A Conversation on Displacement and Loneliness
With Hao Jingban, Minh Duc Pham, Danil Usmanov
- Dialogue
The displacement of large populations — through labor migration, flight, or forced resettlement — occurs not only across national borders, but also within them, especially between large cities and rural areas. Resettlement affects both sides: those who leave often face legal insecurity, uprooted social networks, discrimination, estrangement, and precarization; for families left behind, the absence of the younger and middle generations often creates gaps in existing care and support structures.
Yet, displacement is not solely geographic; it is also an ongoing cultural and political condition. How can the existential loneliness shaped by living and working conditions – or the emotional dissonance of feeling “at home” yet out of place – be articulated artistically?
In relation to a bereavement in his family in Vietnam, the German-Vietnamese artist Minh Duc Phams work “Be Right Back” retraces the history of Vietnamese contract workers in the former GDR . In “I Understand”, the Chinese artist Hao Jingban reflects on her experience of anti-Asian racism during the Covid pandemic. Danil Usmanov’s photographic work “Valley of the Winds” centers on the children of migrant workers in rural Kyrgyzstan.
Dates
Current
Credits
Part of “Being Alone – Artistic Perspectives from Central and East Asia and Beyond“, a project within “Solitude: Loneliness & Freedom,” an initiative of the Goethe-Institutes in East and Central Asia in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer. In curatorial collaboration with Jenny Jiaying Chen.
Location
HAU2
Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 BerlinThere are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available. Four relaxed seats are available in the first row of HAU2.
