(UH) Two hundred artists from all areas of art, half women, half men, from all five continents meet in Tripoli, Libya, to travel from there on camels via Chad and Sudan to Uganda. During their journey they develop individual and collective poetry and prose in international groups. Theater and circus plays, films and music, paintings and sculptures, informing each other about their different cultures and influencing each other. The results of the Qafila-t-as-Salam caravan will be documented and presented at festivals in the participating countries.
The caravan's journey covers a distance of around 5,500 kilometers and a period of around a year. At forums during the trip, participants talk about religion and ethics, about nationalism versus cosmopolitanism, about tradition and modernity, about human rights, laws and justice, about science and ecology, about rationality, magic and mysticism.
The meeting of cultures is intended to give rise to new ideas about art and life.
"QafiIa" means: The caravan, "as-Salarn" means "peace", so you could translate:
“the peace caravan”. “Salam” is the greeting in the four participating countries. It expresses friendship, openness and acceptance, the promise of no hostile intentions.
The Artists - individually or in groups - will transform their experiences on the caravan, with the people and landscapes they encounter, into artistic works in their respective medium, writing, sound or image, and thus document them in a variety of ways.
Philosophy of this project. Life in the “global village”, where people are able to cover thousands of kilometers in a matter of hours, makes them lose their relationship to time and space. The slowness of the camels will give it back to the participants of the Qafila-t-as-Salam.
The participants of each stage will present the results of their collaboration at a festival. On the occasion of each festival, the majority of the artists will change in order to produce new artistic results that are unique in their combination of different cultural origins. It is planned that cultural events on the respective countries will take place in the countries of origin of the participating artists parallel to the festivals.
The participating artists from all over the world exchange ideas via the internet. On the Qafila-t-as-Salam website (www.dialogderkulturen.de), all incoming ideas are discussed and the festival program is coordinated. An organization office in Bochum plans the exact course of the trip and clarifies questions about nutrition, hygiene, logistics and finances. It organizes pre-tours for route planning and meetings with the ambassadors of the participating countries and organizes preparatory information and art events.
The first festival as part of the caravan is planned for Tripoli. Qafila-t-as-Salam is intended to direct the attention of the metropolises to the continent of Africa. The origins of mankind can be found in Africa. Tripoli has been the gateway to Africa since the time of the Phoenicians. Numerous famous explorers of the nineteenth century set off from Tripoli. Kampala, Lake Victoria - this is the heart of Africa. The final celebration of the caravan will take place in Kampala. From Tripoli to Kampala: from the gateway to the heart of Africa.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The reporting on the participating countries and the African continent will not be determined by catastrophes or misery, but by the people living there, their culture and their way of life. The project is aimed at equal dialog and understanding. The artists do not ask whether their colleague on the drums is Jewish, even if they themselves are Palestinian. The medium of art enables a form of expression that allows people to accept it, to participate in it, without having to distance themselves from it. This is the opportunity of the Qafila-t-as-Salam: to open doors to communication.
UNESCO today No. 4/2001
