Dayna Ash: Haven for Artists

Tue 31.03.2020
20:00 - 21:30
Dayna Ash
Cancelled

Category

interview

Price

Presale € 7 / 5 ; Full price € 9 / 7

Language

in English

Cancelled

What’s it like to make queer art in an environment in which you can’t live your sexual orientation out in the open? The short answer is that it’s extremely difficult. The long answer can’t be summed up in a few lines. That’s why artist, writer and cultural activist Dayna Ash is coming to explain. At Passa Porta she will talk about her experiences as a queer artist in Lebanon.

‘Social distancing’ is what Corona experts advise, ‘social nearness’ is what we aim for with our literary events. Because we are unable to provide that now, but even more so because we don’t want to put others at risk, we are cancelling our activities until the end of March. For each of these activities we will try to organise them at a later date.

If you are a ticket holder you will be contacted and reimbursed. We will also give you priority to reserve tickets when we have fixed a later date.

For conversations with writers, new ideas and stories, you are welcome to visit our online magazine.

Article 534

Lebanon is one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East. And yet article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code makes it possible to prosecute people on the grounds of their sexual orientation. It can be quite a culture shock when moving from LA to Beirut, from a rather loose city where anything goes to a city where intolerance towards otherness is the norm.

Safe space

Poet, performance artist and activist Dayna Ash moved to Beirut at the age of 16. In 2007 she travelled from America to Lebanon. Four years later, still barely 20, Ash founded Haven for Artists in the Lebanese capital. This art house is a safe space, a refuge where artists of all denominations and orientations can express themselves freely.

Queer art

In the context of SLam Our World, a KVS project that combines wordcraft and theatre, Dayna Ash will spend a month in Brussels. In the run-up to SLOW#5, which stands in the sign of Queer Courage, Passa Porta has invited Ash to share her experience as a queer artist in Lebanon.

Org.: Passa Porta, KVS

Coming soon at