Spielart Festival: Art in Resistance
Between October 30th and November 2nd, 2015 I attended the Spielart Festival in Munich participating in the Art in Resistance event. Together with my co-author Don Karl, we gave a talk on Walls of Freedom, its challenges and the status of street art in Egypt. Selections of photographs from Walls of Freedom were exhibited at the Festival and featured in festival publications and news outlets.
About Art in Resistance:
The years following 2010 were marked worldwide – and surprisingly so – by protests of very different kinds. What was novel was that revolts took place in countries where one hadn’t expected this previously: in the Arabian region; in presumably stable regions such as Europe and the U.S.; in “aspiring” countries such as Turkey and Brazil; in Ukraine; in Hong Kong; and in Taiwan. Costas Douzinas, keynote speaker at the “WAKE UP! An assembly for a different Europe” (SPIELART 2013), goes so far as to speak of an “age of resistance” and to predict: “A sequence of revolts will dominate the world’s political landscape in the next period. The possibility of a radical change is a priority on the historical agenda.” Parallel to this, the art scenes were vigorously “infected” by an activist desire for change in the countries that were less affected by the protests in recent years. To take a step back once again after numerous events on ‘artivism’ and topical political art and to conduct “fundamental research,” SPIELART announced an “open call,” which was sent out worldwide via very different channels – from cultural institutions to grass root organizations. Approximately 800 applications followed this call, of which 40 were selected. The form of the works were presented in Gasteig Cultural Center and ranged from photography, poster art, and activist projects to (theatrical) installations and videos to (participative) performances; from documentary to fictional approaches.
The event took place in Gasteig and was supplemented by several curated performances on other SPIELART stages.
Supported by the “Creative Europe” programme of the European Commission and the Allianz Cultural Foundation, the Goethe-Institute and the Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München.
