• Sat 16 11 2019 / 11 am – 10 pm •
Hotspots: Migration and the Sea

Concept by NANNA HEIDENREICH

With AMEL ALZAKOUT, HEBA Y. AMIN, MANUELA BOJADŽIJEV, AYESHA HAMEED, STEFAN HELMREICH, BERND KASPAREK, MERLE KRÖGER, NATALIE LETTENEWITSCH, SIMON NOORI and a text by HELMUT HÖGE


In geology, ‘hotspots’ are understood as areas on the surface of the earth that exhibit volcanic activity. Today, the use of this word, which indicates spaces of confluence, knows almost no limits. It is variously a buzzword for migration management and refugee camps, Wi-Fi zones of telecom companies, hangout spots or sites of endangered biodiversity.

The non-academic symposium Hotspots: Migration and the Sea, conceived and organized by media culture researcher and curator Nanna Heidenreich, deals with exigencies, residues and liquefactions. The term ’hotspot‘ allows us to bring together reflections on the current colors of the blue planet. For the oceans themselves have become hotspots of geopolitical currency where different interests interact: economic, military, biological, human, philosophical ones.

Participants in the panel discussion include the vice director of the Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research Manuela Bojadžijev and mathematician and cultural anthropologist Bernd Kasparek, who co-manages the website bordermonitoring.eu, which documents activities at the outer borders of the EU. The discussion will cover, for example, how the logics of biometry and logistics in migrant hotspots at the edges of Europe serve as a testing ground for capturing and measuring human beings. Also invited are the artist Heba Y. Amin, who in her work has visualized megalomaniac plans to redesign the Mediterranean Sea, and the filmmaker Amel Alzakout, who together with author Merle Kröger will show selections from her documentary film Purple Sea. The film is based on material that Alzakout filmed during her own flight when the boat she was on capsized over the Mediterranean Sea. Also participating are film scholar Natalie Lettenewitsch, who researches (under)water imagery in cinema; anthropologist Stefan Helmreich, who with his book Alien Ocean travels to the microbial realms of the deep sea; Ayesha Hameed, who approaches the theme of the symposium through the act of listening; and author Helmut Höge, who contributes animal perspectives with a view to the concept of biodiversity.

Hotspots: Migration and the Sea, Akademie der Künste der Welt (ADKDW) | Photos: Jan Kryszons

11 am - 10 pm
Box office: € 3 - € 10
Language: English
Venue: Alte Feuerwache Köln / Bühne, Melchiorstraße 3, 50670 Cologne

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Helmut Höge: Living and Dying in the Arctic Download PDF