conversations in ten questions 44: Dana Naim Hafouta

In this series of interviews we try to get to know the artists who will perform in Fringe Festival Istanbul 2022. Our third guest is Dana Naim Hafouta. 

 Ayse Draz, Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Mehmet Kerem Ozel, Writer

What is the essence of performance in your opinion?

If I have to narrow it down to a title I would say ‘Transcendence’. For me it means a performer is fully committed to whatever is happening to them at the specific moment, and really lets these happenings change and shift them, mentally and physically. I think this commitment, alongside a control you have to have while performing, can bring a ‘Rise above’, a transcendence. But I believe it’s not something you can instruct, people are different (the same but different), and each performer has to look for their own transcending inner escalader.

Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How? 

I really do. I believe it has great power on both aspects - as an art practitioner and as an art consumer. As a practitioner, the space I create while researching in mind and in the studio is for me like a magic sphere that encourages deep psychological and neurological processes to develop through the bodily actions, consciously and most time unconsciously. It really has transformed me as a person, aided me in comprehending inner complexes that felt unresolved, and engaging them in different ways in art and in life really. As an art consumer I see art as a magical being, capable to change you in the flick of the hand. So many 'Eureka!' moments I had from shows, books and music are bearnt in my body and mind for life. Some I felt at that instant, and some struck me as lighting bolt days, months and years later. The german Philosopher Walter Benjamin speaks exactly about that - art has the power to enter deep deep into your subconscious and stick to your mental structures while shifting them.

When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your pieces?

I find myself inspired by interactions of information. Or even more accurately- I’m deeply inspired by the junction of interaction between inner information such as thoughts, memories, and psychological structures and outer information such as popular media, art, science and social-anthropological research. Of course, these two are deeply linked to each other, since we as human beings create culture and culture shapes us, that’s why these interactions are fascinating. We are complicated creatures, so they are not so linear or direct. On a simpler level though, I’m inspired by tv shows and movies, music (David Bowie, Kate Bush, Sussane Sundfor), books and articles I read, and what whey provoke in me. And no, dreams do not play a role of inspiration for me, I wish I could take something from them, but most of the time I forget their content. Perhaps they influence on a subconscious level.

When do you decide to give a title to a piece you are working on if it already does not have one?

It’s not consistent, sometimes the title appears early in the process and can even help in understanding something about the piece, and sometimes it’s the last step. When it appears early it really functions like an anchor that helps review over and over what I wish to explore and to reveal in the piece.

Are there any artist or person whom you think influenced your art most? And if there is such an artist or person, who?

I’m influenced by a lot of different ideas; I don’t have one specific source of inspiration. I’m a big fan of Glam-Rock, so I’m influenced by Queen and David Bowie and Kate Bush but not in a direct way- but by their ability to create imaginative vocal and performative worlds. In dance I’m influenced by my teachers, I had some wonderful ones, not necessarily in style but in approach and intention. In culture like in culture, we are all influenced subconsciously by great artists of course. Besides that I’m influenced by writers such as Benjamin (who I mentioned earlier), Galen Strawson (a now-a-days philosopher) and the author David Grossman.

When you consider the current state of the world in every sense, what is the most important and urgent issue for you as an artist?

I act from inner desires and states of mind, I’m not an activist, though activism is definitely something I think about, especially relating to the ecological crisis. I can speak of what motivates me as an individual existing in the world, and for me is owning and sometimes re-claiming my strengths and weaknesses, so I can fully become in the world, in liberation. In that place I can give, share, explore and become fully in a way that is mine and that has deep value as a creator, performer and of course as a person. I think this exploration has value to the world at large as well, not only to my miniature universe. I believe this place specifies actions and clears up communication in a way that lets energy and power to develop, and can create positive influence on the world.

What does ‘Fringe’ signify for you?

I think ‘liberation’ fits here, too. Fringe can be everything you decide it is, so it’s an opportunity to really find and define expressive and artistic worlds and let them be meaningful, profound and real.

Why did you decide to participate in the Istanbul Fringe Festival particularly with ‘Show Me A Wondrous Moment, Only In A Flash’?

I really want to share my piece with the world, and I’ve always found Istanbul intriguing and inviting. It’s so close to Israel but I never had the chance to visit, so this is a great opportunity on all aspects. I’m looking forward to be inspired from the city.

How did the idea for this piece come about, how did the creating process develop?

For a long while I tried to find an artistic articulation of an existential state I possess while existing in the world – that is a feeling of discontinuity. I feel a constant interruption that comes from within, concrete and abstract mental images pop and disappear rapidly- they flash within me and create an un-linear trail of thought, feeling and of expression. For a long time, this ‘Flashy’ state of being was experienced by me as interruptive, like a barrier lies between me and the outside world and disturbs expression and communication. But at the same time, I could feel the beauty and strength that lie within these inner complications, and kept on looking for an artistic frame to celebrate these qualities. The creation process developed in two separate lanes that interlaced eventually: the virtual one and the physical one. Thank to the first Covid quarantine, I re-encountered my laptop and was able to see it as a transformative tool, one that can assist in bridging the barrier I described earlier, in a language that speaks Flashes so well, for virtual images appear and disappear in a flash, and are elusive in their nature. The physical layer was, in a way, always there, but it took a close and strong observation on my own body to define exactly what is relevant to this world. Once the Flashing body was articulated the main work was putting these two polars next to each other in the studio, and letting the stories they tell come out.

Is there anything particular you would like to tell the Istanbul audience before they experience your piece?

I look forward and am very excited to meet you all! I feel the stories that are told in the piece are very personal and relate to a subjective state of being, and at the same time they are very universal. I believe everybody can catch a reflection of themselves in the piece, identify or be intrigued in.

[The Turkish version of this interview was published in unlimited.]