Exhibition: Maps of Dignity

February 15 

The uprisings of 2011, which we would like to refer to here as the uprisings of dignity, seemed to have errupted out of nowhere and produced an explosion of anger throughout the southern Mediterranean region and beyond. Inquiring the concept of dignity and the places where dignity takes on meaning through the people who represent and claim it, the researchers part oft he ERC Dream project have produced maps that are sensitive sketches of these places. The 14 maps exhibited tell the stories of people’s lives, situations and moments in their search for dignity.

How and why has the notion of dignity (كرامة) been common to the uprisings and revolutions in the southern mediterranean since the 1950s?

Considering that the uprisings and revolutions in the southern Mediterranean since the 1950s have been practical, sensory and emotional experiences rooted in a conception of what a dignified life is, the „Maps of Dignity“ exhibition offers an exploration oft he spaces of revolt in the Arab Mediterranean countries.

Based on research and documentation, this exhibition is an attempt to provide an answer in the form of sensitive maps enriched with sounds, images, objects and projections bearing witness to life trajectories, historical situations or times of uprisings.

In their maps the researchers have traced the areas of life that the revolutionaries have told them about through interviews, observations and archival records.

Linking different spaces and times, the plurality of these maps immerses us into an artisitic exploration that is both concrete and full of imagination. In this way, we are better able to grasp the complexity, meaning and interrelationship oft he two concepts of dignity and revolt.

Exhibition in Tunis at the DREAM CITY Festival

The posters are the reproduction of the „Maps of Dignity“ exhibition, composed of thirteen maps that were initially shown as part of the Dream City Festival in Tunis between 22 September and 8 October.

The exhibition is now shown for a second time as part of the research project’s closing event, that took place on february 15 and 16 – Dignity and Revolts. A cartographic inquiry throughout the South Mediterranean. You can visit the exhibition until the end of april at the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin.

Maps of Dignity is a project by the team of DREAM - DRafting and Enacting the Revolutions in the Arab Mediterranean under the direction of Leyla Dakhli.

With maps by: Waël Ali, Layla Baamara, Kinda Chaïb, Dunia al-Dahan, Leyla Dakhli, Inès Delpuech, Simon Dubois, Laurence Dufresne-Aubertin, Mélanie Henry, Arwa Labidi, Laurie Merigeaud, Dorothee Mertz, Leila Musson, Hammed Parker, Candice Raymond, Nejma Rondeleux, Selma Zghidi.