The Soapbox Speaker of Rotterdamse Centrummarkt

For his contribution to this exhibition, Afif presents a performative project that stems from his solo show at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010) and the recent performance The Speaker’s Corner of Hamra Street (Beirut, 2011). Twice weekly in Rotterdam’s main market, standing on a typical soapbox – so beloved of speakers wanting to share their political message or religious beliefs – actor Andrew Smart reads aloud a sequence of poems written by friends and colleagues of Afif, inspired by his works. To speak out, to read aloud poetry in public – especially in the context of a bustling market – is a fleeting moment of exposure and fragility. Through the repeated appearance of this figure over the course of three months, the performance begins to take on the same permanence as a piece of public sculpture, a fixed feature of the market that starts to influence its reality.