Domo stands for Artistic Freedom: Liberation Day

Walk-in: International collaboration & artistic freedom

10:00 – 12:00

Open 1-on-1 conversations by DutchCulture

Are you a Netherlands-based artist or maker with international plans? Drop in for a one-on-one conversation with us about funding, residencies, open calls, or anything else on your mind. This special edition is also an invitation to talk about artistic freedom: what it means to you, where you experience it, and where you don't. We are curious to learn from you how you stay true to your vision when working across borders? How do you find collaborators who share my values, not just my field? What do you do to build solidarity with artists in contexts very different from your own?

Bring your stories and your questions too!

Freedom Lunch

12:00 - 13:30

Gather around the table for a shared, free meal to open the afternoon, including this year's soup made by Janny van der Heijden. Includes a welcoming word, an introduction to Domo, and an introduction to the themes of the day.

Words of welcome by resident organisations of Domo; Prins Claus Fund, Cultural Emergency Response, European Cultural Foundation, DutchCulture, Ukrainian Institute.

Cultural Programme

13:30 - 16:00

Interactive workshop Sovereign Borders by Anna Kakhiani (13:30-15:00)
Sovereign Borders is a participatory performance that reflects on the paradoxes of freedom through the lens of borders, sovereignty, and collective responsibility. Rooted in the contemporary geopolitical context, the work examines how borders function both as conditions of freedom and as points of vulnerability where that freedom can be undermined. Anna invites participants to consider the fragility of international norms, the shifting meaning of security, and the mechanisms—political, cultural, and symbolic—that can erode or defend the integrity of borders. At its core, the performance approaches freedom not as a given, but as something that must be actively upheld and defended. It opens space to think about how individual and collective agency participate in resisting violations, sustaining shared structures, and maintaining the conditions in which freedom can exist. Anyone is welcome to take part in this participatory performance. All you need is your own position, a willingness to collaborate in groups, and conversational English. To help artist prepare, we kindly ask those who wish to participate to register in advance, though spontaneous participation will remain possible and welcome.

Storytelling workshop by Başak Layic from Mezrab (15:00-16:00)
Basak will close the day - weaving together the voices, experiences, and reflections from the day.

Short film Glory to The Unknown & The Anonymous - المجد للمجهولين by Tala Abdalhadi (ongoing)

‍Glory to the Unknown and the Anonymous is an experimental story about the young generations who have never known freedom and connection as a lived reality. It builds a world where different poetics of expression collide, forming a new language that corresponds to the intensity of the world it comes from. Its protagonist is a body moving through the forb(hidden) space it grew up in, searching for understanding. It experiences itself as it happens, while also examining itself as a subject in real time. Meaning is constantly taken apart and put back together; it is recontextualized through sensation - shedding, splitting, melting, hardening, recoiling, returning. Memory and perception unfold within changing ground, where orientation is shaped by two shifting fields: what happens inside the body and what acts on it from outside - continuously re-plotting its position and form.

Photo exhibition Plastic Sea, Perfect Storm (The Europeans) by Rob Hornstra (ongoing)
Nationalism is rising, democracies under pressure and war back on the continent. Photographer Rob Hornstra and filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen have spent years travelling across Europe asking what it means to be European today, and their answers are not reassuring. Plastic Sea, Perfect Storm is the newest chapter of their long-form photo-documentary project The Europeans, and on 16 April it comes to us: a pop-up exhibition in our own event space. Come and sit with the images.

The exhibition is on display from 16 April to 16 May, and is brought to you by the European Cultural Foundation.

About

Anna Kakhiani is a Ukrainian interdisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam since the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine. She employs a range of media such as installation, performance, video, and text exploring displacement, identity, and the ways social and political contexts shape our sense of home and connection. Kakhiani’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions such as Hug Me with Words, or Maybe Not (WG Kunst, Amsterdam) and Tomorrow’s Light Is Falling on My Wall (PuntWG, Amsterdam), as well as in group shows including Shared Home.Shared Fight (Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam), Frieden (Museum Bruder Klaus, Sachseln, Switzerland), and Over Leven; Kunstenaars en hun strijd om vrijheid (Gorcums Museum, Gorinchem, Netherlands). Her practice combines reflection with collaborative and research-based approaches, creating spaces where people can encounter questions of vulnerability, responsibility, and power. Through workshops, participatory projects, and immersive experiences, Kakhiani invites audiences to consider how social and political dynamics shape everyday life.

Başak Layic is a writer, performer, and storyteller based in Amsterdam. Born in Istanbul, her work blends humor, personal narrative, and political themes such as migration, identity, and belonging. She has performed at festivals including Amsterdam Fringe and Oerol, and her solo work Divine Madness received critical attention for its bold and intimate storytelling. Basak is also involved with Rederij Lampedusa, where she develops narrative projects with performers from refugee backgrounds. Her work moves between theatre and screen, exploring how personal stories reflect larger systems.

Rob Hornstra is a Dutch photographer who works on long-term documentary projects, both in the Netherlands and abroad. His work appears internationally in books, newspapers, magazines, and exhibitions, and is part of collections such as Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Huis Marseille Amsterdam, Maison Européenne de la Photographie Paris, Musée de la Photographie Charleroi, and Fondazione MAST, Bologna. In addition to being a photographer, he has been co-head for more than five years of the Bachelor’s and Master’s Photography programs at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) and he is the driving force behind the live talk show FOTODOK Book Talks at TivoliVredenburg.

Tala Abdalhadi is an interdisciplinary creative, experiential designer, and transmedia storyteller based in Palestine. Her work reflects on social justice, culture, and collective action through diverse media including visual communication, fashion, (moving) image, writing, and UX/UI. Often, Tala plays basketball while exchanging perspectives wherever she goes.

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