Artist Spotlight: Procession & Tabbouleh Picnic: ‘And Europa Fled to the Sea, a Procession of Leaving and Arriving’ by Mounira Al Solh

With music, dance, hand-stitched fabrics, Phoenician boats, and freshly prepared tabbouleh, visitors are invited to welcome Mounira Al Solh’s sculpture And Europa fled / En Europa sloeg op de vlucht / عندما رحلت أوروبا to Sonsbeek Park. The procession culminates in a communal picnic around the work. Mounira Al Solh grew up during the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975 and after which the country continued to be afflicted by violence from various directions. One of the people recently displaced by renewed conflict was George Barbour, a friend of Al Solh and a skilled boatbuilder from South Lebanon, Tyr.

During his stay, Al Solh asked him to build Phoenician boats in various sizes, one of which balances on the head of the sculpture. The remaining boats, along with found herbs and petals from Park Sonsbeek, participants’ voices and hand-stitched textiles made by the artist, will be carried into the park during the procession, symbolically offered to the sculpture and placed around the picnic blankets where tabbouleh will be served.

Featuring guest singer Ayoub Boukhalfa from Whales One World Choir for asylum seekers and refugees, artists students from ArtEZ and from the performance class at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Cory Kim, Flor Chavela, Loude Padre, Majd Alshibani, Nils Janis Streck and Soukaina El Adak, as well as participants from Buddy to Buddy in Arnhem, along with Rosell Heijman, Daniëlle Töre, accompanied by local friends and their children. Singing and humming will take place in multiple languages.