How do we turn a theatre stage into a space for new civic imaginations?

Circles and Storytellers is the first public UK solo exhibition by French-Moroccan artist and educator Bouchra Khalili. It presents interconnected works The Circle Project (2023) and The Public Storyteller (2024), marking the conclusion of Khalili’s decade-long exploration of the overlooked history of the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes (MTA) and its theatre groups, Al Assifa and Al Halaka.

Active between 1973 and 1977, these collectives of Maghrebi undocumented workers used theatre as a tool for social justice, artistic freedom, and community-building. The works focus on the forgotten candidacy of Djelalli Kamal, an MTA member and Al Assifa performer who ran in the 1974 French presidential election as “the candidate of those who cannot vote.”

The circular formations of Al Assifa and Al Halaka, meaning “the circle” and “the assembly” in Arabic, guide both the works and their display, reflecting Khalili’s meditation on storytelling, intergenerational memory, and alternative visions of belonging and civic life.