This drop-in activity is open to children and families, pre-registration recommended

The Telephone at the Edge of the World is a storytelling and making workshop facilitated by Dinika Govender, for families navigating migration and foreignness. Inspired by the concept of Ghorbat (Persian word for foreigness), the session explores the telephone as an object that holds memory and voices across distances. Participants will listen to an original fairytale, then work side-by-side to create paper-cup telephones and draw responses to shared questions. The workshop concludes by pinning these memories onto a collective world map, transforming individual stories of “home” into a shared atlas of connection.

This programme is organised by Assembly 2025-2026 member Saina Bidshahri as part of the Youth Takeover 2026.

This programme happens in conjunction with Family Sundays: Youth Takeover 2026. The event invites families to explore the concept of the spring as a metaphorical and creative tool, designed to encourage storytelling through alternative mapping. Led by Assembly members Poorvaja Subramanian and Vaishnavi Pramodh, this special edition will feature an exhibition tour, a series of hands-on workshops and art-making activities exploring the exhibition’s themes of map-making, transformation and change.

Dinika Govender is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and cultural producer exploring the architecture of our emotions and the systems that govern how we relate to one another. Working at the intersection of language, psychology, systems design and pop culture, she creates work and experiences that invite us to question our relationships to ourselves and to each other. Based between Dubai and South Africa, she is currently working on a text-based series exploring the games we play when it comes to love and power, and what to do when words fail us. When she’s not in studio, she’s likely on set, out running, or buying more books than she reads.

Saina Bidshahri is an Iranian storyteller who found purpose and individuality through the camera. Whether photography or film, her work draws from identity, memory and culture. What began as a means of self-understanding has become a calling to discover hope amid the complexities of the world.