe, Cambridge University Press, 1995.

“Feminism in/and postcolonialism”, Deepika Bahri, The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Literary Studies, Edited by Neil Lazarus, Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Electronic Bibliography Electronic publications where all the Libby Sacer Foundation activities, and Passport Please, are presented https://issuu.com/libbysacerfoundation https://issuu.com/libbysacerfoundation/docs/__vents_2014-2015_-_in_english http://issuu.com/libbysacerfoundation/docs/ghost_songs_fantasmata https://issuu.com/libbysacerfoundation/docs/trust Press release by Cheap Art gallery , and the Libby Sacer Foundation http://libbysacer.blogspot.gr/ http://cheapart.gr/%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%AF%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%85%C E%BC%CE%B1-libby-sacer-foundation-cheapart/ https://www.facebook.com/LibbySacer/

Then came another intense period.

Observing

the

activities,

one

the sees

Foundation's a

rather

wavy

pattern. The periods of evaluation and preparation are followed by intensely active periods, and then things are quiet again, until the next series of actions.

So, after the slow, rather stochastic

2016,

2017

was

once

again

particularly active for the Foundation.

2017

was

festival

the of

year cinema

of and

"Side

Look:

culture

Turkey" [29, 30 Sept & 1 Oct.].

a

from

"Side Look" was a three-day event with a wide range of

activities and a rich

program that started from the morning of each day and ended after midnight. The main part of the festival was devoted to contemporary

independent

cinema

from

Turkey, and it included 17 films recently produced - both short and feature length, and both fiction and documentary - by Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian authors.

At the same time, the rich side program included morning tours in the Ottoman buildings of Athens, a guided tour to the philosophy of Eastern cousine, Turkish language lessons, as well as talks with invited artists and academics from Turkey about the current climate in the country.

Why

Turkey?

Our attention turned to Turkey when, in 2016, some letters by Libby Sacer were found, which show that she had made at least three trips there in the early 1970s, and that part of her lineage was linked to the country.

“My visit to this strange land has kept me so busy. I ended up staying a lot longer than I had originally assumed. It has been a difficult journey

for me

mentally. My great grandmother’s birth place is much more magical than I had imagined. However, as you had warned me, it’s difficult to be a woman here.”

In her letters she speaks with admiration for the place, the culture and the many different

cultures

she

encounters

(Kurds, Jews, Greeks, Arabs, Armenians,

04.01. 1969 Paris Dear Mr.Yapici, Thank you again for your patience. Take my word and give my assertion to the buyer. I will be in your office by noon of May 25. If that’s okay for all parties, we can make the sale that afternoon. You can go ahead and get the necessary appointments from the deed office.

Sincerely, Libby Sacer

04.20.1969 Istanbul Dear Mrs. Sacer, Very glad to come to the final step for this sale. Your lawyer acquaintance Mr.Abend has come to my office several times by now. All is set, waiting for your arrival.

Warm regards, Ahmet Yapici

07.21.1971 Istanbul Dear Alex My visit to this strange land has kept me so busy. I ended up staying a lot longer than I had originally assumed. It has been a difficult journey for me mentally. My great grandmother’s birth place is much more magical than I had imagined. However, as you had warned me, it’s difficult to be a woman here. The family that bought the house also took care of me. Otherwise it would have been difficult to stay here this long as I have, as a single black woman with a language barrier. The family and I are quite fond of each other. They organized a flat for me in Fener, where I will be staying till the end of August.

I know you are curious about my encounter with Yasar Kemal… James Baldwin introduced us, right before he left Istanbul for good. Yasar is [….]

Ah well I got over that as I realize interracial relationships are not accepted in this part of the world. Moreover, you know me, I can’t be under anyone’s thumb. There are no hard feelings left between me and Yasar. He will always stay in my memoirs as someone I have loved.

Please keep an eye on my house and keep watering my plants. I have that carpet you always wanted. Be patient!

Thinking of you, Libby

Achaemenians, Bosnians,

Albanians, Kirksiyians,

Assyrians, Georgians,

Hessians, Roma). The mix of West and East brings out a cosmopolitanism aroma that captures her.

In Istanbul she spends time with her friend James Baldwin, who introduces her to the emblematic writer YaĹ&#x;ar Kemal *.

The two of them quickly become close, and he helps them see what is hidden under the "magic carpet" of the East.

The great contradictions, the role of the army,

the

oppression

position of

of

minorities,

women,

persecution

and torture, poverty as well country's

hopes

begin

to

the

as the

appear

in

Libby's letters after getting to know Yasar Kemal. Her relationship with him

Yaşar Kemal (1923-2015) He is one of the leading writers of modern Turkey, very popular in his country as well as internationally. When he was 5 years old, he saw his father get murdered. The shock left him with a stutter that healed with poetry and song. He learned to play the saz, narrate folk tales and sing and later he shared the experience of the wandering troubadour in a vast work where he depicted the oral tradition of the deep Anatolia.

As a teen, he stopped school and took on many jobs, from a laborer to a librarian. His real name was Kemal Sadık Gökçeli but he used a pseudonym when he began working as a journalist.

Being of Kurdish origin, he supported the Kurdish political struggle for equal rights and more democracy. His first wife was Jewish and he was Alevis himself, hence belonging to the modernized Islam, the most progressive part of an otherwise religious society.

He identified with his popular heroes - sailors, fishermen, proletarians - and was the author of the weak and the persecuted.

He was arrested a total of 20 times and send to trial for his beliefs and political action, and was jailed three times. "Prison is the school of Turkish writers," he once said.

Kemal had international bonds. He lived in Sweden for two years, he was a founding member of the World Academy of Culture in Paris, and his work was presented at La Scala, in Milan. He was awarded the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in Germany and the Grand Prize for Culture and Arts of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey.

In 1973 he was also nominated for a Nobel prize in Literature.

does not seem to hold much, but they remain friends until the end of their lives.

“Ah well I got over that as I realize interracial

relationships

are

not

accepted in this part of the world.

Moreover, you know me, I can’t be under anyone’s

thumb.

There

are

no

hard

feelings left between me and Yasar. He will always stay in my memoirs as someone I have loved.”

This is probably Sacer's last letter mentioning

Yasar

Kemal.

Since

then,

nowhere else in her writings does his name appear, at least as far as we know till now.

“On the occasion of these newly found letters and the stories they unfold, the Libby Sacer Foundation is attempting a portrait of today's Turkey.

Cinematographers, artists, musicians and activists compose a picture of Turkey, and at the same time they connect, communicate, and share with us everything that will always be outside the news bulletins …”

- From the Press Release of the “Side look” festival

O K, b u t w h y T u r k e y ?

Our attention turned to Turkey when, in 2016 and even earlier, relations between Greece

and

Turkey

were

artificially

undermined and the tension was being used as a tool for disciplining the masses on both sides of the Mediterranean. In two societies that were in crisis - economic,

political, and wider - the destorted reflection of the "Other" had begun to be reproduced in more and more extreme ways, aspiring

to

the

disorientation

citizens

and

their

obedience

to

of the

established hierarchy.

At the same time, the "terrible people" on the other side of the meditterenian were experiencing a - linked to older decades

of

Turkish

history

but

unprecedented for this generation and crazy in any case - fast dive towards a capitalist totalitarianism. That is, the atmosphere

of

democratization

and

renewal, which, as a popular demand, had first brought Erdogan to power, slowly gave way to the gradual deprivation of rights,

authoritarianism

criminalization

of

all

reactions,

and in

order to establish the current power

Picture from the film “Weird times�

towards an unlimited future. One of the main levers for this purpose was the prospect

of

a

supposedly

uplifting

economy at all costs. At the altar of this politically necessary but deceptive and surely non-sustainable profit of a vigorous

west-like

"development",

in

recent years we have seen in Turkey systematic poverty,

displacements, and

disasters

of

forced both

the

natural environment and the historical monuments

in

ideological,

the

country,

religious

and

while ethnic

cleansing intensified. Finally, the more a society is

torn apart by

internal

contradictions, the more convenient a tool of control is to demonstrate power and aggression abroad (clichĂŠ, clichĂŠ, clichĂŠ).

"I was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months simply because I painted Turkish flags in damaged buildings. But they (the government) have provoked this. I only painted it."

- Zehra DoÄ&#x;an

Especially after the attempted coup in 2016, when the state officially entered a state of exception and many laws got suspended while new ones were replacing them,

those

who

denounced

or

merely

observed this course (by actions, words, pictures1) are called criminals and have begun disappearing.

It

is

no

wonder

that

more

and

more

Turkish citizens, of every ethnic origin, especially

the

democratic,

leftist

most or

progressive, secular,

are

struggling to escape the persecution by fleeing the country. And which country shares the climate, habits, ethos and style of the most ambitious version of

1

For example, there's the case of Zehra DoÄ&#x;an, artist, journalist and former editor of the feminist Kurdish news agency Jinha (which closed down in 2016 as one of the 100 media firms that folded after the failed coup). In 2017, Dogan was imprisoned because of a painting. The work reproduced in an artistic way a photograph taken by state officials and of the ruined Turkish city of Nusaybin, on the border with Syria. At the trial, the prosecutor's office used her art and her comments on twitter as incriminating evidence, even though she explained that the crimes she was accused of are legitimate journalistic activities, since she is a member of the Union of Journalists of Turkey. Solidarity with DoÄ&#x;an has been expressed by many, eg artist Ai WeiWei in a letter in 2017 and Banksy with his fresco in New York in 2018.

the country's they are leaving? For many the answer is the one next to them, Greece.

Thus,

more

and

more

Turkish

citizens have been migrating to Greece.

What they find in Greece when they arrive is

not

just

several

common

words,

familiar sunlight and Turkish coffee the locals call Greek, but also suspicion, which local politicians have cultivated while in competition, trying to prove who among them would be most convincing as the father of the nation. This suspicion - a mixture of ignorance, stupidity and hostility - welcomes here people who are broken, terrified, sad, some of whom have been tortured, some of whom have been imprisoned , some of whom have tried hard to avoid leaving their country.

Meanwhile, in 2016, as the situation in Turkey is getting more dramatic and in Greece the concern about the danger from the East is growing, in Athens the mood for exchange and mutual understanding prevails.

Not

with

our

immediate

neighbors though, but with our distant partners. The decision of the German documenta 14 to share her program for the first time between Athens and Kassel was enthusiastically

embraced

by

many

journalists, artists and critics2. This time, we did not recieve directives from the North, but "gifts": art and theory, with the stamp of validity from one of the most powerful artistic events in the world. And moreover, an event with an impressive budget that would give jobs to people living in tormented Athens, while at the same time it would bring its know-

2

Though admittedly not by the general public, for many reasons that belong to another discussion.

how and assistance to various cultural institutions in Athens.

In general, the atmosphere surrounding the event was joyous and festive, like a great Esperanto party that aftists (and not only) from around the world travelled to Athens enjoy. too,

we

also

We were at this party attended

performances,

exhibitions and presentations, we were also there for the talks, we also held wine classes and chatted away.

At the various opening nights we also happened to meet several artists and curators from Turkey, who found the time to fly to Athens for the weekend and not miss the big party. In discussions with them

about

the

situation

in

their

country, they told us that they did not

pay much attention to politics, but they emphasized that the art scene there was just

as

interesting

and

vibrant

as

anywhere else. And when we asked about Zehra DoÄ&#x;an, they exchanged annoyed looks and explained that this was an exception.

And so the art world, the intelligencia and the media alike seemed to be in agreement:

As flames turned

into a

f i r e n e x t d o o r, w e s h o u l d be looking far to the

a w a y, u p

c o l d n o r t h.

Side Look was a 3-day festival dedicated to

Turkey,

full

of

films,

concerts,

discussions, performances and talks that

took place at Embros Theater, Psirri, in central Athens.

The

festival

was

mainly

cinematic3,

including 17 films, some fiction and some documentaries,

some

short

and

some

feature length, all screened with both English and Greek subtitles. Almost all the films (all but one) were translated and presented for the very first time in Greece by the Libby Sacer Foundation.

At the same time, during the days of the festival, a morning program took place in other

locations,

including

Turkish

language courses (at a language school), introduction to Turkey's cuisine (at a

3

Την έμπνευση για ένα κυρίως κινηματογραφικό φεστιβάλ, μας την έδωσε το “Bakur”, που ήταν η πρώτη ταινία που θέλαμε να προβάλουμε αλλά στην οποία τελικά ποτέ δεν καταφέραμε να αποκτήσουμε πρόσβαση. (βλ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/13/film-makers-withdraw-films-istanbul-filmfestival)

restaurant kitchen) and a tour to the Ottoman

buildings

of

Athens

(walking

tour). All screenings and other events of the festivals were free to attend.

For the full program of the festival: S i d e L o o k / / Κοίτα Δίπλα

After the a

festival,

phonecall.

One or two days after the festival had finished, one of the members of the Libby Sacer Foundation received a phone call.

The call was from the Turkish embassy in Athens. The consul’s secretary wanted to learn

more

about

the

Libby

Sacer

Foundation – what’s the location of the Foundation’s offices, the location of its international headquarters, what is its official website - and in any case she would like to arrange a meeting between the consul and a representative of the Foundation. "Can you come to the embassy for a meeting?" The secretary asked. "Oh,

it’s a bit far off actually" was our first answer. "Why doesn’t the Consul come downtown for a coffee?"

We

didn’t

look

forward

to

finding

ourselves on Turkish soil, nor did we think that the consular authority of another country had any authority over us. But it would be a lie to say that the call didn’t alarm us at all. We discussed the possibility not to appear at the appointment,

and

obligation

to

we

really

meet

had

with

no the

representative of a government, let alone a government that is responsible for torturing civilians.

Eventually

we

decided

to

go

to

the

meeting, mainly in order to be sure that we would not putting on the spot

one of

the Turkish citizens who collaborated with us or traveled to participate in the festival. So, 10 days after the end of Side Look, on October 11, 2017, we met with O.Y., Consul General of Turkey in Athens and Piraeus, at a quiet cafe in Zappeion.

Ms. Y. discussed with us about an hour and a half about the weather and similar subjects - about her mom, her why, her kids, the language Greek courses she attended, the trains in Belgium, the tourists who lose their wallets in the summer - and about our festival too: She shared with us the fact that when he first heard about Side look, she felt joy and

sadness

at

the

same

time

-

joy

because someone is doing something about Turkey, and sadness because she didn't know

about

it

until

after

it

was

anounced. She informed us that she had come to the festival on the last day and had enjoyed the film and the concert she attended. And by the way, she ask a few questions:

Really,

who

are

the

Libby

Sacer

Foundation members? How many are we? (Our answer: - We are many.) What did we study? (- Various things.) Whose idea was this festival? (- Ours.) Will we organize something

else

about

Turkey

in

the

future? What? Will we organize something about another country? What? Our answer to these questions was that we cannot answer.

Not

so

much

for

reasons

of

confidentiality, but because we always do

what

w e w a n t, w h e n

w e w a n t to,

without having to answer

to anyone or follow a certain schedule.

Admittedly

without

being

discouraged,

the Consul continued to pose questions, always

very

politely,

and

exhibiting

great interest.

Where did we find the money to do the festival? Did we have sponsors? How many?

Who? She would also love to organize a festival like ours but it is so hard to find the money! Would we perhaps have some advice for her? Where to find money?

How did we find the money? (And how she envies us, for being independent and free to choose whatever sponsor we want since we don’t represent a government ...) But if she did find the money to make such a festival, where would she find the films?

How did we find the films we screened?

Who gave them to us? What contacts do we have in Turkey?

Beyond the obvious, there was no answer to these questions either. We had no sponsors nor a budget or any special contacts. Most of the films we found through other festivals where they had been screened previously. Our friends helped voluntarily to make it happen. In the end, everything had happen in a terribly simple way.

Apart from the questions, the discussion also gave brought up an exchange of viewpoints, on the subject of censorship for example. The Consul General explained that

she

considers

censorship

quite

helpful, saving her young children, for example,

from

watching

something

“horrific� on television. Some degree of censorship is necessary, this is just her humble opinion, as she explained. We asked:

W h o d e c i d e s, t h o u g h, what

is A

“h o r r i f i c”? ,

kiss

or

a

slaughter?

We

want

our

children to watch kisses and hugs between people of the same sex and of a different sex,

of

every

origin,

so

that

they

understand that these are versions of love and love is always good. We don’t want our kids to witness violence and blood, so as not to think that human life is cheap. Others would rather their kids witness murder and rape than watch a boy kiss another boy - who decides what the children will watch?

After the meeting, we said our goodbyes, but a numbness followed. Τhe shadow of an subtextual

bullying

was

there

and

a

subconscious fear, for ourselves or for

our

friends

stirred

in

within

us

Turkey,

immediately

thoughts

of

self-

censorship.

Should we mention this meeting on our facebook page or this publication? Or would it be better to avoid any reference to it? And also, now that we know who reads what we write on-line: as we post our impressions of the festival, should we mention our guests’ most polemical positions or avoid any mention to them, presenting this way a less edgy picture after the fact?

The answer was harder that one would imagine in theory. Our choice is what you now read.

Thank you To everyone who who came to SIDE LOOK and shared with us a look at today’s Turkey.

After almost two years of work, the idea of a festival became a reality, with the participation of more than 30 artists who composed SIDE LOOK with their films, music, thoughts and presence – we dearly thank them all!

(More about them ~ see the program of the festival.)

Even more, we thank all those whose name does

not

appear

in

the

program

but

without whom there wouldn’t have been a festival in the first place ~ the friends who offered their ideas, attention and sweat,

who

by

adjusting

lights

and

joining cables, by making phone calls, designing,

translating

and

photographing, by serving the beer and

cleaning

the

toilets,

by

subtitling,

teaching, or just by telling us about a film that we should definitely watch,

m a d e S I D E L O O K h a p p e n: Özgür

Aydek,

Vasili

Pitsili,

Maria

Tsolaki, Lina Filopoulou, Latife Akyuz, Lisa

Tomai,

Michali

Paparouni,

Nicko

Kazero, Özge Öztürkmen, Vicky Colovou, Zoe Baltzopoulou, Marianna Stamboulou, Aggeliki Michael, Kanella Pouli, Firat Kuscu, Kalliopi Takaki, Elena Akyla, Ayca Odabasio, Katerina

Ali

Altan,

Katsifaraki,

Vaggeli Stella

Sagri, Bourou,

Nicko Yiousef, Leonida Mira, Halint Mian and Fetih Dogan Koc, thank you!

More on Libby Sacer & The Libby Sacer Foundation: For more information, you can look at the Libby Sacer BLOG, the Libby Sacer FACEBOOK page, or the rest of our on-line publications.

Papers/conferences:

Art

Of Disobedience /ΙΕΤΜ * Balkan Express

Selected PRESS on the Libby Sacer FFoundation & its activities: The Guardian * Το Περιοδικό * Αθηνόραμα Ι * Allevents * Antenna * Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών * The Books Journal * Αυγή * Art & life * Athens Voice * Antony Loewenstein I * Loewenstein II * Left.gr * Lifo * Το Περιοδικό * Αυγή * Athens Voice * Metropolis Press * 10percent * Φύλο Συκής * Αrt & Life * Περιοδικό ΑΩ * Click at Life * Το Περιοδικό * Athens Voice * The R project * Το Περιοδικό ΙΙ * Το Σπίρτο * Athens Voice II

+ Specifically for SIDE LOOK: 9.84 radio * Αθήνα με ακούς; * Μπλε σαν πορτοκάλι radio interview * Το Βήμα * Athens Voice * Αθηνόραμα * FCinema * Evensi * Η Αυγή * Ματιά * Το Σπίρτο * elculture * in.gr * kinimatorama * Lifo * Αθηνόραμα ΙΙ * Monopoli * Culture Now

Colophon

Photographs

Translations

Elena Akyla, Nikos Kazeros, Tina Kotsi, Myrto Stampoulou, Eugenia Tzirtzilaki, Stefanos Chandelis, Dimitris Halatsis Eugenia Tzirtzilaki

Concept & Design LIBBY SACER FOUNDATION

ALL EVENTS BY THE LIBBY SACER FOUNDATION HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY SELF-FUNDED AND FREE TO THE PUBLIC Want to support us or just talk?

Send us a message here

LIBBY SACER FOUNDATION ISSUU, FACEBOOK BLOG