We are living in a time where joy and despair seem to blur. Where a child is born while thousands are dying someplace else. Where hope is growing while justice wanes. This simultaneity is noise that is hard to ignore as it screams at us, whispers, and implores. How do we endure this ambiguity, how can we remain capable of listening and acting? How do we decide when to listen and when to resist and defend? That is what we want to focus on this festival period.

Ambiguity tolerance does not mean being cold and rational. It is the ability to feel the world without having to sort it first. It opens up spaces where we can negotiate conflicts. Only when we resonate with others, we feel alive. When we let the world touch us and we allow ourselves to be touched. Resonance, however, does not only occur when things go smoothly, but especially in rough situations. It arises when we do not push away the unbearable but endure it. Those who perceive the world in this way will inevitably experience moments when empathy alone is no longer enough and we are forced to take action.

History tells us of countless such moments: the persistence of the Civil Rights Movement, the resistance against National Socialism, indigenous communities defending their territories against destruction, the uprising in Iran that echoed like a heartbeat across countries: Woman, Life, Freedom, Jin, Jiyan, Azadî.

In solidarity spaces, migrant self-organisations, queer-feminist safe(er) spaces, neighbourhood kitchens and cultural collectives, a multitude of movements are emerging that make resistance a reality through lived practice. 

Especially in current times, when many cultural initiatives are facing financial cuts that threaten their existence, wellenklænge wants to be a space of solidarity where empathy becomes a political force. A place where resistance can be expressed artistically, and where we practise enduring the contradictions of our time and learn not to be silenced. 

Wir singen, also sind wir.