show.Rooms_global - Mapping the Unseen

Mapping the Devoid of subjecthood of the invisible Rohingya Refugees
29th March - 5th April 2020 | Dhaka BGD

Mapping the Unseen could not be carried out as planned in Dhaka, Bangladesh during this period due to the Covid 19 pandemic, but was restricted for several months by means of interventions. The connection to the artist Ebadur Rahman was established through the guide Haddiuzzaman Syed, who lived and worked both in Villach and Dhaka. The artist and curator Ebadur Rahman chose the theme "Mapping the Devoid of subjecthood of the invisible Rohingya Refugees" with the title "10 days that shook the World". The resulting films, pictures and interviews were published on a website.
http://10daysthatshooktheworld.com/

„[…]Adopting a low-brow relational account, 10 Days That Shook The World’s one of the most prominent operational activities is inaugurating a performative architecture to embed a temporary autonomous zone for community interaction formed as radical hospitality: for cooking and sharing meals, teaching, reading, watching or making film, playing music, sleeping. Within this space, the power dynamics between host and guest or self and other interchange and dissolve into those of multitudes in spontaneous social action […].“ (Curatorial note by Ebadur Rahman)

venue: Dhaka
organizers: Mapping the Unseen
host: Ebadur Rahman

Programme with the artists and researchers Shalahuddin Helaly, Tanvir Ahmed Chowdhury, Tahera Tabassum, Afsana Latif, Shafiqul Kabir Chandan, Proshoon Rahmaan, Ahmed Hasan Sunny, Avi Shankar Ain, Rajib Datta, Mahia Rahman, Novera Hasan Nikkon, Ronni Ahmmed und Naw Naw.

Realised parts of the intervention as described by parts of  the report by the artist:

"The lockdown, in Bangladesh, started around 23rd/24th march.
We were still working.
But, the lockdown got stricter around 1st/ and 2nd  April.
.... From mid-April to October, I changed my strategy and started to work with people one-on-one to continue with the show since all airports were closed and I was stuck in Dhaka.
... I met artists one-on-one and started doing work and I was recording them in the process of work.
Sometime we met at public places; sometime on the street once the curfew is withdrawn; sometime we met at shop and bought food and distributed among people who I had enlisted from online forums but didn’t let the artists or my companions know beforehand.
As part of the show, we made hand sanitizers and distributed bottles of sanitizers too.
... I had hired a Rohingya cook and had him come to Dhaka for the catering of the exhibition.
Due to the lockdown, he could not return to Chittagong and was with me until the end of May and was a huge help; I don’t think, without him I could organize anything as internet was often not working and it was my Rohingya cook who will carry the footage and photos etc. to the editors, the web designers etc.
... Anyways, one on one encounters and visiting different places with artists and once the roads open visiting Chittagong etc. produced materials and all through this period, I had been documenting and writing; since the July, I started putting some of the materials in the website.
... I could not go to the real refugee camps as I could do in the December 2019, but, in the May-October 2020, I visited many houses and shacks of Rohingyas who are living outside the camps, in Moheshkhali, Cox’s Bazaar and Chittagong and have many conversations and shared many meals with them which we cooked together.“

Programme details

 

Mapping the Unseen was funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (AR 444-GBL), KWF Carinthian Economic Promotion Fund, Land Carinthia.
Supported and hosted by University Klagenfurt and show.Rooms.


Mapping the Unseen is based on show.Rooms_global, which is an intervention in a vacancy of a city on a marginalized topic. The invited artists, artist group or scientists determine the topic. Afterwards, the project will be invited to Austria and parts of it will also be presented as an intervention..

A detailed description of Mapping the Unseen can be foundhere.
See a detailed description of the format. Räume_global can be found here.