Laila Soliman

“No Time For Art / 0” (2011-12)
Interactive performance to honor the martyrs of the revolution.

“No Time For Art / 1” (2011-12)
A performance combining and intercutting three first hand testimonies; comparing police and military violence and injustice before and after the Egyptian Revolution. A young blind musician, a young prisoner’s testimony given voice by his sister, and a young actor tell their stories as one.

“Civics, Lesson 1:
How to represent a real criminal?
Molotov cocktails are needed, knives and bombs made of tea also.
A soldier spreads them out properly before the young man and he quickly even sets up some lightning. A real mise-en-scène for a ‘real’ television process.
During the commercial break the torture continues.”

In “No Time For Art / 1”, Laila Soliman condenses notes from diaries and personal accounts into her own process. Between shock and anger, despair and sarcasm, three actors play different roles through experiences with police and military. They complement and split plot threads, which are randomly spun around the brutal arrest of two prisoners: one in October 2007, the other in March 2011. The setting for this documentary performance is minimalistic; the power comes from the words of precisely-cut testimonies. The density overwhelms and moves. Powerlessness and resistance lie, in this dispute between pre-and post-revolutionary, brutality close to each other. In the background, the state TV-channel flickers. Blessed is the success of the military over the "Criminals who have terrorized the community."