geschlossene Veranstaltung

Art x Science School for Transformation

GUESTS:
Sandra Noeth, Professor of body-theory and body-based research in arts at UDK Berlin
www.udk-berlin.de/person/sandra-noeth
Lina Majdalanie, Lebanese theater and performance artist, Berlin/Beirut
www.mousonturm.de/biographies/lina-majdalanie

The renewed wave of violence and mass killing in Gaza, the Westbank and Israel is putting our commitments as artists, critical practitioners, and academics, under exceptional pressures. Over the past weeks we have seen events and teach-ins cancelled or postponed, and public protests condemned or delegitimized for the sole reason that they may articulate uncomfortable positions that do not comply with the raison d’état of government and state.

The monstrosity of events not just in Gaza, but also in Ukraine and Russia, as well as other current sites of violence and war have created a long overdue moment to revisit and reflect what our commitment to internationalizing and/or decolonizing our curricula and student bodies may mean in the immediate historical context of post-Holocaust and post-Soviet societies, of post-colonialism and of globalization, in which we conduct our teaching and practice.

In the Israeli/Palestinian war, we have already experienced many situations in which public expressions of anger, grief and frustration about inaction or one-sided expressions have been curtailed under the pretext of historical obligations. And yet the highly polarized and even defamatory language that is used to suppress attempts of putting the war in Gaza in historical perspective has made it next to impossible to engage in any meaningful debate. In the midst of this, we find ourselves rather unprepared to confront the sense of disorientation, speechlessness, and defeat that many of us may experience and live through, day after day. It affects not only faculty and staff but most importantly our international student body, some of whom are fearful of expressing their thoughts freely or have already come under attack for doing so.

For organizational reasons please register your attendance at: transformation@uni-ak.ac.at

Monika Halkort, Katharina Gsöllpointner, Mitra Kazerani