21 May, 3:00 PM

For this edition of our Voices From series, we turn our attention to festivals that have disappeared, become dormant, or been forced into silence due to political, economic, or infrastructural pressures.

In many regions, festivals once served as vital artistic, social, and political ecosystems - spaces for gathering, experimentation, and community-building. Their disappearance leaves gaps that are not only cultural but deeply structural. This session invites speakers from Iran, Turkey, and Argentina to reflect on what is lost and what remains when festival infrastructures collapse.

What conditions lead to the disappearance of festivals? How do artists continue making work when the structures around them shift or erode? Which memories, documentation strategies, and informal networks can carry festivals forward in other forms? And do changing ecosystems call for other forms of artistic gatherings?

We will hear from: 

Amirali Ghasemi (Iran)– Independent Curator, Media Artist, Graphic Designer 

Mohammad Abbasi (Iran) – Director, Invisible Centre of Contemporary Dance; UNTIMELY Festival 

Roni Isola (Argentinia) - Cultural manager, producer, programmer and arts curator

Fatih Gençkal (Turkey) – A Corner in the World; tibia x fibula; Artistic Researcher at Das Third; IETM member