Back to Germany - A résumé

We really enjoyed our work in the Yemen and are very thankful, that we got the possibility to do a Light-/Video-/Soundinstallation of this dimension at the Bab al-Yemen. It was great to become a part of the daily life, especially during the festive atmosphere of the Ramadan. Even if we had tough times dealing with electricity and non-existent cables, it always turned into moments of big luckiness, when things finally worked out in the last moment.

During our second stay in the Yemen, Rene and I had to change a lot regarding our first conception. We soon realized, that our origin idea to do an interactive installation had to be modified, since so many people were meeting each evening at the Bab al-Yemen, curious sitting all over the place and waiting for images/music. So everything became more kind of an event character, but for us there is nothing to regret about it [exempt from the fact, that our original plan - hanging around at a cool swimming pool in the afternoons, once the installation is running - was foiled, because we had to work all the time on our computers, editing new video material and sounds, since we still wanted each evening to be special :-) ]

There have been a lot of people, who helped us where they could, and without them this project would have been not possible at all. We would like to thank Frank Werner and Guido Zebisch from the German embassy, the Yemeni ministry of Culture (and especially Jamal Majam), Patrick from the French embassy and Joel, Julian and Mohamed from CCCL Sana'a as well as all the other great French people we met in Sana'a, our Yemeni staff members at the Bab al-Yemen, Fouad, Selim, Ahmed, Ismael, Maher and Abd Al Malik, Jean-Baptiste Lopez, the nicest photographer of the world, who provided us with images for the installation, the Yemeni painters Amna Alnuseiri, Talal Alnajar and Madhar Nizar, who also provided us with video-material, Michael Bepler from the Hrz Giessen, our Professor Heiner Goebbels and last but not least Bastian Roos and Carolin Möllmann, the two best interns the German embassy ever had.

The press conference at CCCL Sana'a

Here you will find some exerpts from the speeches by the French cultural attache, the Yemeni deputy minister of culture and the German embassador. If you also want to listen to Rene, the French deputy embassador and me, go to our You-tube-channel, where you will find a second video with some parts of the official press conference, which was held two days before the installation was launched.

Our YouTube-Channel

Poster

designed by Mohamed al Huraish

About Us

We are a team of young German New Media Artists, working with audio, light and video. Mainly we focus on interactive installations / events and performative theatre. We are currently students at the „Institute of Applied Theatre Studies“ at the „Justus Liebig University“ in Giessen, where we will finish our studies in 2008.

From left to right: René Liebert, Tobias Rosenberger, Matthias Mohr.


Short Biographies:

René Liebert: born 1980. In 2005/06 he absolved an "International Master in Documentary Film" in Barcelona. He realized video & light designs in theatre productions (e.g. ATW Giessen, Mousonturm Frankfurt, Körber-Studio Hamburg), short films and worked as camera operator & cutter. Since 2006 he is lecturer for video editing at the University of Giessen.

Matthias Mohr: born 1980. Realized several music theater performances (e.g. with Ensemble Modern, Jens Joneleit, Uwe Dierksen), light and video installations, compositions/sound designs. Rooted in Frankfurt's music scene he is involved in different music projects. Recently assisting Heiner Goebbels in his new production Piano Piece.

Tobias Rosenberger: born 1980. Works at the crossroads of performance, media art and installation. Recent artistic projects & collaborations include "Antigone" (2003, Festival Junger Talente, German-Chinese co-production), "Esquisse" (2005, Internationale Musiktage Darmstadt), "Fascia" (2006, Frankfurter Positionen), "Bypass" (2006, Luminale Frankfurt) and "Breathing City" (2007, Les Subsistances, Goetheinstitut Lyon; Harvestworks, New York, Goetheinstitut Barcelona).
Participant E-mobilArt (European Mobile Lab for Interactive Media Artists)

Project outline

After consulting the German and French embassy we developed during our first stay in Sanaa (08.08.07 - 17.08.07) the official outline of the lightinstallation around the Bab al-yemen, and presented it to the Yemeni minister of culture and also the major of Sanaa. We are happy, that they will take together the patronage of the trilateral project.

Sana'a - City of light

We are invited by the German and French embassy to do a light/video/soundinstallation in the old city of Sanaa / Yemen for about ten days during the Ramadan in 2007.
It is announced to be a collaboration with a french music producer and musicians/technicians from the Yemen, and will take place around the Bab al-Yemen ("Gate to the Yemen"), that served as the Entrance to the old city of Sanaa and is regarded as a national monument of the Yemen.


"Bab al-Yemen"

The Washington Post wrote about this place, which is part of the Unesco World heritage:
"Less than 50 years ago, the walls that meet at Bab al-Yemen encompassed all of Sanaa, then a city of just tens of thousands and more medieval than modern. Today, its residents number nearly 2 million, and the sprawling capital stretches beyond the walls for miles in every direction. Bab al-Yemen has somehow managed the transition. Unlike some Arab markets, fetishized for tourists in places like Cairo and Jerusalem, Bab al-Yemen embraces its original incarnation—market, playground and meeting place."