Each of the short videos in A World Without Maps work as a visual essayistic reflection on critical dimensions of autonomy as experienced by communities in Syria after the collapse of the nation-state beginning 2011. These short-lived moments are visually put in conversation with other such struggles across the globe - from a revisionist visit to the early experiment of the Russian Soviets, 1936 Spain, anti-colonial resistance in Algeria to uprisings in Argentina and the Paris Commune. The reflections point to that another world is possible, trying to extract lessons that act as thought exercises to prepare us for the battles to come, a practice of eu-topian thinking. These are excerpted from Rizk’s feature-length film Mapping Lessons (2020).

At the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2022 the videos are accompanied by the publication About A World Without Maps featuring conversations with Linda Quiquivix, Vivien Sansour, Dirar Kalash, Yasser Munif, and a Syrian farmer named Walid, as well as Omar Aziz’s early conceptions on the local council in liberated territories. You can download the publication designed by the wonderful Salma Shamel here.