Artists

Is the name the European Cultural Foundation gave to its’ four day weekender in de Balie in Amsterdam. On schedule: “Unraveling some of the burning questions confronting contemporary Europe. Europeans are questioning what it means to be part of Europe and whether they want to continue to be part of it, while people around the world are talking about Europe’s economic and cultural future.” Bam.

Websites such as Eurozine and Arts & Letters Daily do help us indulge in self criticism, European as we are. For a fine example, and a great read, see Ivan Krastev’s article ‘the European Dis-Union.' Lucky Europeans, that we still have believers and makers such as Verhofstadt and Cohn-Bendit, who recently published their manifesto “For Europe” . In their view Europe needs to grow together stronger, faster and quicker. Whether that is the way, one could question. But that an unifying Europe needs to be aware of cultural undercurrents, needs to st

imulate cultural exchanges, needs to find its’ new narratives, that is an open door.

And it is exactly with those ideas in mind that the weekend of ‘Imagining Europe’ has been planned. The Sunday afternoon program deserves some special attention as London-based film-maker and cultural activist John Akomfrah is the visiting lecturer. Born in Ghana and brought up in London, Akomfrah is a much decorated and admired film director whose 25-year body of work ranges from documentaries to feature films and audiovisual art installations. He is widely credited as one of the chief architects of modern Black British cinema after co-founding the Black Audio Film Collective in the early 1980s. His films are widely acclaimed for their poetic juxtapositions of archival media footage, literary texts and compelling soundscapes. His ethical recycling of the archive pose questions on memory, migration and the complex relation between place and selfhood. He will be participating in a public talk with Abdelkader Benali which should conclude in thought-provoking discussion on the routes of the migrant imaginary of Europe’s past and present.

In the middle of one of those periods in history where adversary powers are trying to take everybody along in their desired clash of fundamentalisms over some silly movie being made by some silly persons we still have rational strongholds. For freedom of expression is one of those strongholds civilization should not compromise on. It is exactly what Charlie Hebdo understood – the French magazine which dares publishing some cartoons in this time of twittered and manipulated #muslimrage.  At Al Jazeera they quote one of the main editors of the magazine: “”I'm not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn't go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe.” It could serve as a contemporary translation of Voltaire’s dictum “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

And that’s where it’s at. Point. If we have to skip irony and satire from our dictionaries we might as well stop being human. It is a simple thing understood globally, and it proved to be a strong strategy for those protesting in what we call the Arab Spring. From the street art which was stenciled on walls in numerous cities, to the expensive coffee table books which will surely follow. Long before street art became such a coffee table thingy, artists used self printed zines to spread pictures of their work. And that’s what younger generations in the Arab countries are doing as well. Mentioned earlier in this blog is the zine El Arab, and actually I was waiting for the second to come out. Here it is!

A little more distanced from the streets is the work that is exposed in the Pop Up Press Museum in Amsterdam, from Saturday 22nd of September on. The opening of the expo takes place at the International Day of Peace, but that could be a coincidence. The press release mentions work by Kifah al Reefi [Iraq], Sara Qaed Bahrein], Mohammed Shennawy [Egypt], Gihèn Ben Mahmoud [Tunisia] and many many more. The exposition will run through the end of December, so time enough for you to pass there if you are around. If not, you might want to order the catalogue which curator Joost Pollman compiled for the earlier showcase of the exposition during the Cartoondays in the Netherlands, June 2012. Order here.