This ongoing project is a collaboration between Karina Kesserwan and Devora Neumark, developed as part of Devora’s Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer fellowship at the Centre for Human Rights in Erlangen-Nürnberg.
The project centers around 13 prompts, adapted from AI-generated outputs, each designed to inspire reflection and performance-based responses to the lived experiences of displacement.
Each week, Devora responds to one of these prompts with a performance gesture, creating an artifact such as a photo, audio recording, or drawing. A week later, Karina responds to the artifact with a reflective commentary, fostering a thoughtful dialogue that adds depth to the initial performance.
The thematic arc of the prompts begins with attachment to place and concludes with the metaphor of wind, symbolizing memory, scattering, and the passage of time.
The series starts with “Bound to earth,” which reflects a sense of grounding, and moves through prompts like “Scorched,” evoking the urgency of departure, and “Wrapped in loss,” capturing the emotional weight of leaving behind people and cultural elements. It culminates in “The wind remembers,” a meditation on the lingering memories and stories of displacement.
This progression mirrors the emotional journey of those displaced due to climate crises—beginning with stability, passing through loss and adaptation, and ending with resilience.
Through these weekly reflections, the project delves into not just the physical aspects of displacement, but also the profound cultural and emotional impacts, creating a contemplative performance series that invites deeper engagement with these themes.
Displacement Codes - Contemplative Performance and the Climate Crisis 