Falling Walls [2019]

If history has proven that the walls that have been built before will crumble and fall, why do we keep building more?

Falling Walls is a collaborative art project between Rwanda and Germany that comprises poetry, dance, music, and theatre. It seeks to create a space in which different memories and stories of walls can be shared and the logic of boundaries can be challenged through different means of artistic expression. The outcomes of a one-week residency were shown as an art performance on 9 November 2019, the day that marks the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

Falling Walls was supported by Mashirika Performing Arts and Media Company, the German Embassy Kigali, and the Kigali School of Architecture.

Artistic Direction: Hope Azeda
Creative Production: Hope Azeda, Rwema Simon, Yule Burlefinger
Artists: Yule Burlefinger, Frank Mugisha, Yannick N. Kamanzi, Tsatsi Rugeye, Leander Heblich & Moise Moshe

Photography: Michael Rhebergen [@michaelrhebergen]

What does it take, how long does it take for skin to tear apart, for scars to fade?

What does it take, how long does it take for scab to crumble, for blank pages to shade?

What does it take, how long does it take for our parents’ stories to be washed away with the rain?

What does it take, how long does it take to trace the outlines of a memory, to forget the smell of pain?

How long does it take to turn stone to sand, how long does it take to reach out to a hand?

How long does it take to stop fearing the other, how long does it take for hearts to remember one another?