Start: 2010
Partner: ANEMON PRODUCTIONS (Greece)
Refugee Studies Centre, University of OxfordName: Roger Zetter (UK)
Benaki MuseumName: Aimilia Yeroulanou (Greece)
Tolle IdeeName: Alexander Schwarz (Germany)
The Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia Name: Loukia Loizou (Cyprus)
Action: Creative Europe Culture (2007-2013) Cooperation measures
Summary:
‘Twice a Stranger’ is a travelling multi-media exhibition which tells the story of the most significant population exchanges of the 20th century. Hosted by the Benaki Museum (Athens), the Leventis Municipal Museum (Nicosia) and the University of Oxford, it will run in parallel with outreach programmes for schools, community and refugee groups and an interactive internet site.
Largely based on the testimonies of people forced to migrate from their birthplace, the exhibition will explore the relevance of mass expulsion for our past and future and discover what it means to be ‘Twice a Stranger’: both in the place where you were born and in the place where you grow old.
From the compulsory Greek-Turkish population exchange in 1922 to the massive forced migration after WWII in Germany and Poland, from the partition of British India (1947) and the Israel-Palestinian Conflict (1948) to the inter-communal violence and division of Cyprus (1963-1974) and former Yugoslavia, we try to understand the enormous consequences of population transfer – through the common ground of human experience- and to discover what lessons are to be learnt.
The exhibition aims to encourage museum visitors to draw broader lessons about how the cause of peace can be advanced, as societies across Europe and the world are becoming increasingly affected by the ceaseless movement of peoples across international borders.
“Twice A Stranger” will consist of:
1) A presentation of the events that led to forced population exchanges.
2) Video projections with refugee testimonies from Greece/ Turkey, Germany/Poland, India/Pakistan, Israel/ Palestine, Cyprus and the territories of former Yugoslavia, accompanied by rare archive footage, family photographs and home movies.
3) Three interactive multi-media Installations for ages 12+.
4) Educational programmes and community outreach programmes.
5) An exhibition publication and interactive internet site
6) A Press Campaign
Results:
- Online platform;
- travelling exhibitions;
- The Promise DVD is a story about the 1922 Greek-Turkish population exchange told through the eyes of two seven-year-old girls, one Greek and the other Turkish, who lived on the outskirts of Izmir. This narrative was created by UK award-winning Anna Conomos in collaboration with Eric Loren and Storyspinner, a creative storytelling team based in London. The Promise will be screened at exhibition events. It is also available as a children’s picture book (in Greek, published by Potamos). The product is available on DVD in English, Turkish and Greek.