HD-Video, 13 min, 2025
High Holidays is a video work created especially for this exhibition, filmed on location in both Hamburg and the Greek island of Hydra. The video brings together two strikingly different yet thematically intertwined events: the G20 riots and protests that shook Hamburg in 2017, and the Orthodox Easter ceremonies that take place annually on Hydra. While one represents political unrest and confrontation, the other reflects religious devotion and tradition. Through careful editing and juxtaposition, the work invites viewers to observe how both events—despite their apparent opposition—are bound by a shared language of ritual, symbolism, and collective behavior. The charged energy of street protests and the solemn choreography of religious rites become visual parallels, raising questions about the deeper structures that govern how communities come together, express belief, and enact meaning.
In exploring these dynamics, High Holidays blurs the lines between the sacred and the political, highlighting how both spheres draw on similar mechanisms to generate identity, belonging, and emotional resonance. The work does not seek to compare or judge these occasions but rather to reflect on the human impulse toward ritualized expression—whether through chants and processions in a liturgical setting or banners and clashes in a political demonstration. By presenting these events side by side, the video offers a contemplative space for examining how repetition, performance, and symbolism function across cultural and ideological divides. In doing so, it challenges viewers to consider the power and pervasiveness of ritual in shaping public life, and the thin veil that often separates reverence from resistance.
