4pm
Running time: 90 minutes, no interval
Age recommendation: 12+
Art27 Scotland's CULTURE = LIFE programme
The Balfour Reparations 2024-2044
What if the UK publicly apologised for the Balfour Declaration—and promised reparations to the Palestinian people?
Set in the imagined future of 2044, The Balfour Reparations 2024–2044 is a bold performance lecture by Palestinian choreographer and artist Farah Saleh. It invites audiences into a reimagined political landscape, one in which the UK has finally acknowledged its role in the ongoing colonisation of Palestine and committed to making amends.
In this speculative future, Saleh unpacks a fictional apology letter issued by the UK in 2024 and uses it as a launching point to explore 20 years of imagined reparative action. Blending archival research, video, photos, and documents with elements of fiction and participatory theatre, the piece becomes a powerful meditation on colonial legacy, justice, and accountability.
At the heart of the performance is a confrontation with the UK’s historical responsibility in displacing Palestinians and undermining their right to self-determination. Drawing on frameworks such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the work considers how ongoing evictions and occupation continue to erode Palestinians' ability to freely pursue their cultural development and indigenous identity.
Audience members are not passive observers - they become part of the narrative as a reparations evaluation committee, asked to assess the impact of the imagined UK actions. This framing turns the performance into a space for collective reflection and political engagement.
Saleh’s work pushes artistic boundaries and sits at the intersection of dance, history, and cultural resistance. As part of Art27 Scotland’s CULTURE = LIFE programme for Refugee Week 2025, this performance embodies the programme’s ethos: that cultural rights are human rights, and that art can be a vital force for truth-telling and transformative justice.
Don't miss this rare and urgent event.
Header image by Lucas Chih-Peng Kao.
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Credits
Farah Saleh is a Palestinian performance artist whose work interrogates colonial histories, political resistance, and the impact of historical injustices on contemporary society. Drawing on archival materials, her performances are deeply rooted in the exploration of Palestine’s colonial legacy, particularly the role of British figures such as Arthur James Balfour in denying Palestinian political rights.
Saleh’s unique performance lectures combine history, fiction, and speculative futures, creating immersive, thought-provoking experiences. In one such piece, set in 2044, she invites audiences to participate as members of a reparations evaluation committee, reflecting on an imagined UK apology to the Palestinian people in 2024.
Through her bold and inventive work, Farah Saleh challenges audiences to reconsider the past while envisioning a more just future. Her performances offer a powerful reflection on memory, resistance, and the ongoing fight for Palestinian rights.
Credits
Concept and choreography: Farah Saleh
In collaboration with Filmmaker: Lucas Chih-Peng Kao
Researcher: Nicola Perugini
Dancers: Nadia Khattab and Jamal Bajali
Rehearsal support: Luke Pell
Graphic designer: Michaela Pointon
Music: Kim Moore & Wasef Jawhariya
Funded by: The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), Common Ground Festival and Culture &
Special thanks to: Adam Perugini Saleh, Ben Fletcher-Watson, Emil Perugini Saleh, Emily Nicholl, Hannah Draper, Joy Parkinson, Lauren Galligan, Lesley McAra, Mira Knoche, Pauline Clark, Qais Saleh, Sawsan Shunnar, Sophia Lycouris and Stitches.
