SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND, AND GET LOST AGAIN

Daniel Hopp, Amna Mawaz and Imran Nafees Siddiqui

Filmstill “bought with pleasure” by Daniel Hopp

24.05.

7pm, performance starts 8pm

Frobenstr. 1, 10783 Berlin

For "Seek and you shall find, and get lost again," Daniel Hopp has invited Amna Mawaz and Imran Nafees Siddiqui. Daniel Hopp will present the master edit of his film "Bought with Pleasure" for the first time. Additionally, three new video works by Imran Nafees Siddiqui will be showcased. Amna Mawaz will perform "Seeing is Believing“.

Daniel Hopp's practice gathers friends, actors, relatives, and experts in staged performative situations that are documented, expanded, and condensed in his video works. The protagonists of these constellations are equally bodies, subjects, relationships, and social dynamics. His films begin with the performance of two invitations: first, he is invited, then he invites. His aim is to create spaces where people come together in a benevolent, challenging, and fear-free atmosphere. At ARTCO Gallery he brings together two old friends and collaborators. At the forefront of the work of the three artists are the stories people tell about themselves. A central question is the relationship between identity and performativity and its complexity in relation to structural power dynamics.

Hopp's new film "Bought with Pleasure" was shot during his performative creative process in Munich, Arusha (TZA), and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, where it was last seen in an interim version. The film is the result of an agreement made by the artist, who was actually penniless, and his film team to accompany the search for a gemstone found exclusively in the mines of northern Tanzania with a camera. For this purpose, an adventurous investor, along with an emerging gemstone dealer, offered a film budget of 15,000 euros - the only condition was participation in the journey.

Imran Nafees Siddiqui is a visual and performance artist currently building a collective artist space called "Dugdugi" in Karachi (PAK). For five years, he led the Institute for Performing Arts in Lahore. His involvement in a variety of projects is based on the basic premise of disrupting the status quo and questioning power structures. Imran's new video works will alternate with Daniel Hopp's film. "The three video artworks capture some very interesting aspects of the journey of life - a constant search for the meaning of our lives. Each work is an exploration of the self and existence. In our everyday existence, we are all seekers. We are constantly sifting through moments, memories, and emotions, trying to make sense of it all. Imran's art reflects this journey; it's not always about finding concrete answers, but about embracing the process of discovery itself."

Amna Mawaz's (1989, Pakistan) work is an interface between art and politics. At the age of eleven, she began training in South Asian dance forms with Guru Indu Mitha, focusing on Bharathanatyam. From 2016 to 2018, she was the appointed choreographer of Pakistan National Council of the Arts. She has written, acted and directed plays; performed in music videos and short films; been associated with the theater troupes Azaad Awaam Theatre and Theatre Wallay; and is a founding member of Laal Hartaal. Amna has conducted and led workshops in Belgium, China, Dubai, India, Germany, Pakistan, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Since 2007, Amna has been involved in political organizing with her comrades in the Awami Workers Party and the Women Democratic Front. Her work focuses on urban housing rights, artistic rebellion/creation, feminist interventions and solidarity with progressive groups and movements. In 2015, Amna contested the local elections in Islamabad in the country's first women-led electoral body. Mawaz holds a Master's degree in Pakistan Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad is currently completing her Master's degree in Transcultural Studies at Heidelberg University.