Marking the 50th anniversary of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kunstnernes Hus Cinema initiated a film series of that title. One of the aims was to compare the time of Fassbinder’s film’s making with the conditions of migration and xenophobia, racism, and discrimination today. In this event in the series, two artists of a younger generation, Nikhil Vettukattil and Sarah Kazmi, give performance lectures relating to Fassbinder and the historic film.

With The Institute of Scene Experiments, Vettukattil has created workshops experimenting with scenes derived from the works of Fassbinder, which reflect on the potential of scenes independent of plot, development and conclusivity.

In recent works, Sarah Kazmi has addressed themes of migration. Cooking, Time? at Intercultural Museum in Oslo in 2024 explored immigration from Pakistan to Norway in the 1960s and 70s. Using food and food traditions as the central theme, the exhibition looked at public archives to understand labor conditions, leisure activities, and encounters between migrants and Norwegian society and questioned how the history of Pakistani immigration has been experienced, written, and disseminated. *Sweet Dreams *at AAN Art Space & Museum in Karachi in 2022 addressed the relationship between migration and dreams. Kazmi is now planning a third and final exhibition in the series, moving from her investment in Pakistani immigration to the history of Norwegian migration to North America.

Sarah Kazmi (b. 1990 Pakistan, she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and writer, living and working between Oslo (Norway) and Karachi (Pakistan). Her artistic practice moves across research and visual production, observing the relationship between food, language, and politics; often based around/with communities and local environments. In addition to visual artworks, Kazmi works with writing, as her texts are often conveyed through a variety of rhythmic disciplines including sound, video, installation, and performance. Alongside her artistic practice, Kazmi does policy advocacy for Verdensrommet (2021–), an artist-powered support network by and for non-EU/EEA creative professionals in Norway. They work at the intersection of immigration, labor and mutual aid, encouraging new imaginations of the future of cultural work. Kazmi’s works have recently been acquired by The Oslo municipality's art collection. Currently, she is a recipient of the Kunstnerforbundet Studio program, where she has been granted a free studio for two years.

Nikhil Vettukattil (b. 1990, Bengaluru, India) is an artist and writer who lives and works in Oslo. Using a range of media such as sound, installation, performance, text, sculpture, and video, his practice questions modes of representation and image-making processes in their relation to lived experiences. While at a recent residence in Svalbard, Nikhil developed new work reflecting on the ‘Nordic diet’ and the influence of imported and exported food. He has previously exhibited at venues such as Kunsthall Oslo (2022), Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (2022), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2022), K-U-K, Trondheim (2021), CAPC, Bordeaux (2021), Art Hub Copenhagen (2021), K4 Galleri, Oslo (2021), Louise Dany, Oslo (2020), EKA Gallery, Tallinn (2020), Kristiansand Kunsthall (2020), and Le Bourgeois, London (2019).

The event is generously supported by the Norwegian Film Institute and Talent Norge.