"When Forests Dream” & “Assembly”
Metropolis Cph summer program.
Reserve here (On 2 separate links: WFD & A)
"When Forests Dream”
06-12 September kl. 19:30 - 21:15 (1:45 hour)
A procession for a collective hope, grief and ecological rebirth – by Sara Gebran and collaborating artists
In WHEN FORESTS DREAM, you encounter the wondrous spirits of a forest that has disappeared due to deforestation. Four performers/ The performers lead a luminous, joyful procession of sound, song, and dance – spreading light in the twilight – to guide you on a sensory voyage of transformation and collective dreaming.
Rooted in Yanomami indigenous cosmology, you are invited to “dream the other,” reimagining a future where humans and nature thrive together. Through movement, song, sound, dream narratives, holographic images and spectacular scenography, the performers summon the spirits of all Beings - human and more-than-human - to evoke new forms of togetherness.
A carnival of hope unfolds. Giving form to the unseen, the performance acts as a spiritual sanctuary - a call to grieve, heal, awaken, and grow our bond with the land, sustained by community.
WHEN FORESTS DREAM is the 4th chapter of the eight-year project The Forests’ Imaginary Trial (2023–2030), proposing the use of the theatre as a "fictional courtroom," where the audience is invited as a jury in defense of Nature, engaging with questions of responsibility, the "Rights of Nature," and ecocide.
This year, an ASSEMBLY will be held on the final day, serving as a powerful culmination of WHEN FORESTS DREAM performance.
Assembly 2026, Where Art Ignites Ecological Justice
13 September kl. 14:00-18:00, at Teatersale
The ASSEMBLY is a half-day gathering situated between performing arts, activism, and collective dreaming to reimagine law rooted in relationship.
Refusing law’s stories of separation, the Assembly offers intimate law as a practice of making visible the webs of relationships in which we are all – differently – entangled. Whose lives and love have we failed to notice? How can we become porous enough to hear the teachings that have always been present? What new ways of relating are demanded of us if we take the time to listen?
We invite you on a journey through embodied practices to remember our more-than-human teachers, through rituals to grieve habits and thought patterns that no longer serve, and finally begin the work of recomposing laws rooted in intimacy – in listening, gratitude, and responsibility.
Drawing on performative rituals, discursive dialogue, and soundscapes, the event brings together artists, Indigenous voices, scientists, lawyers, and activists. Through smaller and larger group discussions, shared reflection, and embodied practices, the ASSEMBLY fosters a space for thinking, sensing, and acting together.
To grow our bond with Nature, we will all be gifted seeds during the performance of WHEN FORESTS DREAM to be planted together at the ASSEMBLY. A call to move beyond grief and dream, toward tangible solidarity and systemic change.
Duration: 4 hours
Supported by: Statens Kunstfond, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Københavns Kommune Scenekunst, Knud Hjøgaards Fond.
Co-produced by: Metropolis Cph & Anex Metropolis.
Images of ideas in-progress, net textiles for Things and Beings to move through; luminous Beings at night; holographic reflections communicating with us.