The Relief : Associated Programme

Designed as a living extension of the exhibition, this programme invites poetry, oral tradition and film into a dialogue with the visual arts to shed light on some of the themes, influences and practices in the work of artist and poet Tarik Kiswanson. From notions of uprooting and separation emerge the need for consolation, the desire for union and the possibility of rebirth. The guest poets – influential figures in the literary worlds of France and Sweden – lend their unique and powerful voices to this dialogue.
Start date:
23 Oct 2025
End date:
11 Jan 2026
Category:
At the Institut Suédois
Time
23.10.2025 – 11.01.2026

30.10.2025 / 19:00
Poetry Evening: Readings
With Linnea Axelsson, Héloïse Brézillon, Athena Farrokhzad, Olivia Tapiero and Noah Truong.
Moderated by the Mange Tes Mots collective.
Readings in Swedish and French (Swedish readings will be translated into French).

This evening highlights the vitality of contemporary Swedish and French poetry, at a time when this mode of expression seems increasingly relevant to our troubled era. Five high-profile poets explore the themes of multiple identity, belonging, uprootedness and memory.

27.11.2025 / 19:00
Poetry Evening: Tarik Kiswanson and Guests
With CHOUF and Burcu Sahin.
Readings in Swedish, French and English (Swedish readings will be translated into French).
The exchange between Tarik Kiswanson and invited poets will be in English.

Artist and poet Tarik Kiswanson, together with the French and Swedish poets, weaves together a polyphonic space where each language forms part of a shared fabric of memory and resistance. Poetic translation is seen as true recreation: each translated poem becomes a new work, conveying different resonances and its own identity.

04.12.2025 / 19:00
Guided visit by the artist and curator
Tarik Kiswanson and Sara Arrhenius 
In French

17.12.2025 / 20:00
Film: Chasing the Dazzling Light
At Le Grand Action cinema
With the filmmaker Yaser Kassab and producer Rima Alhamedd

Dealing with the personal and collective narratives that shape our identities, the film expands on the exhibition’s reflections on exile and memory, in a cinematic form akin to visual poetry.

Daily guided visits with our mediation team

Tarik Kiswanson’s books are available for purchase at the BOKBAR pop-up bookshop