Havin Al-Sindy's Locust Project Engages 200 Youth Ahead of Manifesta 16

Ahead of Manifesta 16 in the Ruhr region, artist Havin Al-Sindy launched a large-scale participatory project involving 200 children and teenagers aged 10 to 16 from over 18 nationalities across multiple schools. Working for over eight months with support from four performers, a sociologist, and translators, Al-Sindy—a professor of art and ecology at Braunschweig University of Art—explores the concept of 'plague' in mythology, drawing on Kurdish narratives. Participants created an eight-meter-long locust sculpture and 10,000 paper locusts inscribed with personal and family stories. A school in Syrian Rojava contributed locusts to the installation, which also features a self-made AI. Al-Sindy, who studied biology and chemistry before turning to art, incorporates drawings examining how war genetically alters plants, referencing Bayer's attempts to introduce genetically modified grain in Kurdistan. The project addresses the dehumanizing use of 'plague' rhetoric by political groups like the AfD. Collaboration with the youth is set to continue after Manifesta 16.