Foyer of the Society for Macedonian Studies
8 June, 20:30
 
Reading the sky
 by Daniel Blanga Gubbay
 
This reading begins with a specific moment: the practice of looking to the sky, waiting for the appearance of the third star that, in Jewish families, marks the end of Shabbat and the return to everyday life. Eyes fixed on a stretch of blue that deepens, second by second, into night. Blending poetry, fiction, and reflection, Daniel Blanga Gubbay explores the indeterminacy of these shifting shades of blue—where Derek Jarman meets the anecdotes passed down in Arab-Jewish families, such as the one about Thessaloniki: the only city in the world where, in the 16th century, the port closed on Shabbat, given that most dockworkers were of Jewish faith, and ships would dock or depart only with the appearance of the third star. Taking place at the end of Saturday, as the sky darkens and the first stars emerge, the reading creates a timeline of blues—where the finitude of a day, of a life, encounters the reopening, a queer indeterminacy in this time between light and night.

Duration: 30΄
Language: English