For the first time ever, NORDWIND festival has brought together artists from very different parts of the world: The Arctic and African continent, in an attempt to unpack questions of identity, displacement and transformation.

The 2017 edition of the festival, Songs of a Melting Iceberg – Displaced Without Moving, has tapped into an international audience, providing a larger platform for discussion and creativity. It has 120 artists from 18 countries perform installations, video,dance, and art, in Berlin and Hamburg during November, December and early January. Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen from Denmark evoked the fluid state between stillness and movement, beginning and end, with her performance, Gaia, of dance and music on a floating, ethereal stage set made of fabric.

Meanwhile, international award-winning choreographer and dancer Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe performed a solo dance, Gula, exploring the peculiar and spectacular world of birds. The South African performer included elements of break-dance, ballet and traditional African dance.

Since 2006, NORDWIND has continued to provide a platform of provoking performances and exhibitions. The new approach, from geographically restricted to internationally open is “especially necessary,” says the founder Ricarda Ciontos “in times of increasing nationalism and racism. Concepts like nation, belonging and national identity must be questioned and then ultimately be implemented in our curatorial practice.”

NORDWIND continues until January 13, 2018, for more details, see.