Close

Day 1

Day 1 was packed with activity! In the morning leading up to lunchtime, we had three folk dance workshops; Polish, Greek and English folk. Participants were challenged with intricate steps and travelling steps as well as interacting with one another. Have a look at the pictures, they really capture the spirit, fun and engagement of everyone!


Ancestral Heart Beat

In between the workshops we had two educational videos, the first, Ancestral Heartbeat by Katiushka Borges (dance steps taught by Geoffrey Brinsden), was a video artwork with a sensory experience where the heart beats and the rhythm of drums with the sound of the rattles (ayoyotes) was embraced by the learning of dance steps which represented Fire, Air, Water and Earth.


Crossing Borders

The second video, Crossing Borders, made by Eleni Papaioannou, was a short film about the journey of leaving, approaching the unknown and creating a new ‘home’, crossing the borders of countries and within yourself. The video was made with interviews by the elders of Alsen Day Centre, Finsbury Park.


Tour of Jewish history in Hackney

In the afternoon we held a fantastic Walk, led by Sean Gubbins. From the Round Chapel to the bottom of London Fields, bringing out physical references of the Jewish migration to Hackney and along the walk putting Jewish migration into context of Hackney’s history.

Migrations Europa echange Tour.jpg


Voices from Hackney

The late afternoon/evening brought in the magnificent space at the Round Chapel Hackney two very moving but very different installations.

Voices from Hackney.jpg

The First work, Voices From Hackney, was created by senior curator from Zagreb Croatia, Leila Mehulic, and a postgraduate student at Central Saint Martins. Leila’s work is an audio installation, a recording of stories of the memories and thoughts of Hackney residents and workers sharing their contributions to London life. The work is part of an ongoing curated oral history project that is collecting the testimonials of people who were moving to London since the early 1960’s.


One Way and the Another

To close the day, the festival hosted One Way and the other: Human Migrations

Documentary, Unusual and Pop Video screening programme curated by Zaira Perina.

Migration, immigrants and refugee is today’s hot topic. But how many ways of perceiving and understanding global migrations are there?

Filmmakers and Artists explores the theme in different and opposite directions.