Imagine a moment ago you just passed the sea with fierce waves. Shadows of death and uncertainty dawdled in your mind. Is there a better life on the other side? Circumstances have forced you to leave your homeland, where your childhood and the lingering memories of mother and family reside.
Stranded on a strange land and meeting people with the same fate but with different backgrounds cause you to feel that unpleasant stories being written in many different parts of the world. While you know well that that returning is not possible. Probably, it might like going out of a tiger’s teeth into a crocodile’s mouth.
Under these circumstances, people from Kurds, Congo, Syria and dozens of others spent their days in deportation camps in … (Denmark) and waited for their fate to decide their next moves. In the camp found space and food but less money and the rules did not allow them to work.
It is that evening, August 2020, Trampoline House, a collective based in Copenhagen got together. The room looked crowded and people from different backgrounds sat listening to a signal from a woman presiding over the meeting. He spoke Danish and a man translated it into English.
“Every month we gather like this. In the past it was even held once a week,” explained Blanca, a Trampoline House administrator. The meeting that night discussed their new plans related to activities at the Trampoline House. “We talked about how the people living in the deportation camps were doing,”
Not only them, that night, from a distance, and from different parts of the world, with all their limitations, Lumbung Sohib also experienced the monthly meeting through a virtual channel. On the Zoom screen, you can see the faces of artists, curators, and other cultural workers. Occasionally, the picture stops and the sound is cut off before reconnecting.
Through the microphone we could hear their talking about how to make sure they are in good condition. “We talked about buying their travel tickets from the deportation camp to the Trampoline House. In addition, there are also some new plans such as opening hours, as well as pickets involved and distributing masks for them.
Trampoline House is a common home for refugees and asylum seekers where they can gather. There foreigners with all the problems that require them to leave their hometowns can meet. “There are women who come with babies. Glad to see they can make meaningful relationships with others.”
“We believe people have the intention of sharing. It’s just that they don’t know how. So we make room for that. ” It is true that when humans move from place to place, what is transferred is not only the body but also thoughts, ideas, recorded stories, knowledge, and even skills.
A man from Congo apparently spoke French. He contributed to teaching the language to others by creating French classes on Trampoline. Likewise with other people who have abilities in a variety of different fields. With the space there will be a conversation that also functions for healing.
At that point, the spirit of Lumbung is reflected in the process of meetings and conversations that take place where each individual is present with a variety of experiences, skills and knowledge that reinforce each other. With the same spirit, Trampoline House plans to design something for Documenta Fifteen in 2022.