Documentation

We want to thank the 180 participants of our conference for their active participation and openness to intensive dialogue!
Engaged persons –  representatives of state organisations, of universities, NGOs, artists, and a general public – from 42 different countries took part in this exchange. We hope that it yielded some fruitful ideas, new cooperations, and a strengthened feeling of solidarity amongst those who work in and with art towards fair and peaceful responses to the immense global problems we face today. Engaging for cultural rights, including the human right to free artistic expression, will undoubtedly be a crucial element in such responses.

Videos from three sessions of the conference

1. Cultural Rights Defenders and the Human Right to Free Artistic Expression 
Lecture by Karima Bennoune (Rapporteur UN Human Rights Council), followed by a conversation between Karima Bennoune and Tania Bruguera (Artist, Cuba)

2. Fundamentalism and Artistic Freedom
Presentation of Current Freemuse Reports with Srirak Plipat (Freemuse), followed by Comments by Firas Abou Fakher (Mashrou Leila)

3. The Role of Art in Challenging Contexts
Panel conversation with Nicola Dahrendorf (peacebuilding advisor, GB), Christian Frutiger (SDC), Swetlana Heger-Davis (ZHdK) and George Steinmann (artist, Switzerland), moderated by Dagmar Reichert (artasfoundation)  

4. International Cooperation Complants Choir
Conference participants sing, directed by Tellervo Kalleinen, artist from Finland. The lyrics can be downloaded from:
http://complaintschoir.org/score.pdf

Photos from the Conference

Photos: Evan Ruetsch (evan.ruetsch@artasfoundation.ch)