News

16 December 2024 - Bourla, Antwerpen

Naar aanleiding van hun voorstellingen Seefhoek Series en Honderd praten theatermakers Thomas Verstraeten en Bart Van Nuffelen over hun geloof, hoop en liefde voor de stad.

Cultuursocioloog Pascal Gielen leidt het gesprek in. Dramaturg Erwin Jans praat daarna verder met Thomas Verstraeten en Bart Van Nuffelen.

Voorafgaand kan je de expo Seefhoek Series bezoeken bij Fred & Ferry Gallery. Welkom vanaf 19u. Thomas Verstraeten geeft om 19u30 een rondleiding in de expo. Om 20u30 start het Aan tafel gesprek in de inkomhal van de Bourla.

5 December 2024, Center for the Humanities, New York

How can we break through a culture of mistrust? Suspicion regarding our fellow beings, the authorities and enterprises is growing, blamed on passing the buck and feelings of impotence. We seek remedies in regulations, contracts and procedures, assurances, audits and consultancy. As well as in good governance and transparency. But do they actually make for real trust? Is trust not always somewhat blind?

'Trust: Building on the Cultural Commons' highlights the crucial role played by cultural commons, shared common life and its customs, practices, knowledge and values. After all, trust is a matter of culture, emotion and even aesthetics. Wide-ranging trust starts with the sharing of vulnerabilities, and it is Pascal Gielen’s belief that the ‘common’ provides the necessary scope. Breathing space and scope for experiment. How might a society and a policy build on this?

The book is an English and international version of 'Vertrouwen: Bouwen op het cultureel gemeen' , published by Valiz in November 2023. For this new English language publication, Gielen has broadened the scope of the former book, and has included several international case studies of cultural commons.

Author: Pascal Gielen​

Drawings: Karina Beumer

Design: Lotte Lara Schröder

November 2024, Valiz | pb | 288 pp. | 19 x 11,8 cm (h x w) | English | ISBN 978-94-93246-40-9 | €19,90

Pascal Gielen is a writer and full professor of sociology of culture and politics at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA) where he leads the Culture Commons Quest Office.

Karina Beumer is a visual artist. Her work starts from drawing, and often leads to other forms of art, such as music, video, sculptures, writing.

29 November 2024, Sint Lucas School of Arts (Showroom)

• Sint Lucas School of Arts (Showroom), Van Schoonbekestraat 143, Antwerp - no registration needed but a message of participation is appreciated via annelys.devet@kdg.be
  • 14:30  Doors and exhibition open
  • 15:00  Presentation and defence
  • 17:00  Reception
• Supervisors: Pascal Gielen (University of Antwerp), Petra Van Brabandt (Sint Lucas Antwerpen) 

Abstract

^{Image: Production of ‘Identity = health’ facemask, Gaza 2020. Photo: Abed Zagout}

The public defence and the exhibition 'Disarming Design, politics of participatory practices' presents a dissertation, an installation and the series of Subjective Atlases along with objects from Palestine.

In our current political and economic landscape, sustaining an emancipatory design practice—one that aligns with progressive political beliefs and social values—poses significant challenges. My practice-based research explores how political agency can be strengthened in these conditions by engaging in participatory design processes.

The installation and dissertation document three long-term, self-directed, and participatory projects: a series of books (the Subjective Atlas series), a design label (Disarming Design from Palestine), and a master’s programme (Disarming Design at Sandberg Instituut). Each collaborative platform originated as a counterproposal that activates design as a methodology to amplify voices, mobilise communities, and create new opportunities. Aesthetics play a crucial role in this work, shaping the sensory, material, and emotional dynamics of our spaces, the materials we engage with, and the hospitality we practise. 

By detailing the processes and outcomes of each of the three projects, from initiation to materialisation, and from distribution to impact, the dissertation offers an intimate and self-critical insight  into the politics, tensions, and possibilities of participatory design practices. At the core is a drive to ask: How can design be liberated from the goal of finding ‘solutions’ and become a practice of agency and solidarity?

11 November 2024 - De Studio, Antwerpen

The films are shown in original languages with English subtitles | The public debate is in Dutch & English

For the occasion of Armistice Day on November 11 and the re-election of President Trump, De Cinema, De Studio, and Antwerp filmmaker Jan Beddegenoodts invite you to two films and the public debate CEASEFIRE?!?!. How does the urgent need for peace relate to the wars in Ukraine, Palestine, and Lebanon? And where does the pacifist stand in 2024? Why does this madness persist in our spectacle society? Where does the pacifist of 2024 stand, and what can we do? CEASEFIRE?!?!??

6:00 PM

In GAMLET, Jan Beddegenoodts follows Ukrainian street artist Gamlet Zinkivskyi during the Russian invasion of Kharkiv. Despite the devastation, Gamlet remains determined to create art, convinced that art, even amid war, has a unifying power. Beddegenoodts highlights the resilience of the human spirit, with humor as the main weapon.

7:00 PM

In BLUE ORCHIDS, Johan Grimonprez (SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D'ETAT) presents a deep dual portrait of two opposites in the arms trade: Chris Hedges, former New York Times correspondent, and Riccardo Privitera, a former arms dealer. Their testimonies reveal the corruption and hypocrisy of the war industry, in which greed plays a central role.

8:00 PM

Then, using several film clips, Beddegenoodts invites the audience and the following speakers to reflect on the role of journalism, ethics, and activism, as well as the challenges faced by the peace movement in times of war:

• Maha Abdallah, doctoral researcher in Law at the University of Antwerp, focusing on the financial flows sustaining Israeli colonialism.
• Pascal Gielen, author and professor of cultural sociology at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA), University of Antwerp.
• Ludo De Brabander, peace activist, opinion maker, and spokesperson for the peace organization Vrede vzw.
• Oksana Senyczak, activist and spokesperson for #StandWithUkraine.
• Ludo Abicht, philosopher, author, poet and professor of Classical Philology and European Culture. Abicht has published 23 books on Jewish culture and spirituality, Israel-Palestine, Marxism, multiculturalism, political philosophy, and anti-Semitism.
• Hanne Bosselaers, doctor and activist for Médecine Pour le Peuple

Reserve your spot by paying what you can! All profits go directly to a befriended displaced family from Gaza. They thank you!

This evening and the films are part of our programme (R)EVOLUTION which focuses on universal themes like resistance and freedom, and which shines a light on the importance of cinema as a tool for giving a voice to the oppressed.

10 september 2024 - Bourlaschouwburg Antwerpen

Antwerpen, de stad van 172 nationaliteiten. De stad van historisch erfgoed en de ‘werf van de eeuw’. De stad waar de vastgoedmarkt floreert en de begroting sinds kort in evenwicht is. Maar is er nog voldoende ruimte voor de Antwerpenaren zelf? Ruimte voor cultuur, sport, religie en het sociaal-culturele leven. 

Ruimte voor het ongetemde leven. Voor opera- en rave-liefhebbers, dichters en skaters. Ademruimte voor jong en oud, afkomstig van hier en elders, gelovig en ongelovig. 

Is Antwerpen te berekend en gecontroleerd aan het worden? Een creatieve hub hier, maar niet daar. Kwetsbaren, liefst uit het zicht, tussen autostrades en beton. De stad wordt steeds duurder, te duur voor cultuur en de diverse culturen die haar zo kleurrijk maken. Stadslucht maakt vrij, maar wat betekent die vrijheid voor de inwoners van 't Stad? Hoe vrijwaren we betaalbare en toegankelijke ruimte voor iedereen?

In het kader van de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen organiseren Toneelhuis en ARIA (Universiteit Antwerpen) een debat over de 'stad van iedereen' en de noodzakelijke ruimte, zowel fysiek als mentaal. Dit debat brengt de lijsttrekkers van alle politieke partijen samen, met vertegenwoordigers van culturen (kunsten, sport, religie en sociaal cultureel) die onze stad maken tot wat ze is.