In this workshop on Finding Freedom I would like to introduce some philosophical concepts of freedom and invite you to a creative exploration of how we can achieve freedom for all.
Full Programme
Art and Culture under Pressure DIGITAL PRACTITIONERS’ LAB
Dates: Three consecutive Thursdays 14th, 21st and 28th January 2021, 2-4 PM and 5-6.30 PM CET
Art and Culture under Pressure (ACUP) Practitioners’ Lab is a tailor-made digital meeting where the talks, peer-to-peer learning sessions and workshops are designed based on the participants’ interests and needs.
Through sessions moderated and led by contributors from Albania, Lebanon, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, UAE, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Germany we aim to identify common points of ‘pressure’ in the arts/culture context, to explore the transformation of community, culture and city in circumstances of crisis, and we intend to find opportunities for collective action, and to explore possible resilience-oriented counteractions & tactics.
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS AND TIMETABLE:
Thursday 14th of January 14.00-16.00 CET:
Confronting shrinking (civic) spaces
This opening session will tackle the question of the loss of civic spaces to the “financialization of cities”. Three interactive case-studies from Beirut, Tirana and Belgrade will be delivered activists fighting for maintaining real and open civic spaces in high-pressure contexts.
This session will enable the participants to identify the key moments of the “shrinking” process – and accompanying narratives – and craft pockets of resistance (through artistic interventions, social dialogue and constructive frameworks, etc.) for lasting cultures of human rights.
Initiator and session facilitation: Mirian Bllaci (Albania): Urban Planner
Contributors: Bruno Marot (Lebanon); Ervin Goci (Albania); Jovana Timotijević (Serbia).
Thursday 14th of January 17.00- 18.30 CET:
Still looking for freedom? – an artistic workshop with Verena Spilker
Audre Lorde said: “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Trying to explore what freedom means in today’s ever-changing times, I asked people from Europe and beyond: „What does freedom mean to you?“
Their answers and observations can be heard in the resulting podcast I produced in 2020, to be found here: https://exploring-patterns.net
In this workshop on Finding Freedom I would like to introduce some philosophical concepts of freedom and invite you to a creative exploration of how we can achieve freedom for all.” – Verena Spilker
Thursday 21st of January 14.00- 16.00 CET:
The Past in our Art – Understanding the contemporary in ancient societies through the Arts
Hasini Haputhanthri, museologist and independent consultant from Sri Lanka, offers a presentation followed by Q&A session exploring the question of „competing versions of the past” in cultural contexts where the past plays a central role in social and political discourses. How does the ‘practical past’, which is the domain of writers, filmmakers and artists, but also the past of the ‘common man’, differ from mainstream historical narratives? How do the Arts negotiate, represent and deconstruct popular historiographies and why are they at the core of modern-day conflicts that define our present circumstances?
Thursday 21st of January 17.00-18.30 CET:
On pandemics and other demons – the independent cultural sector’s response to a (yet another) unexpected pressure
Together with Domagoj Savor (clubture, Croatia), Argyris Xafis (Support Art Workers, Greece) and Reem Kassem (Basita, UAE- tbc) we will explore how has the independent cultural field addressed unforeseen challenges emerging after the coronavirus outbreak in different parts of world. Active participation and sharing of other experiences is also very much encouraged and you definitely have something to share!
Moderated by Ana Abramovic, Clubture Network
Thursday 28th of January 14.00-16.00 CET:
The long-lasting pressure: ensuring financial sustainability in arts and culture
Matina Magkou (UrbanDig project, Greece) and Onur Atay (Urban.Koop) are engaging in an action-research project on mapping financial sustainability practices of civil society organisations in the fields of arts and culture. How is financial sustainability experienced as a pressure? And what remedies has the sector found? This session will be a collective ‘case clinics’ towards a roadmap on re-imagining sustainability. The research is supported by the Civil Society Exchange Programme 2020 run by MitOst.
Thursday 28th of January 17.00- 18.30 CET:
Future proofing Arts and Culture Under Pressure?
How can we make sure the conversation is kept alive? Matina Magkou and Vladimir Palibrk will co-faciliate a session on what’s next in the framework of the Arts and Culture Under Pressure work. We will map the main challenges raised during the previous sessions and discuss about an eventual publication capturing the main points of the January 2020 events as an open call for further cases and stories. We will co-shape an agenda for the future work of this informal network and a small action plan. Join us even if you did not manage to follow the previous sessions but still you feel that you have something to say about Arts & Culture under pressure.
BACKGROUND:
Art and Culture Under Pressure (ACUP) has been initiated in 2019 by organisations from Turkey, Egypt, Hungary, Serbia and Croatia, and MitOst. Last December we organised a Practitioners’ Lab in Zagreb with 20 participants from 15 countries. The meeting, implemented within the Bosch Alumni Network and organized by MitOst, tackled different aspects of autonomy of art and culture, resilience against political pressure that is specifically strong in certain countries.
The participants concluded the Lab with the joint intention to continue the conversation, the knowledge sharing and eventually the common work towards a shared goal.
The digital Practitioners’ Lab is initiated and coordinated by
Fanni Nánay, Placcc Festival (Hungary),
Matina Magkou, UrbanDig (Greece),
Vladimir Palibrk, (Serbia / France),
Reem Kassem, Agora Organisation / Basita (Egypt / UAE).
The digital Practitioners’ Lab “Arts and Culture under Pressure” is implemented within the framework of the online activities of the Bosch Alumni Network.
