Date: November 2, 2012, 10:00–15:00
Auditorium, School of Media Art, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Charlottenborg, Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 Copenhagen
Globally we are being confronted with new encounters between visual art and information practices. In urgent and tense situations such as the Arab Spring, moving images become important means of communication — especially because of their manipulative potential. During the Arab Spring, political activists, independent artists and ordinary citizens alike turned to video, often as proof of what had happened, immediately raising questions about who owns the truth. In the case of the Arab Spring, we witnessed the empowerment of citizen journalism and the production of truth being transferred from state-controlled authority to the people. The image is more than a medium — it acts as a necessary passage from revolt to critical perspective.
Programme
10:00–10:45 — Jasmina Metwaly, artist and member of Mosireen Collective, Cairo. Mosireen Collective is an example of independent citizen journalism that is essential in a society with highly manipulated news. The collective has built an archive of visual and other documents dealing with the revolution in Egypt. Jasmina will focus on urban rank and file with a camera, moving through a social and economic landscape beyond traditional class frontiers.
10:45–11:00 — Questions
11:00–11:45 — Alfredo Cramerotti, Director of Mostyn, Wales’ Contemporary Art Centre, and author of Aesthetic Journalism: How to Inform without Informing. Alfredo will reflect on how the artist can find ways not only to import journalism into art, but also to re-insert an artistic approach into the information industry — and on whether public opinion works as an aggregate open to critical understanding.
11:45–12:00 — Questions
12:00–13:00 — Lunch. Buffet for 50 DKK at Cafe Charlottenborg.
13:00–14:00 — Truls Lie, documentary filmmaker, editor-in-chief of DOX European Documentary Magazine and film critic at Le Monde Diplomatique, Scandinavian edition. Currently working on two Middle East films with FILM Movement, Truls will address the field between art and documentary and explore comparative ideas about the essay form.
14:00–15:00 — Final discussion led by Carsten Juhl, Head of Department for Art and Theory, and Tijana Mišković, Academic Research Project Coordinator.
In connection with her visit to Copenhagen, Jasmina Metwaly from Mosireen Collective is also giving a presentation on November 1 at PUBLIC.
About the Series
This seminar is the second part of the Arab Spring art seminar series at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, which began in October 2011. The third and final seminar takes place on December 14, 2012, with presentations by Seamus Kealy, museum director at The Model; Aida Eltorie from Finding Projects Association; and visual artist Rabih Mroué.
Supported by the Danish Arts Council.