The International SoloFest, which we held for the 6th time this year under the leadership of Mordem Art and Ecological Living Association, opened on 16 October with the “Yasak Serenat” (Forbidden Serenade) concert and an opening reception; it then met audiences between 17–26 October 2025 at Mordem Sanat, ÇandAmed (Congress Centre) and DİTAV, where it came to a close.
For six years, with a focus first and foremost on Kurdish culture and the cultures of the other local peoples of our region, we have been organising SoloFest with the mission of making their narrative and performance forms that are on the verge of being forgotten visible again, keeping them alive and restoring them to society. Inspired by the one-person storytelling tradition in Kurdish culture, our festival aims to open a common space for intercultural exchange and dialogue by bringing together solo storytelling/performance practices from local and other cultures on the same stage.
The theme of SoloFest 6, “On the Verge of Disappearing”, was not only a call to “protect” cultural heritage; it also centred on the idea of heritage being enriched through sharing, becoming transmissible between generations and being reproduced anew as it comes into contact with different cultures. Although solo performances may seem to be an individual narrative form, they are in fact among the strongest carriers of social memory, collective experience and cultural continuity. That is why, throughout the festival, every narrative became a practice of remembrance in pursuit of traces on the verge of disappearing.
This year, artists from the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi), Germany, Iran, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria and Türkiye took to the SoloFest stage. The programme spanned a wide range, from solo plays to contemporary dance and from memory-based narratives to contemporary performances.
This year’s programme was as follows:
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17 October: “subj:medeA” — Özlem Özhabeş (Abu Dhabi)
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18 October: “Bîra Kolektîf û Veguherîna Mekan: Sûr” — Amed Hafıza Kolektifi (Amed) / “Bir Nora Evi” (A Nora’s House) — Tiyatro Boyalı Kuş (Istanbul)
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19 October: “Geriye Kalan?” (What Remains?) — Hüseyin Umaysız (Belgium) / “On My Way” — Sarina Panahideh (Germany)
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20 October: “Tar O Tan” — Shoukef Amiri (Mashhad)
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21 October: “İllüzyonist Makî’nin Maceraları” (The Adventures of Makî the Illusionist) — Dara Sanat Tiyatrosu (Amed) / “The Dreams of Hamlet” — AKT (Kosovo)
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22–23 October: “Funda Keeps on Rolling” and “Pes Etme Seçeneğimiz Yok!” (Giving Up Is Not an Option!) — Funda Müjde (Netherlands) / “PerpetuaPax!” — Accademia Eleonora Duse (Italy)
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24 October: “Aware” — Kani Theatre (Bukan)
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25 October: “The Little Dog Laughed” — Spam Studios (Bulgaria)
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26 October: “Gozî Kilorî Gozî Sitûr” — Dengbêj Mizafer (Batman)
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26 October (Panel): Recep İçen (Mardin) on “Rola Werger û Adaptasyonê Di Pêşveçûna Şanoya Kurdî De” (The Role of Translation and Adaptation in the Development of Kurdish Theatre)
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Closing (26 October): “Kaybolmanın Eşiğinde – Evden Geriye Kalan” (On the Verge of Disappearing – What Remains of Home) — Antakya Performative Collective (Hatay)
We hope that the space we have opened with the theme “On the Verge of Disappearing” will touch our ways of remembering, passing on and creating together not only during the festival days but also in everyday life.
Photo: Cansel Deveci
“SoloFest6: On the Verge of Disappearing” is supported by the European Union within the scope of CultureCIVIC: Culture and Arts Support Programme.