join the revolution

Five years after Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010, sparking the Tunisian revolution, we ask the question: ‘How can we, as artists, support Tunisia's fledgling democracy today?’

Together with Mourade Zeguendi and Marijke Pinoy, Chokri and Zouzou Ben Chikha explore how the Tunisian revolution can help us here – in Belgium and Europe – to break the deadlock. What can we contribute and learn from their revolution? The crowdfunding campaign Artists Without Borders is the ideal opportunity to reflect on what commitment still means in turbulent times and what role art plays in this. Join the Revolution raises questions about power relations and (committed) artistry.

The performance was inspired by Dido & Aeneas, Henry Purcell's unsettling and timeless opera based on Virgil's epic. The opera is set in Carthage, the mythical capital whose ruins lie about 10 km east of present-day Tunis. In contrast to the opera, in which Dido commits suicide, Aeneas founds Rome and Rome and Carthage become rivals, Join the Revolution gave the story a positive twist. Through the crowdfunding campaign Artists Without Borders, the artists built a bridge between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

In the tragic love story between the Queen of Carthage and the prince who fled burning Troy, whose descendants would go on to found Rome, we saw unexpected parallels with the present day:

“There is a parallel between the Tunisian revolution and Purcell’s opera ‘Dido & Aeneas’. The similarity is so striking in our eyes that one might think Purcell had predicted the Tunisian Spring, like a dream that came true so many centuries later. Everything is there: the fire, the passion, the lies and deception, the suicide, the hope!"

The performance flirts with the boundaries between propaganda, science and (artistic) engagement. To create Join the Revolution, Chokri and Zouzou travelled to Tunisia in May 2015 together with Mohammed Ikoubaân (Moussem). There they met various artists and cultural organisations that were active in the period before and after the revolution. Each had their own unique perspective on the course of the revolution. In October 2015, Action Zoo Humain was invited to the Journées Théâtrales de Carthage, one of the largest international theatre festivals in the Arab world. The interaction with Tunisian artists during the festival and their vision of the Arab Spring were important stepping stones for the performance Join the Revolution.