Donja Hota

 “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Donja Hota starts from the theme of universal revolt in times of social strife and reflects on the agency of individuals to change society.

It begins with a collectively created work where the team of artists challenge their own biographical material. At the same time, they explore the life and work of the celebrated and controversial feminist activist Nawal El Saadawi; and investigate the classic ‘first novel’ of Western Literature, Don Quixote.

Donja Hota is created where reality and fiction intertwine, where the hero and antihero collide, and where the personal and political become one.

This is an invitation to look at the transformative and stubborn idealism that made these artists and their fictional creations change their lives and those of others. The work is created in a horizontal, collaborative way, with transparency built into its form and content. It is a core aim to develop a process that puts feminist principles into practice. Or, as Saadawi would encourage: to not only make connections, through art-making, but also to organize, exulting in the potential threat of collective action.