Rencontres

An evening of readings, music, and reflection on the traces left by war, through the work of Alban Berg. In collaboration with Passa Porta, the Monnaie organizes a literary evening dedicated to the major themes of Wozzeck. When Alban Berg's opera was first performed, it struck a chord by highlighting the psychological impact of war and violence on individuals, as well as the consequences of the exploitation and instrumentalization of others. These themes will be explored through readings of texts by authors whose personal experiences in war-torn countries have deeply influenced their work: an excerpt from "Hemingway Knows Nothing" by Artur Dron will be read by his translator, Roman Nesterenco; the Palestinian poet residing in Brussels, Ahmed Saleh, will read several of his poems; and a fragment from the award-winning novel "War and Rain" will be read by its author, Velibor Čolić. These readings will be followed by a conversation with Anya Topolski, a political philosopher specializing in the works of Hannah Arendt and Emmanuel Levinas; Geertrui Serneels, a member of the Brussels Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Migration and Minorities at VUB and director of the Solentra association, which specializes in war trauma and provides psychological support to refugees; and Viktoriia Tuhasheva, a Ukrainian psychologist currently residing in Belgium and working with Solentra. The evening will also feature the musical performance of Alban Berg's "Four Songs" by baritone Leander Carlier (MM Academy). The authors: Ahmed Saleh is a Palestinian writer, poet, and activist from Gaza, who now lives in Brussels. In his writings on literature, politics, identity, and memory, he is particularly interested in the themes of displacement and alienation, which he explores through his own experiences. As an activist, he has collaborated with cultural and human rights organizations. As a writer, he has published critical and reflective essays on the political and psychological complexities of exile, and has published his first collection of poetry. Velibor Čolić was born in 1964 in a small town in Bosnia. After studying literature and working as a journalist for a regional radio station, he joined the Bosnian army in 1992. Author of "The Book of Departures" (2020), "Exile Manual: How to Succeed in Exile in Thirty-Five Lessons" (2016), "Ederlezi" (2014), and "Sarajevo Omnibus" (2012), he has received the Prix du Rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature française (for his entire body of work). "War and Rain," a narrative of the Bosnian invasion by the former Yugoslav Federal Army, up to his desertion, which marked the beginning of his life in exile, won the Rossel Prize in 2024. Artur Dron is a veteran of the Russo-Ukrainian war. He graduated from the journalism faculty of Ivan Franko University in Lviv and served as a soldier in the 125th Autonomous Territorial Defense Brigade from the spring of 2022. In the autumn of 2024, he was seriously injured and is currently undergoing rehabilitation. He is the author of two poetry collections and a collection of short stories entitled "Hemingway Knows Nothing." His poems have been translated into more than ten languages. In 2024, his second collection of poetry was selected by the Ukrainian PEN Club for the Shevchenko National Prize.