Hiwa K: Chicago Boys – While We Were Singing, They Were Dreaming
In IHME Helsinki Commission 2023 Chicago Boys – While We Were Singing, They Were Dreaming a diverse group of people form an amateur band and practice together twice a week for six weeks. The band consists of musicians and non-musicians who are united by the desire to play music and to think about the connections between the neoliberal economy and environmental changes to everyday life.
There are two types of band rehearsals: private rehearsals on Mondays at Kulttuurikeskus Stoa among the band members and public rehearsals, open to everyone, on Saturdays in various public spaces in Helsinki. In both rehearsals, the participants share stories, narratives, observations and songs and train together to shape and push a growing “snowball” of thoughts and songs about the neoliberal condition and its ties to the environmental crisis and social issues. All rehearsals are a platform for bringing different understandings and experiences of everyday life and turning them into a diverse interpretation of a neoliberal economy.
The IHME Helsinki Commission 2023 ended with the last public rehearsals at Stoa Cultural Center on Saturday 27 May 2023. Public rehearsals were held for six weeks on Saturdays in five different locations: Lapinlahten Lähde, Puhos shopping center, Riistavuori forest and senior center, Stansvik forest and village community, Matokallio forest and Myllykylä village hall. You can read more about each public rehearsal below.
Almost simultaneously with the Helsinki version, Chicago Boys – While We Were Singing, They Were Dreaming is also taking place in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq – the artist Hiwa K’s birth city. We’re staying in touch with the band in Sulaymaniyah remotely.
In Helsinki, Chicago Boys – While We Were Singing, They Were Dreaming project is being carried out in collaboration with Stoa Cultural Centre and Itäkeskus Library.