BRIT(ish)*AUThenticity

Somehow, I didn’t make it to the 3rd talk, but the happier I am to have had the chance to attend the incredibly good and inspiring Conversation #4 on Authenticity of the KAAI Theater series … This time on race, identity, and belonging with AFUA HIRSCH. Among others, especially with the meanwhile bestseller BRIT(ish) the Guardian journalist, author and, human rights activist Afua Hirsch contributed an way important body of discussion of the hyper-contemporary discourse on the question of how long it’s gonna take that an immigrant becomes a part of a society without being asked “from where are you"?” or “the question”, as Hirsch states it, again and again.
I’ve to confess that I’ve been a bit doubting before the talk as I’ve had been occupied with that topic of P.O.C. a lot and recently was not so pleased about the direction of the discourse in the situations I heard and read about it. BUT Afua Hirsch already completely caught my attention with the extract reading out of her book. And listening to her talk afterwards made me falling in love with her and her british approach to the topic. I ended up buying the book from this inspiring lady even though I did plan not to. Now I can’t wait to start reading.
Afua’s contribution to the discourse on race and belonging within the western society has something very refreshing and contemporary as well as something down-to-earth. She combines her personal experiences and history with so much knowledge and interest for the common question lying beneath this personal question. More then emphatic she created her own space for the question of identity and opens it up for the broader discussion. I very much appreciate that*

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Afua Hirsch in conversation with Heleen Debeuckelaere.

For the whole blog of the brusselsARTproject click here.

the history of the SELF !?

The day after the largest demonstration on the topic of climate change Belgium ever had seen, Kaai Theatre invited to the second conversation with experts on the 2018/19 season’s leitmotif Authenticity and Beyond: Conversation #2 Phillipp Blom From the Age of Enlightenment to climate change: a history of the self.
After Didier Eribon for the first talk in September, they now invited German historian Phillipp Blom and introduced him as the chronicler of the self. Guy Gypens, artistic director of Kaai Theater, welcomed with words on how similar we people are becoming, forcing a same lifestyle, buying and consuming the same products etc. … as a result of the longing for authenticity? What is the self meant to be in a time of hyper consumerism, globalization and neoliberalism?

Phillipp Blom is one of the scholars you listen to and find each sentence striking (at least I am) … it was a pleasure to follow his remarks and diving into the topic of the self, which he underlined to be a product of enlightenment. Blom stated that modernity has created a new kind of person, who could read, write, and earn money - a middle class, which also claimed political rights for the first time in history. The self in western oriented society has become a contradiction. Especially for artists the self seems to be so important on the one hand, but art is so much produced in a hardly reflected canon of neoliberal structures. People thriving for identity in a digital world - doesn’t that feel paradox?!
Well, I love the in-depth framework program on the season’s topic of Kaai consisting of performances, conversations, debates and a symposium. They even invited scholar Rudi Learmans to write an essay on the issue, which is freely availably for all people interested. Looking forward to the next one.

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For the whole blog of the brusselsARTproject click here.