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Discussion Series Art in Conflict – Gessnerallee Zurich

13. November 2024, 17.15 h CET 
ZHdK, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstr. 96, Zürich & Zoom

Theatre Initiatives in Times Of War
with Shebli Albau (theatre maker, Switzerland), Lena Saade Gebran (USEK’s University, Lebanon) and Markus Gerber (Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, Switzerland). Moderation: Dagmar Reichert (artasfoundation)

The current session of Art in Conflict focuses on a discussion about how theatre can be shaped in conflict regions and what aspencts of working in conflict should be considered in theatre education. The participants, Shebli Albau, Lena Saade Gebran, and Markus Gerber, have an extensive working experience in various approaches of socially engaged theatre, including in the context of armed conflicts. They consciously work in transcultural and political contexts with the aim of building social bridges through theatre projects.

We will discuss possibilities for engagement for theatre in fragile contexts, community theatre, forms of interactive theatre, or other theatre pedagogy approaches. What conditions need to be met to enable theatre work with heterogeneous groups? What are the possibilities for action on both local and international levels? And are there situations where artistic purposes should take a step back in favour of other priorities?

Shebli Albau is an actor, performer, and theatre maker. He studied acting at the Drama Academy in Ramallah and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Expanded Theater at the Bern University of the Arts.
Lena Saade Gebran is a theatre director, associate professor, and head of the Performing Arts programme at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanon.
Markus Gerber is a trained teacher and theatre pedagogue. He teaches in the Department of Performing Arts and Film at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and is deputy head of the theatre pedagogy practice area.

The discussion is held in English. The event will take place in Zurich as well as online on Zoom. To sign up for the Zoom link, please, e-mail us by the day before the event. 

This event is part of a monthly series that is organised by the CAP, a joint initiative of artasfoundation and the ZHdK in cooperation with Theater Gessnerallee. If you wish to be regularly informed about the agenda of the discussion series each month, please, sign up for our Art in Conflict invitation list here


Next Dates: 

Wednesday, 11. December 2024
Economy, War and the Role of Art? 
with Robert Bachmann (Public Eye, Switzerland)
Gessnerallee, Gessnerallee 8, Zürich

Wednesday, 15. January 2025 
“Conflict Engagement” Through Art 
with Dana Caspersen (conflict analyst, dance practitioner, USA)
Gessnerallee, Gessnerallee 8, Zürich

Supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia

Invitation to the Artas Community Event 2024

Meeting Point: 26. November, 2024, at 18.00 h, Kanzleistrasse 107, Surprise Street Magazine office

Dear friends of artasfoundation, come by and join us at the office of Surprise Street Magazine in Zurich to get the latest insights on our art projects aming at social transformation and to share your questions with us ...

We’ll start the programme at the Surprise Street Magazine office in Zurich, where Surprise journalist Diana Frei and artasfoundation team member Mara Züst will discuss how socially engaged (artistic) work can take shape through creative approaches. At 19.00 h, we’ll move to the nearby Kulturbüro Zürich, an initiative supporting cultural creators with technical support. Here, we’ll introduce a large-scale collective painting from the Sharing Stories project and share insights into a joint artistic process across geographic and generational borders. In 2025, the painting will travel with us to Abkhazia1 where its empty spaces will continue to be filled.

We look forward to welcoming you! Please, register by e-mail.
 

 

Living Room A Space for Artists, Organisations and Communities

The Living Room is a connecting space for displaced communities from Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian artists and international artists and cultural workers collaborating in varied social and artistic forms. 

Besides the activities organised by artasfoundation, the space will also host other projects that simply need a space to work. 

The physical space is accessible for artists, organisations and communities involved in social transformation and looking for a space to practice, rehearse, gather, exchange, perform or simply meet. 


Submit a request for booking the space 
 
 

 

Circular

From the current circular

Intense political, social, and humanitarian upheavals, including authoritarian regimes, wars, conflicts, and economic disparities mark many regions worldwide. These conditions force millions of people, including artists, to migrate and seek refuge in safer regions, dealing with the harsh realities of displacement and transforming into artists in exile. They must redefine their artistic practices within unfamiliar cultural contexts while coping with the difficult experiences they often carry to their new realities.
 
In 2023, we invited six artists in exile to three-month periods of exchange and cooperation in Zurich. This year, we initiated the Tbilisi Crossroads Art Residency, aiming to bring together 12 local and international artists residing in Georgia, possibly from conflicting regions, living in their parallel worlds alongside the local cultural scene, with minimal interaction between them.
 
Art in exile is a field that demands attention and care, both academically and in practice. It raises many questions: What relations do artists maintain with their countries of origin, and what role do displaced artists play in their new context? Do they speak the same language? Will the new environment allow them to continue their artistic practice, or will the change lead to an inner crisis and block their artistic expression? Does their art correspond to the aesthetics audiences in the new context are trained to receive? Do they have access to funding possibilities, or are they excluded from the cultural and art systems? These are questions that we at artasfoundation continue to explore thematically through various projects.

1artasfoundation would like to underline that its use of names and titles particularly in regards to conflict regions should not be understood as implying any form of recognition or non-recognition by the foundation or as having any other political connotation whatsoever.