Fleeting images, a scent, a word, a glance โ what does the word โhomeโ mean? Is it your dog cuddling up to you when you get home from a hard day at work? Is it the route to school that you took as a child? Is it your motherโs voice, in a language that you can only feel but cannot understand? Is it a noise, a touch, a sensation? Where is home?
In โRoots, Relations, Recollectionsโ, the project participants explore these questions, concentrating on the different realities of people from Asian backgrounds who live in Zurich. Some of them immigrated to Zurich in order to work or study here, some have an Asian parent, and some have families who fled to Switzerland to escape wars. If our society asks how many Asians live in Switzerland, the project team asks โWhen?โ and โWho?โ. They talk about individuals and communities, not points on a diagram.
In Switzerland, the Asian cultures are still perceived from the perspective of the white gaze. In the project teamโs view, it is high time to give people with intercultural backgrounds a chance to have their say. They ask themselves: โAre we willing to share authentic experiences and engage with others? Are we willing to bear witness and present rather than interpret?โ Working together, they try to get close to each individual, taking care not to speak either โaboutโ or โforโ him or her. The project participants are also willing to use multiple answers to tackle an apparently simple question: โWhere is home?โ These questions structure the conversation. The project participants acknowledge their โforeignnessโ and approach this difference with honesty, equality and respect.
They collect peoplesโ memories and experiences. The project team explores the intermediate spaces between the visible and the audible. The focus is on the production of videos from the fragments that are collected in the various conversations. The films are collages of sounds, poetry, recordings, music, words and pictures. The collaborative artistic work is presented in simultaneous video projects using multiple video installations.