Soul City Arts is delivering a compelling immersive theatrical show, that explores the Muslim experience of prayer and how it is perceived in British society. The ‘Waswasa’ show is part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival and takes place in August at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

We are building towards the show by capturing thoughts and prayers from the city throughout June in our warehouse space. In a series of hosted workshops, we invite the community to graffiti their intimate prayers directly onto Islamic prayer mats, which will be featured within the Waswasa show.

Using the Soul City Arts flagship style, these events will be immersive with film projections, curated conversations followed by great local food from Chef Munayam Khan (Raja Monkey).

Workshop Dates:
Weds1st June: 1pm-4pm | Sun 5th June: 1pm-4pm
Weds 8th June: 10.30am-1.30pm | Weds 15th June: 10.30am-1.30pm
Weds 22th June: 6pm-9pm

Register via eventbrite here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waswasa-prayer-mat-community-events-tickets-344311614307

MORE INFORMATION

WHAT IS WASWASA

As the daily distractions of modern society consume us, many of us seek that elusive ‘flow state’ or ‘being in the zone’ whether it be through yoga, sports, the arts or worship.

The physical act of prayer now extends beyond religious spaces to places such as parks and city-squares; it spills over into our everyday worlds. It is even visible in sports arenas with athletes prostrating to the ground or raising hands to the sky in moments of triumph. Can we draw parallels between an act of personal faith and our quest to achieve a higher state of focus, or is it one and the same?

The audience is invited to walk through a combination of live performance, art installation and projected film zones that disrupt the conventions of theatre, placing them at the very heart of the story. A replica of the famous Birmingham Qur’an, considered to be one of the world’s oldest, will be integrated into the show.

Mohammed Ali together with his Soul City Arts team aim to demystify this familiar yet misunderstood tradition of Islamic prayer through an extraordinary multi-disciplinary show that will challenge our perceptions.

Mohammed Ali is an award-winning street-artist who has travelled the world with his murals, performances and installations from New York to Bangladesh. He now brings his biggest production to-date to his home city of Birmingham.  He is the founder and artistic director of Soul City Arts.

www.artofmohammedali.com

GATHER YOUR THOUGHTS

We want Waswasa to be a show that reflects authentically community voices.  We are seeking personal and intimate prayers and hopes that you will scribe onto canvases that mimic the style of Islamic prayer mats.

Those prayer mats will be hung during our theatre show as part of the installation we refer to as the ‘Prayer Tunnel’.

All your prayers will be anonymous so can be as intimate as you like, but also we ask you to consider that they will be publicly read by others.

COLLECTING YOUR PRAYERS

We want this installation to be filled with hundreds of prayers of the people of this city.  Never before has such intimate thoughts and visions been collected in this way and then displayed in such a manner.

Fight the Waswasa, as we gather your thoughts and collect your prayers!

REGISTER TO ATTEND VIA EVENTBRITE

Please visit the following link to register so that we can ensure we have the right numbers for catering.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waswasa-prayer-mat-community-events-tickets-344311614307

FOOD PROVIDED

We are excited to share that we have renowned local Chef, Munayam Khan (Raja Monkey) providing food for us at this even.