Locations
Sat 4.6. at 2–6 pm in forn of Kiasma (Mannerheiminaukio 2)
Tue 7.6. at 3–7 pm Stoa’s yard (Turunlinnantie 1)
Wed 8.6. at 2–6 pm Culture Centre Caisa’s courtyard (Kaikukatu 4)
About the performance
Orient Express Yourself is a participatory performance by Dafna Maimon. The work functions as a food truck where the audience can buy falafel and pay for it by recounting personal experiences of family relations or patriarchal society. The price of a portion varies from 15 to 299 words, depending on questions asked by the salesperson. The conversation between customer and salesperson is transmitted via microphone to other customers, transforming the personal into a commodity. The society forming in the restaurant and its critical space can be empowering, although simultaneously emphasising the commercialisation of the private as one of capitalism’s strategies in the experience and commodity market.
The work is inspired by Orient Express, the first kebab and falafel restaurant in Helsinki, founded by Maimon’s family in the Forum shopping centre in 1985. Orient Express Yourself was first implemented at Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö in 2017.
Dafna Maimon
In collaboration with
Dafna Maimon is a Berlin-based artist whose work encompasses a wide range of performance art, participatory events, video works and installations. Maimon’s Indigestibles (2021) was one of the popular works at the Helsinki Biennale last summer. It took the visitor on a journey of discovery into the digestive system.
The project is part of an EU Project BE PART – Art BEyond PARTicipationin the context of the URB festival. BEPART is a 4-year audience and organizational programme in the field of participatory art practices implemented by 10 EU and non-EU partners, supported by Creative Europe.
URB22 program
Contemporary live art