they shoot horses

Sat. 4 Jul. 2026, 3.30pm – 11.30pm
Screening  |  Visual Art  |  Dance

Admission Free, suggested donation of €10 with proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians

Referencing the 1935 novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, which tells the story of gruelling dance competitions as a form of entertainment during the Great Depression, they shoot horses was a disco dance marathon organised by the artist Phil Collins in 2004 with a group of young people in Ramallah, Palestine, during the Second Intifada.

Filmed in real time over the course of eight hours, the dancers pass through unfolding stages of elation, joy, fatigue, exhaustion, and endurance to a soundtrack of pop, rock and dance hits from the 1960s on.

Speaking to both the hardships and the resilience of living under the decades-long illegal occupation by the state of Israel, they shoot horses centres dancing as an act of resistance in the face of daily atrocities, and as a fragile yet inextinguishable anticipation of liberation to come.

Phil Collins is an acclaimed visual artist, filmmaker, community organiser, and educator who lives in Berlin and Wuppertal. He is known for a socially engaged practice that addresses the intersections of art, politics and popular culture.