10:00 – 10:30 – Coffee and gathering

10:30 – 11:10 – Lecture by Özge Ejder:

“Ambivalence and Identity:
Problematic of Migration in the Work of Ai Weiwei”

11:10 – 11:50 – Lecture by Kilian Kleinschmidt:

“People on the Move –
Humanity from Lucy in the Cave to Humpty Trumpy on the Wall”

11:50 – 12:00 – Coffee break

12:00 – 12:40 – Isin Önol in conversation with Nil Yalter, Ramesch Daha, Fiona Liewehr

12:40 – 13:20 – Lecture by Thomas Schmidinger:

“Yezidi Displacement in Iraq and Syria”

13:20 – 14:00 – Lunch break

14:00 – 14:40 – Sébastien de Ganay in conversation with Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi

14:40 – 15:30 – Panel discussion and short presentations (in German):

“Experiences of Exile in Austria”
Participants: Sulaiman Mahmoud, Midia Amir, Berivan Aslan Moderator: Thomas Schmidinger
Contributors: Stefan Fritz, Kilian Kleinschmidt, and Khaled Barakeh

15:30 – 16:00 – Q & A

14:00 – 15:00 – Introductions by Sébastien de Ganay, Fiona Liewehr, and Isin Önol

15:00 – 15:30 – Keynote Presentation by Stefan Fritz 

15:30 – 16:00 – Lecture by Khaled Barakeh:

“The Presence of the Catastrophe and Absence of the Victim” 

16:00 – 16:15 – Livia Alexander in conversation with Khaled Barakeh

16:15 – 16:30 – Coffee break

16:30 – 17:10 – Lecture by Lewis Johnson: 

“Demanding Legibilities: Attesting Bodies Out of Place in Art
from Van Gogh, Santiago Sierra and Since” 

17:20 – 18:00 – Sébastien de Ganay in conversation with Samar Yazbek

18:00 – 19:00 – Music performance by Golnar Shahyar & drinks 

Taste Of Cement, Ziad Kalthoum
DE/LB/SY/AE/QA, 2017, colour, DCP, OV with English subtitles, 85 minutes


In Beirut, Syrian construction workers are building a skyscraper while at the same time their own houses at home are being shelled. The Lebanese war is over but the Syrian one still rages on. The workers are locked in the building site. They are not allowed to leave it after 7p.m. The Lebanese government has imposed night-time curfews on the refugees. The only contact with the outside world for these Syrian workers is the hole through which they climb out in the morning to begin a new day of work. Cut off from their homeland, they gather at night around a small TV set to get the news from Syria. Tormented by anguish and anxiety, while suffering the deprivation of the most basic human and workers right, they keep hoping for a different life.


This film screening is part of The Other is Oneself.
Hope to see you also at the exhibition and the conference.

SY/QA/AT, 2016, colour, DCP, OV with English subtitles, 108 minutes

— After the film screening: Alfoz Tanjour in conversation with Michelle Koch

"Strangely, as soon as I arrived with my family at a modest refugee camp in the heart of Europe, I started to seek refuge in my memories. The memories I had left at our doorstep over there. But the images this time were faint.. fast.. broken.. And they were all in khaki; images of the bitter hideaway years endured by Sanaa in Damascus, the lingering nights that Ibrahim spent in a dark prison, the deep persisting pain suffered by Khalid in exile, and the dream of a free homeland which is all that remains for Shadi..!!"
A Memory in Khaki is a cry out breathe for that which is embattled inside the spirits of individuals who lived under the Syrian oppressive regime. The auteur's personal narrative is interwoven with those of other Syrian characters who were forced, because of their political beliefs, to leave the country before or after the revolution. The film sheds light on years of silence, fear and terror, and it dives into the stories which were behind the eruption of the Syrian society and the start of its revolution. It is a Syrian account which, by laying out the past, tells the story of the future. (Production note)


This film screening is part of The Other is Oneself.
Hope to see you also at the exhibition and the conference.

Charity auction to the benefit of Hilfswerk International for its projects for Syrian refugees in Lebanon

The Auction will take place as part of a closed event. Please place your absentee-bids (also telephone-bids) on the website of the Dorotheum.

Please place your absentee-bids (also telephone-bids) on the website of the Dorotheum.
☛ Dorotheum Online Catalogue

Browse the printed Auction Catalogue:
☛ THE OTHER IS ONESELF Catalogue

Fiona Liewehr is guiding through the exhibition,
afterwards: book presentation THE OTHER IS ONESELF

Franz-Josefs-Kai 3, 1010 Wien

AT/SY/LB/QA, 2018, color, DCP, OV with German subtitles, 95 minutes

— After the film screening: Sara Fattahi in conversation with Claudia Slanar
Unfortunately the talk had to be cancelled due to illness.

The film narrates the story of three women in three different cities. They have given up on life. One lives in Damascus. She has stopped speaking to others entirely, isolating herself in her flat. The other has left Damascus as a result of the war and went to Sweden, where she imprisons herself in her paintings, hoping through them to rid herself of the torments of the past. The third ended up in Vienna and faces an unknown future, like the ghost of a woman who fled Austria after the Second World War. It is a discussion between a woman stuck in Damascus, a second stuck in exile, and a third who has recently left. It is a conversation between the interior and exterior – an impossible conversation.

CAN, 2018, colour, DCP, OV with English subtitles, 87 minutes

In the wake of unimaginable loss, three Syrian refugees turn to their love of Sufi music.

Inspired by the traditional sacred music of Syria, filmmaker Amar Chebib travelled to Damascus and Aleppo in 2010. Six months later the revolution began, escalating into a bloody civil war and the largest humanitarian crisis of our time. Touched by the harrowing experiences of the friends he made, Wajd transformed into the stories of three musicians turned refugees. Over five years, we witness the struggles of Ibrahim, Abdulwahed, and Mohamed as they face their traumatic past. Forced to rebuild their lives in exile, they turn to their love of music to help them find meaning in the aftermath of destruction and atrocity. Intimate footage of their daily lives weaves together with bittersweet musical performances, extremely rare Sufi ceremonies, and poetic imagery of a pre-war Syria that no longer exists. What unfolds is a cinematic meditation on loss, yearning, and faith.

“Chebib crafts a constellation of experience where narrative time oscillates between the sweeping, rare footage of pre-war Syria’s cultural majesty and into present-day formations of refugee life.” (Arab Film & Media Institute)

We take great pleasure in announcing that on

Tuesday, 5th November 2019

the opening event of the initiative for cultural exchange THE OTHER IS ONESELF will take place in Vienna.

That evening, we will be kicking off a series of events over the following 6 weeks focused on the theme of forced exile and our society’s response to it. The programme will include an exhibition of works contributed by 26 prominent international artists at FRANZ JOSEFS KAI 3 (until 14th December 2019), film screenings at Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus, seminars and moderated discussions, culminating in a charity auction conducted by Dorotheum in support of Hilfswerk International’s projects in Lebanon to help Syrian refugees.

We much look forward to welcoming you.
Best regards,

Sébastien de Ganay & Fiona Liewehr