It’s “safe” to say we are living in a climate crisis… Why do I feel like my proximity to the solution is so far away? Why do I feel guilty? How can I be responsible when the same forces that marginalised people of the Global Majority also created structures where we are all reliant on hydrocarbon production to maintain socio-economic structures… particularly those of us from, or with connections to, the Middle East and North Africa? Also, WHY CAN’T I BUY A CUCUMBER NOT WRAPPED IN PLASTIC?
It’s “safe” to say we are living in a climate crisis… How do we protect our earth? How do we protect ourselves? How do we embody/care for that fear/anxiety/anger/sadness? How do we express that we, the people of the Global Majority, are intimidated by the “unbearable whiteness of green” which thinks “locally” and doesn’t speak for the native homes destroyed by colonial enterprise, war, and oppression.
It’s “safe” to say that we are living in a climate crisis… It’s not a question anymore. In 2018, I made a score book entitled “How to DIE/DIY” as a guide to create strategies for how we can approach our own inevitable mortality. With a verbal prompt and a visual landscape I frankensteined together from books left near dumpsters or bought for less than a quid at the charity shop, I offer provocations to the audience to create their own symphonies, arias, monologues, punk bands, etc.
I encourage you, dear, to respond/react/embody from the script I offer you… at the top of your lungs or from the bottom of your soul, use this invitation to express your feelings and your own proximity to crisis.
Thank you for being here.
[xoxo] DUBAIS
DUBAIS is a perpetually-changing concept band from visual artist, cultural activist, and musician Nadia Buyse. From absurd synth covers, to guitar ballads about dating the devil , to bedroom pop songs about murdering your lover, Nadia’s music jumps from genre to genre, being tied together by a DIY aesthetic and video art that spans over installation, performance, visual albums, experimental pop operas, etc. Although DUBAIS operates like a band, it’s actually a vehicle for conceptual work and cultural activism in which Nadia uses the tropes of pop music to examine Diasporic migration, neo-liberal dystopias, emotional incapacitations, consumer technologies, hybrid identities, intersectional feminism, and transnational communities. DUBAIS has released music, published text, taught a multitude of workshops, lectured, exhibited work, and performed internationally in a variety of spaces and places ranging from Conflict resolution Peace camps in Central Asia to dOCUMENTA (13).
Nadia is also currently in the punk band snoozers, a community artist at ONCA, and a part time tutor/ lecturer at BIMM in London.
Instagram: @DUBAIS
YouTube: DUBAIS / ONELINERS (Visual EP)