Lost Strange Things: On not finding home © Tanya Traboulsi

Culture X Change: Libanon

kulturen in bewegung starts in cooperation with different cultural partners the new series Culture X Change, bringing artists from different parts of the world together. They are attempts, workshops, compositions, impressions that inspire, irritate and encourage.

Culture X Change fulfils the role of art and music as a starting point for non-European artistic cooperation. The project serves as a door opener and transmission belt to question existing stereotypes about the „Other“. The contributions take a critical look at, among other, the freedom of art and the cultural creators in the respective countries. In addition to concerts, other art forms such as film, literature, theatre or fine art will be included in the programme in the future. .

Concert: Marcel Khalifé & Peter Herbert Duo / Rami Khalifé Solo

20. & 21. April 2019, 8.30pm
Porgy & Bess, Riemergasse 11, 1010 VIENNA


Culture X Change starts in cooperation with the Jazzclub  Porgy & Bess with an extraordinary musical encounter.  Marcel Khalifé and Peter Herbert have been working on the eastern-western dialogue for years.  Their longlasting cooperation can be seen as a model for musical forms of mutual influence.

In the case of Marcel and Rami Khalifé and Peter Herbert (contrabass) their longlasting cooperation can be seen as a model for musical forms of mutual influence. This concert focuses on the cooperation and the mutual respect for each other. The social and political role, which Khalifé has been taking for years in his home country Lebanon, has been incorporated into the composition.

Marcel Khalifé is a recognized musical personality in Lebanon, in the Arab World. As an UNESCO Ambassador for Peace he criticizes the ongoing fights in his region. The social and political position Khalifé has voiced in Lebanon over the years cannot be overheard.

Peter Herbert is a congenial partner for Khalifé. He is also on a continuous journey between cultures and musical styles. His working radius comprises jazz, classical music, improvised and new music, classical arabic music, commissioned orchestra- and chamber music compositions as well as avant-garde theater and multimedia compositions.

"Heralded as a “musician of extreme caliber and pure expression…a welcome experimental detour from the norm of today and in the relatively conformist world of classical composition…he is positively brand new” by the Daily Star, it’s no wonder that Rami Khalifé has emerged as one of the most exciting young composers of the 21st Century."


Exhibition: Lost Strange Things: On not finding home

08. - 22. April 2019
Porgy & Bess, Riemergasse 11, 1010 VIENNA 


The body of work has grown from two years of photographing people, landscapes, cityscapes as well as objects and interiors in Austria and Lebanon. The images illustrate the different facets that represent home while simultaneously observing the affiliation to time, space, people and memory.

Tanya Traboulsi is a photopraphy artist and lives in Beirut. In her photographs, she reflects different developments and speeds in Beirut and Vienna. In view of the fact, that Beirut officially has approximately the same number of inhabitants as Vienna, parallel as well as disturbing perspectives emerge.

At Porgy & Bess two works of her series “Lost Strange Things: On not finding home“ will be exhibited.


Podiumsdiscussion: Measurements of the war. (Forced) return and reconstruction in Syria

Lebanon´s Neighbour: Syria

11. April 2019, 7pm
Diplomatische Akademie, Favoristenstraße 15A, 1040 VIENNA


Regrettably, this information is only available in German.

Während der brutale Krieg in Libanons Nachbarschaft, in Syrien noch nicht beendet ist, propagieren sowohl das Regime in Damaskus als auch die weiteren involvierten Staaten eine Normalisierung der Lage. Mit Wiederaufbaumaßnahmen soll der Eindruck erweckt werden, dass nun das Ende von Vertreibungen und Bombardierungen erreicht sei. Was heißt allerdings Wiederaufbau eines zerstörten Landes für die Zivilbevölkerung? Inwiefern werden derartige Maßnahmen den Millionen (intern) Vertriebenen und Geflüchteten eine Rückkehr ohne Zwang ermöglichen? Welche Debatten um (Zwangs-)Rückkehr gibt es in Aufnahmeländern wie dem Libanon, dem Land, das gemessen an seiner Einwohner*innenzahl die größte Zahl an syrischen Flüchtlingen beherbergt? Wie sehr können zivilgesellschaftliche Initiativen innerhalb und außerhalb Syriens eine aktive Rolle im Prozess des Wiederaufbaus übernehmen? 

Es diskutieren u.a.:

Ansar Jasim, Adopt a Revolution, Berlin
Abdallah Alkhatib, palästinensisch-syrischer Aktivist, Damaskus/Münster
Rabie Nasr, Syrian Center for Policy Research, Beirut

Veranstaltungssprachen: Arabisch und Deutsch mit Simultandolmetschung


Exhibition: Something Borrowed 

29. April - 03. Mai 2019
ega: frauen im zentrum, Windmühlgasse 26, 1060 WIEN 


Eröffnung: 29. April 2019, 18:30 

Tanya Traboulsi is a photopraphy artist and lives in Beirut. In her photographs, she reflects different developments and speeds in Beirut and Vienna. In view of the fact, that Beirut officially has approximately the same number of inhabitants as Vienna, parallel as well as disturbing perspectives emerge.

In the context of Culture X Change Traboulsi presents the exhibition “Something Borrowed“, where she addresses the situation of unmarried women in Beirut.