Panel discussion

Peace building: can art contribute?

with Ambassador Alexandre Fasel, Ruth Noak, Heba Hage Felder and Gillian Slovo, moderated by Dagmar Reichert, artasfoundation and Alice Thomann, SDC

Ambassador Alexandre Fasel is Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and to the other international organizations in Geneva.  Prior to that, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and to the other international organizations in Geneva, Special Representative of Switzerland to the Human Rights Council, as well as Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference on Disarmament. From July 2007 to August 2011, he was Assistant State Secretary for United Nations and other International Organizations in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. He also headed the Center for Analysis and Forward Studies in the Swiss Foreign Ministry (2004-2007). Earlier postings in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs include Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland in Australia and Personal Adviser to Minister of Foreign Affairs Flavio Cotti.

Ruth Noack served as Head of Programme, Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art in London from 2012-2013. Trained as a visual artist and art historian, she has acted as art critic, university lecturer, writer and exhibition maker since the 1990s. Currently, she is working on the exhibition: “Sleeping with a Vengeance, Dreaming of a Life” Noack was curator of documenta 12 (Kassel, 2007) with Roger M. Buergel and curated several other international exhibitions with Buergel. She provided ‘Garden of Learning’ (Busan Biennale, 2012) with its exhibition layout. ‘Not Dressed for Conquering – Ines Doujak’s Loomshuttles/Warpaths’ is a 2013 exhibition curated by Noack with Royal College of Art Curating Contemporary Art MA students, part of the College’s participation in MeLa – European Museums in an age of migrations, project funded by the European Commission under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities Programme (Seventh Framework Programme).  Noack’s reviews and monographic essays have appeared in numerous journals and catalogues. Her last book on Sanja Ivecovic was published by Afterall in February of 2013.

Heba Hage Felder has 17 years of experience in community and international development. She has a management profile with experience in setting up, administering and developing institutions.
She comes from many places, all of which have shaped who she is and how she perceives the world. She was born in Ghana, raised in West Africa and lived in several countries including Lebanon and Switzerland.
Traditional African art shaped her love for l’art brut and functional creativity. Memorizing Arabic tunes and lyrics long before actually speaking the language stimulated her musical curiosity. Today she lives in Beirut and the city inspires her daily, making her an avid fan of local theatre and dance performances but also painting and cinema. She personally nurtures her senses by writing and telling stories through pictures of urban life.

Gillian Slovo is a South African born writer whose twelve published books include her family memoir, Every Secret Thing; Red Dust, which won the Temoin du Monde prize in France and was made into a film starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor; and Ice Road, shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She has written two verbatim plays: Guantanamo- Honour Bound to Defend Freedom which played in theatres all over the world and The Riots based on the 2011 English riots. She is currently at work on a novel set in a fictional riot which will be published in 2016. Gillian also served three years as the President of English PEN and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Moderated by Dagmar Reichert (artasfoundation) and Alice Thomann (SDC). Biographies see: Organisers

 

Lecture

On special invitation of ZHdK – The Zurich University of the Arts

Carmen Olaechea, born 1958 in Buenos Aires, has been working with the Argentine and Latin American civil society for over 25 years. She was among the pioneer thinkers and promotors of the Latin American “arte para la transformación social” movement, and co-authored two publications on Art and Social Transformation, as well as a pedagogical guide on anticorruption for Argentine’s middle schools. She was a long time board member of “crearvalelapena” a leading arts for social transformation organization in Argentina, and in 2015 joined the advisory board of Fundación Cambio Democrático, which works on societal dialogue processes and conflict transformation. Since ten years, Carmen works as an independent Advisor to Businesses and NGOs helping them integrate sustainability as the key factor in their thinking and acting.