The ‘Turquoise Desert’ research bureau brings together multidisciplinary practitioners and researchers investigating convivial practices and gatherings involving water. Of interest to the ‘Turquoise Desert’ research bureau are domesticated environments such as kitchens, urban landmarks involving water such as historical water fountains called Sabils and institutions working with water. Water and is one at the centernerve of this first Research Bureau.

Research Bureau Brief

In our contemporary society, physical gatherings of people are often replaced with virtual interfaces and individual interests, however this residency aims to rekindle our connection to the basic substances that once drove humans to congregate and form communities, namely water and by extension, food. With water at the heart of life in both Cairo and Amsterdam, we reflect with new eyes on the power and potential of human gatherings.

Your ‘task’ during this 3 month programme is to research, write, design, direct, sing, dance and / or perform a concept or event showcasing your vision on the development of new forms of gatherings. By observing and learning from our trips and meetings identifying what can be borrowed from methods of gathering, sharing and exchange. Your research and practice should aim to support the development and empowerment of countercultures beyond borders making use of events and experiences as a means to reveal and shift power structures in institutions and societies. At the start of your investigation you will look into water and its political, economic, historical and sociological implications in the building of communities, countercultures and nations.

Through the production of both multidimensional experiential projects, workshops, exhibitions, magic or rituals making use of water, food, dance and music, radio podcasts and written texts, your work will aim to act as a point of dialogue between stakeholders, politicians, academics, students and parents, and beyond proposing to portray the value of social dreaming, experiences and theatre as critical research practices. You will be working as individuals or in groups of your choosing.