Böll.Mitschnitt

The role of visual and participatory arts in the empowerment of communities

Welcome and Introduction

Barbara Unmüßig (President Heinrich Böll Foundation)
Dirk Scheelje (Board Member Heinrich Böll Foundation Schleswig-Holstein)

and

Plenary Session: Potentials of arts and culture for social transformation

What are the potentials of arts and culture for social transformation? Does empowering individuals really increase their social and political participation and therefore lead to participatory processes of change? Do the roles of artists and their position in society change when they explicitly refer to societal or political issues? Does the artist become the often quoted “perfect change agent”? How to deal with the difficulties concerning the measurability and evaluation of artistic projects realised in a social and political context? The panel broaches the central issues of “Art for Social Transformation”.

Speakers:
Basma El Husseiny (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy, Cairo, Egypt)
Antanas Mockus (Former mayor of Bogota, Colombia)
Alessandro Petti (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residence (DAAR), Bethlehem, Palestine)
Michelangelo Pistoletto (Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Italy)
Bisi Silva (Center for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria)

Moderator:
Wolfgang Schneider (Department of Cultural Policy, University of Hildesheim, Germany)

The forum examines approaches adopted by artists who, on pragmatic and theoretical levels, have taken discursive positions in the realm of art developed outside museums and galleries. Here, (art) concepts will be clarified, with the further aim of comparing historical and contemporary practices. Different modes of fostering meaning with regard to art in public space, art as public space, and art in the public interest (“New Genre Public Art”) will be analysed. In the light of contemporary, currently salient practices of so-called art in the public interest, discussions should also consider the correlations (or contingencies) formulated by Walter Benjamin between a “correct” tendency and the quality of artistic work. This raises questions about the methods for evaluating art as articulated outside places explicitly set aside for art.

The role of art for a global (environ)mental cultural change

The panel puts forward the central questions of the thematic stream as elaborated
in the background text for the stream: Which transformations in our “mental
infrastructures” do we need for a transition towards “cultures of sustainability”?
What role may art play in a global (environ)mental change process?

Speakers:
Gianluca Bocchi (Professor of Philosophy of Science and Epistemology of Human Science at the University of Bergamo, Italy)
David Haley (Senior Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design, MIRIAD, at the Manchester Metropolitan University)
Pooja Sood (Artistic Director of KHOJ International Artists´ Association, New Delhi, India)

Moderator:
Dan Baron (International Project Director and responsible for teacher-education in Arts Education at the Institute of Transformance: Culture and Education in Belem, Brazil)

The next revolution will not be funded

Is art to be understood as a philosophically acting entity – a brand of modernism that is revolutionary and perpetually unfinished – for which a public still has to be invented? Or will art only be encouraged, supported, and recognised if it does justice to prescribed criteria and merely “supplies” a culture industry? The consequence would be that important projects – projects difficult to grasp, “incomprehensible” by nature – would fall through the net of funding structures and media.

Keynote:
Sarat Maharaj (Goldsmith University of London; Malmö Art Academy/Lund University)

Moderator:
Gertrud Sandqvist (Malmö Art Academy/Lund University)

Concept/Coordination:
Jürgen Bock (Maumaus School of Visual Arts, Lisbon)

The session will be in English and German

The next revolution will not be funded

Is art to be understood as a philosophically acting entity – a brand of modernism that is revolutionary and perpetually unfinished – for which a public still has to be invented? Or will art only be encouraged, supported, and recognised if it does justice to prescribed criteria and merely “supplies” a culture industry? The consequence would be that important projects – projects difficult to grasp, “incomprehensible” by nature – would fall through the net of funding structures and media.

Speakers:
Ruth Wilson Gilmore (Graduate Center of the City University, New York)

Moderator:
Gertrud Sandqvist (Malmö Art Academy/Lund University)

Concept/Coordination:
Jürgen Bock (Maumaus School of Visual Arts, Lisbon)

The session will be in English and German

The essential and possible contribution of art to the culture of the public realm

Three quite different projects exemplify possible contributions that art can make to the culture of the public realm. The ensuing debate will examine these examples in terms of their impact on their respective urban societies. Discussion will be focussed on the participatory approach and aspects of commemorative culture underlying each project. The projects to be discussed are:

- “Estoesunsolar” by Patrizia di Monte and Ignacio Grávalos, commissioned by the city of Zaragoza. Theme: public appropriation of unused public space; sustainable and visible.
- Are You Going?) by the artist duo Empfangshalle (Corbinian Böhm and Michael Gruber), commissioned by the city of Munich. Theme: participation and cultural diversity in a municipal social service sector; temporary but with high impact. “Werkstatt für Veränderung” (Workshop for Change) by Seraphina Lenz commissioned by the municipality of Neukölln and the Senate of Berlin. Theme:polyvalence of public space, stimulating various social groups to appropriate public space through participatory actions over several years; temporary but impressive.

Speakers:
Corbinian Böhm and Michael Gruber (Visual Artists, Munich)
Seraphina Lenz (Visual Artist, Berlin)
Patrizia di Monte (Architect, “estonoesunsolar” Zaragoza)

Moderator:
Rainer W. Ernst (President, Muthesius Academy Kiel)

The session will be in English and German

Speed project presentations

This session will give 10 conference delegates the opportunity to present their recent projects in a visual and oral presentation lasting 5 minutes. The speed presentations will be followed by a short discussion at the end.

Presenters (among others):
Gilles Fontolliet (Artist, Zurich)
Johannes Heimrath (Club of Budapest International)
June Josephs-Langa (CEO “Indalo Yethu”, Project “Climate Train”, South Africa) and Ngimiselo Masakona (Winner of the project)
Hans Kalliwoda (Artist, Amsterdam)
Lili Krause (Project Advisor for the Regional Social and Cultural Fund for Palestinian Refugees and Gaza Population of GIZ, Jordan)
Julie Miller (Artist, Belfast)
Kerstin Polzin and Anja Schoeller (Artists, Germany)
Stefan Saffer (Artist, Berlin)
Signe Theill (Artist, Berlin)

Facilitators:
Alice Burns (Artist, Art in Public, Belfast)
Ciara O´Malley (Artist, Art in Public, Belfast)
Julie Miller (Artist, Art in Public, Belfast)

Closing Plenary Session

The closing session will give the floor to the observers of the four sections of the conference:
Patricia Kistenmacher (Art for Social Transformation), MarcusGraf (Public Art), Marco Kusumawijaya (Art toward Cultures of Sustainability), and Onur Suzan Kömürcü Nobrega (Cultural Policy Strategies and Funding Structures) will reflect on the discussions and results of the two days of intense exchange and cast a light on perspectives and growing network structures.

Speakers:
Marcus Graf (Yeditepe University, Istanbul)
Patricia Kistenmacher (Latin American Net for Social Transformation, Argentina)
Onur Suzan Kömürcü Nobrega (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Marco Kusumawijaya (Rujak Center for Urban Studies, RCUS, Jakarta)

Moderator:
Andrea Thilo (Journalist and Film Producer, Berlin)

No change angels – Artists and social transformation

Artists are not working outside political and social structures but are agents who are involved and are a part of them, as are curators and art patrons. Does it make sense to expect artists to contribute to social transformation? This forum offers the perspectives of four professionals as a starting point to discuss their leverage and their working conditions at the intersection of artistic and political practice. What does the artist want to achieve? How does the artist conceive of her or his own role and endeavour in relation to the social sphere that the work refers to? How do others perceive this? Do conditions of production differ from those of “l’art pour l’art”? Is the in/dependence of the artist an issue and, if so, how is it negotiated? When do gender, race, and social class come into the game? Is there a culture of political or social scrutiny for this kind of art? What makes a work a success? And in all this, which direction do partners, patrons, and their institutional policies point?

Speakers:
Peter Hauschnik (Programmee Manager Cooperación entre Estado y Sociedad Civil para el Desarrollo de la Paz CERCAPAZ, GIZ, Colombia)
Cesar Lopez (Musician, Bogota, Colombia)
Gabi Ngcobo (Curator and Researcher, Centre for Historical Reenactement, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Lia Perjovschi (Artist, Bucharest and Sibiu, Romania)

Moderator:
Kerstin Meyer (Political Economist and Artist, Berlin, Germany)