Creative Lab coordinated by Enkidu Khaled
The 4Culture Association launches an interactive workshop within the cultural programme "Celebrating Trouble - Choreographic Convention". Open to individuals who are actively engaged in the field of performing arts with interdisciplinary interests, the artistic laboratory will be coordinated by Enkidu Khaled, a theatre director and performer originally from Iraq and based in Brussels.
The artistic laboratory is scheduled to take place from September 26th to October 7th, 2023, as part of the Timișoara European Cultural Capital program.
The event is jointly organised by the 4Culture Association in partnership with danceWEB Vienna and the Life Long Burning European Network, co-financed by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union, and organised with the support of the Timisoara Project Center within the European Echoes programme.
The laboratory will culminate in a public presentation of a collective creation, the outcome of the research led by Enkidu Khaled.
Participation is free and will be based on registration, limited to a maximum of 20 people. Those interested are asked to send an email with the subject "Creation laboratory - Enkidu Khaled'' to the email address: [email protected], in which to attach the CV or biography, in Romanian and/or English.
Deadline: September 15th, 2023
Place: Center for Projects, Str Vasile Alecsandri 1, Timișoara
Period: September 26 – October 7, 2023
Language: English
The laboratory starts from a personal method developed by director Enkidu Khaled during his studies at the DasArts International Theater Institute in Amsterdam, with the objective of making accessible the complex process of using storytelling to talk about a personal experience through theatre.
The “Working Method” aims to open a place of encounter with oneself and others. It delivers tools to bring us closer together in our differences and tackles the importance of reflection on social themes through the lens of cultural identity and background. Through this method, Enkidu Khaled questions the encounter between life and theatre.
Enkidu Khaled (born in Baghdad, living in Brussels) is a theatre maker and performer.
He studied theatre until 2006 at the Institute of Fine Arts of Baghdad where he began working in cinema. In 2008 he had to leave Iraq because of the emerging war, settling in Belgium. During his study in Amsterdam (2014-2017), he developed the “Working Method'' which he implements in his art education practice addressing professionals and amateurs. In 2016 „The Working Method'' won the “Big in Belgium'' award and was presented at the Edinburgh Festival. For his documentary theatre piece „Baghdad'' he got awarded with the Best Acting Performance at the MESS International Theatre Festival Sarajevo in 2018. His theatre play “Bar by bar, night by night, story by story, onward!“ adapted for stage the debut novel of the Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim and premiered in 2021 in KaaiTheatre Brussel. In 2022 he brought on stage the collective performance “Tank Tink/One” in the frame of ECOPOLIS annual rendezvous for those committed to a sustainable future. Furthermore, he is currently working as an associate artist at Toneelacademie Maastricht.
As a young theatermaker growing in Iraq at the time of war when everyday lives were at risk, Enkidu Khaled has often questioned the meaning of art-making. Becoming aware of the impact of art for our evolution as humans, he came to understand it as a tool of survival rather than a tool of privilege. Through his practice, he looked for ways to communicate this value and embedded it into society. Next to his artistic projects, he dedicated himself to art education and its relation to the perspective of the art of living as a challenge in a plural society. His research led him to envision a model of art education where self understanding, contextuality and imagination were central elements.
The project is part of the national program “Timișoara – 2023 European Capital of Culture” and is financed through the European Echoes program, run by Timișoara Project Center, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the Ministry of Culture.