Set in the imagined future of 2045, The Balfour Reparations 2025–2045 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 2025 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.