6.–18.10. / HAU1
The “Vessel of Love” forms the heart of the festival: a place for encounters, conversations, concerts, performances and lectures. Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”, HAU1 becomes a vessel for diverse voices, stories and perspectives. It also features a work by visual artist Kubra Khademi, specially conceived for the Vessel.
At the centre of the Vessel is a large-scale work painted on fabric by the Afghan artist Kubra Khademi, created specifically for this space. Khademi works as a performer and visual artist, and her work explores patriarchal violence, female self-determination, bodies and resistance. Her art is shaped by her experience of growing up as a woman in Afghanistan and later being forced into exile. Her works combine personal experiences with mythological and political imagery, transforming the female body into a site of resistance and self-empowerment.
In the work created for the “Vessel of Love”, a woman encounters a dragon – an image that, in Persian culture, can symbolise evil, deception and destructive forces. Khademi thereby subverts a traditional heroic narrative: it is not the male dragon-slayer, but a woman who confronts the dragon. She becomes the protector of life, justice and humanity.
The “Vessel of Love” is conceived as a space for resistance, care and connection – a place for stories, voices and experiences, and for exploring how, in an increasingly heartless world, we can care for one another and imagine different futures.
