Playable City Sandbox: House of Weaving Songs

Inspired by the Somali-style nomadic structure called the Aqal, Dhaqan Collective will co-create this interactive installation with Somali communities in Bristol and beyond, integrating Somali weaving songs and woven tapestries in an experiment to connect the city to cultural practices that can inspire us in our fight to tackle climate change.  

Small woven tapestries on top of a table next to a black box holding another tapestry. The tapestries are made from brightly colour threads and are woven around small wooden sticks.

House of Weaving Songs will be created by The Dhaqan Collective who are a feminist art collective of Somali women, centering the voices of womxn and elders in our community, and privileging co-creation and collaboration. Dhaqan Collective is led by Fozia Ismail and Ayan Cilmi. Our practice asks and seeks to find ways of building imaginative futures that support Somali people in the UK and in East Africa to resist the threats over our cultural heritage.

About Playable City Sandbox 2023 
Playable City Sandbox is a creative research and development programme. Watershed’s Sandbox methodology provides a facilitated space where participants have the chance to transform an experimental idea to a working prototype over three months of rapid research and development. 

Playable City Sandbox is part of the MyWorld IDEAS programme, funded by UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund to establish the West of England as the global centre of creative technology excellence.