Productions and projects
2016 Show for Phillips in het Evoluon, Eindhoven – Creative director, Drosha Gekhov.
2015 ‘Funking Ruckus’ — Creative directors, Salman Dirir en Dennis Kaal.
2016-2019 ‘Clairvoyance’ (Creative festival) - Creative director, Salman Dirir.
2015 ‘Sorcery’ (shortfilm) - Creative director, Salman Dirir.
2016 Theatre production, ‘Don’t hit mama’ – Creative directors, Honey Eavis & André Drosha Gekhov.
2020-2021 ‘Caadi’ (Short film supported by Fonds-ZOZ) — Creative director, Salman Dirir.
2022 Dancer performance ‘Indigo’ - Creative directors, Antonio Jose Guzman en Iva Jankovic.
2022 Danser ‘Professional Imaging’ Sony - Movement director, Salman Dirir.
2022 Danser film shoot Phillips international - Movement director, Salman Dirir.
2022-2024 thinX creator inside Parktheater Eindhoven.
2023-2024 Urban Arts Talent traject, FCP. Director, Salman Dirir
2023 Bi-cultural and artistic research 'RUUN' - supported by Cultuur Eindhoven. Director, Salman Dirir
2023 Kindred, short film - Director, Salman Dirir
2024 Panorama, non western sources research. supported by the Cultuurfonds Director, Salman Dirir
Education
2013-2017 Sint Lucas, Audiovisueel productie - MBO Niveau 4
2019-2023 Academie St Joost Breda - Film, Photography and the Digital - Bachelor
Work
2013-2016 Owner V.O.F. Dance school
‘N-town Breaks’.
2021-present Wijksport Woensel-West docent breakdance
2024-present Museum docent Van Abbe Museum Eindhoven.
My name is Salman Dirir (1996). I graduated in August 2023 from the 'Photography, Film & the Digital' department at 'St. Joost School of Art & Design' located in Breda. Before this, I graduated from the 'Sint Lucas' College in Eindhoven as an AV specialist.
My parents came to the Netherlands from Djibouti and Somaliland (former Somalia) as immigrants, but I was born in Eindhoven. My upbringing consisted of a mix of those two cultures. The theme; 'Bi-culturality' therefore also comes to the fore in my work.
My multidisciplinary approach that I apply in my practice is my artistic signature.
I make films, am a dancer and make music. Sometimes these disciplines produce stand-alone works. My curiosity drives me to continue exploring my creativity in different domains. An important motivation for my multidisciplinary efforts.
The artistic traditions I relate to are surrealism and expressionism.
These currents give space to my intuitive experience as a maker: feeling is the starting point and starting point before reason comes into the picture. Absurdism and the feeling of alienation are two concepts belonging to the surrealism movement that resonate with me, because that is how I sometimes experience the world: some events that I sometimes cannot comprehend in words and do not necessarily have a meaning may be recognized for their alienating or absurd character. Telling stories through a poetic approach is something that I also want to develop further. What I mean by this is a methodology for formulating the subject or situation not literally but with a poetic approach.
Hiphop culture was the foundation from which I understood at an early age you can learn a lot through informal approaches. Breaking also known as breakdance tapped me into the culture that introduced me to different perspectives, textures and communities. From which I got into black musical styles such as jazz, funk and soul that shaped my lens from which I view the world to this day. My interest as a multidisciplinary maker stems from this culture that lets me explore (artistic) obscurity, accessibility and necessities. Currently I produce and direct, events, films, music- teach as museum and dance docent and research my chosen themes and subjects. One of the projects I am working on is a theatre piece called HALGAN, which means here in Somali. It is based on the research I did on my Somali Heritage and it’s indigenous culture. More info on that soon.