The last part of our journey in the global Mediterraneans had no choice but to focus on what permeates and makes this plural space complex and interesting: the relations that intertwine in what in our planispheres is placed at the centre of the world and, in some way, define it.

This year at Oriente Occidente, we want to question the cardinal points, the sense of a centre and of marginality, in search of the relations that currently determine states of equilibrium.

Identity, sense of belonging, recognition, representation, a desire for redemption, new utopias: an invitation to embrace plurality and make room also for contradictions.

Do a North and a South still exist in the world? What does West mean today? What remains of these definitions? In a context in which dividing maps into four parts seems reductive, how unequal are the relations between these poles still?

We believe that we need to free our minds from stereotypes and create openings. We believe we should “make peace with the Earth” and initiate practices of environmental and social ecology.

The space of narration allows us to unite theory and practice of dialogue: telling stories, listening, conveying, trusting. We will offer this space to artists from Senegal, India, Rwanda, Singapore, the Philippines. But also from Belgium, France, Italy. To those who will share their experience with native communities in Latin America.

For a meeting of cultures that, once again, will be an adventure to be shared.