"Ephemeral Moments" reflects Rawan Almukthar's approach to vulnerability as a central and defining element of his work. In his pieces, he focuses on fleeting and transitionary moments, which he has incorporated into the transdisciplinary cooperation between the Inter-University Institution for Science and Art (Mozarteum / Paris Lodron University of Salzburg) and DFG Research Group Law-Gender-Collectivity (Project A, Humboldt University Berlin).

The installation underlines the temporary character of insights provided by projects that serve marginalized voices. It demonstrates the inherent transience in impressions of Othered vulnerability. The tetrahedron appears only briefly. The centerpiece is the sea, symbolizing countless untold stories and representing the brutal impact of European border regimes, which have cost countless people their lives on their journey to Europe. Sounds and noises from Rawan Almukthar's own flight in 2015 amplify the deeper complexity and significance of the vulnerability of those pushed to the margins.

Ephemeral Moments (2024) is a translation of Ivana Pilić's research model Tetrahedron (2024), which served as a working method for the transdisciplinary collaboration. The figure represents the quest for ways to create a third space (Homi Bhabha, 1994) with different knowledge systems: a place of negotiation, which reflects on the limits of one's own engagement with marginalized voices. A place where these boundaries can be experienced beyond disciplinary logics – an undisciplined approach to Othered vulnerabilities – in the exploratory pursuit for a new common (DFG Research Group Law-Gender-Collectivity, 2024).

The cooperation between the two universities culminated in May 2023 with the lecture performance “Response_ability on Trial,” which premiered at Humboldt University in Berlin. By invitation, the performance collective subsequently presented it at the University of Amsterdam (January 2024) and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (April 2024). For upcoming projects: epistemicruptures.com/

Ivana Pilić in collaboration with P. Sußner