Oct 21+22. Sun Eaters / Jassem Hindi (PS/FR) & Sina Seifee (IR)
Choreographer and musician Jassem Hindi (PS/FR) and visual artist Sina Seifee (IR) combine pre-Islamic iconography, West Asian music, doom metal, and Norwegian folk melodies to create a terrifying tale based on oil and folk dance in a choreography for three dancers.
We have invited the poet Aase Berg to take part in a talk on the opening night on October 21
October 21 at 7pm
+ talk with Swedish poet Aase Berg
October 22 at 7pm
Weld
Norrtullsgatan 7
Book at: book.weld.se
There is no east, there may never be a sun.
– Laila Malik
Sun Eaters is a contemporary folk dance that emerges from the darkness of mythological oil and what lies hidden in ancient dances. Oil is a deadly pearl, a viscous poem hidden in a dark abyss. It is a master of camouflage, transforming from hard fossil into nylon tights, from volatile organic gases into microplastics. Both oil and folk dance survive by deceiving us: they charm us and draw us into their darkness.
Hindi and Seifee draw on what they call “petromagic folklore” from West Asia and western Norway to unleash the mad shepherds, the sick gods—the Sun Eaters. They draw inspiration from the Iranian philosopher Reza Negarestani, who situates oil within a cultural and imaginary landscape, as well as from the Swedish author Aase Berg’s eco-gothic poetry, in which revenge and landscape form a dark alliance. How can we interpret oil as a cultural landscape?
The production was recently named one of the best performances of the year by the Norwegian Shakespeare Journal in 2025!
The performance is wordless.
Choreography: Jassem Hindi
Concept, set design, sound: Sina Seifee, Jassem Hindi
Dance created by: Charlott Utzig, Paolo de Venecia Gile, Harald Beharie
Performers: Paolo de Venecia Gile, Trine Lise Moe, Ida Haugen
Co-dancers: Harald Beharie, Charlott Utzig, Alexandra Tveit
Costumes: Amy of the costumes
Production: Lisa Bakk Bøen
External perspective and support: Anette Röde Hagnell, Dusica Drazic, Marie Ursin, Simon Portigal, Tor-Arne Ursin
Documentation and photography: Mira Adoumier
Co-production: RAS – Regional Arena for Contemporary Dance, Frascati Producties, Moderna
Dansteatern, wpZimmer, Beursschouwburg and Grenland Friteater.
With the support of: The Arts Council Norway.
Jassem Hindi (PS/FR)
living in Oslo, Norway, from Palestine Bretagne, born in Saudi Arabia. Jassem Hindi’s work concerns the bond between haunting and hospitality. His latest dance pieces Laundry of Legends and Sun Eaters look at how to inhabit and survive very long cycles of violence. How to dance in times of war? He works with ruins of folk dances accompanied by death poems from West Asia and Scandinavia (Etel Adnan, Aase Berg, Tor Ulven, Laila Malik). Jassem’s work is shown internationally, and his collaborations have won numerous awards and nominations. His recent collaborators are Mia Habib, Harald Beharie, Ofelia Ortega, Ligia Lewis, Keith Hennessy, Sina Seifee, Clara Furey, Simon Portigal, Justin de Luna. He also gives lectures and workshops internationally, on utopia & betrayal, folk dance & politics, and the concepts of hospitality, body, and hauntology in philosophy and performance. He is the recipient of the KORO grant for public art – on behalf of The Palestinian Agency, a project between Jenine and Norway.
jassemhindi.cargo.site
Sina Seifee (OR)
Sina Seifee is a visual artist researcher based in Brussels who was born in Tehran, Iran in 1982. Sina’s work is structured around a research-intensive and transversal exploration of performative storytelling and image-making, Seifee’s artistic practice looks at how aesthetic knowledges get shaped. His work has been recognized for its commitment to social dimensions of imagination in the intersection of techno-media and globalism, with emphasis on the heritage of zoology in West Asia. He has been presenting internationally in WIELS, Brussels (2020); SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2016); Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2018); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017); Temporary Gallery, Köln (2019); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2019); and Akademie der Künste der Welt, Köln (2015).
sinaseifee.com
Weld is supported by the City of Stockholm, the Swedish Arts Council and Region Stockholm.