Drawing on rituals such as the Chinese Moon Festival, harvest festivals in Europe, and festivals of light such as the Indian Diwali, the project explores the potential of darkness from a cosmopolitan perspective.

Embrace the darkness and spark light together! Celebrating the dark means embracing uncertainties, letting go of fear, and transforming tension into light. Because: “Especially under uncertain circumstances, it remains urgently necessary to come together in order to keep going and to create a future”, as curator and cultural studies scholar Brigitte Felderer aptly puts it in “The Fest”. Drawing inspiration from rituals such as the Chinese Moon Festival, harvest festivals in Europe, and festivals of light like the Indian Diwali, DARK TIMES taps into the potential of darkness from a cosmopolitan perspective and stages a series of activities throughout the city: from listening sessions and crafting workshops to nighttime moonwalks and a communal dinner to conclude the celebrations.

Tour “Let’s G(l)o(w)”: Fri 2.10., 7pm–10pm

In 1962, the city’s last gas lamp was extinguished in Hietzing. Taking this significant exhibit in front of the Hietzing District Museum as its starting point, the night walk organized by Saliva Collective invites participants to explore the 13th district by the light of lanterns designed collaboratively and brought along individually. Following a set route and using a map, the light is carried all the way to the Roter Berg, exploring what metaphorically brings light to the city today. The walk is accompanied by a performance by the transnational, anti-hierarchical, anti-sexist, and anti-racist drum collective Rhythms of Resistance and concludes with a mooncake picnic before everyone goes their separate ways.

Registration at salut.saliva@gmail.com
Maximum 30 people

Meeting point: Vienna’s Last Gas Lantern
13., Am Platz 2

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMME:

Spotlight on the Festival Headquarters: Sat 26.9., 5pm–10pm

Together with the community radio platform Res.Radio, Saliva Collective is hosting the official “Ignition Ceremony” for the DARK TIMES installation. In honor of the darkness and as a tribute to the full moon, the evening will be all about celebrating and dancing together – and lighting a collective fire!

Festival Headquarters, Red Area
13., Hietzinger Kai 101

Lantern Workshop “Gather and Glow”: Sun 27.9., midday–3pm

In this workshop, participants will create lanterns that will not only be part of the main installation at the Festival Headquarters but can also be brought along on the closing night walk on 2.10.

Registration at salut.saliva@gmail.com
Maximum 20 people

MEZEKƎRƎ
7., Apollogasse 21/5