BIRDS

The birds fly high

and sing while migrating

and migrate while singing

Regina José Galindo’s artistic practice is characterized by the use of her own body, bringing together people and formating groups, and critical engagement with political, post-migrant and feminist issues. In 2015, Galindo created moments of peaceful coexistence with migrants in Palermo as part of her performance Raíces (2015), which is presented with a photograph at an off-space within the exhibition State and Nature.

As part of the performance program, José Galindo creates a space for exchange and self-determined representation with actors who now live in Baden-Baden in the course of migration movements since 2014. The participants sing songs to which they have a special relationship, accompanying them through everyday life, and have perhaps been part of an identity-forming, familiar practice since childhood and thus help facilitate encounters on both an artistic and personal level.

Since February 2016, asylum-seeking people have been housed in the Waldseeplatz refugee shelter, located in the west of Baden-Baden, in a wooded, secluded area. The performance at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden as a central, easily accessible location thus raises questions regarding the significance of locality and site and addresses institutionally-supported decisions regarding the treatment of refugees.