The international gathering Critiques of Power in the Arts (25–27 April 2024), initiated by the Department of Cultural Management and Gender Studies and co-curated in collaboration with a network of critical friends from the realms of research and practice, stood out for unusual academic formats such as performances, workshops, and jam sessions that were held in various mdw spaces as well as outdoors and at Kulturzentrum Brunnenpassage.
A large number of presentations revolved around exposing asymmetries of power and breaking out of the status quo. The aspiration to “do it differently”, for example, was fulfilled by Meriam Bousselmi and Özlem Canyürek’s opening contribution. Their lecture-performance featured an unusual seating arrangement that encouraged interactive participation as well as the attendees’ contemplation of their own positions. Of special note was Bousselmi’s concept of cartography as a disruptive method aimed at decentring and destabilising colonial structures. A presentation by Meike Lettau provided deep-reaching analysis of events in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack of 7 October 2023 in Israel as well as the effects of these events in the broader region. Cancel culture and censorship in German cultural diplomacy were pointed out, and light was shed on power structures in cultural policy in terms of how they relate to trust and mistrust.
In the event’s 20 diverse presentations by around 80 individuals, some of whom live in the so-called West but half of whom have origins in countries of the Global South, hitherto underrepresented perspectives—including, for instance, those from queer vantage points—were made visible. Jason Otoo led a participative dance workshop and introduced his research on the survival strategies of male cross-dressing performers in indigenous dance groups in Ghana, in the process speaking about gender non-conformity, religious power structures, and the “double-marginalised” situation of genderqueerness in West African artistic practices.
Qiaatersorneq—Inuit drum singing from Greenland, which has been recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage and differs from technically based “Western” music on account of its connection with the performer’s inner rhythms and heartbeat—likewise encouraged shifts of perspectives on the role of the sciences, embodiment, and spirituality. It was thus that Nuka Alice Lund’s workshop thematised decolonisation by linking this art form with personal insights.
Numerous presentations discussed strategies for countering imbalances of power in the cultural sector. Višnja Kisić and Goran Tomka of the Forest University of Fruška Gora, Serbia investigated the interweaving of culture, politics, and ecological relationships and emphasised the concept of “co-becoming” as a way of dealing with capitalist, colonial, and hetero-patriarchal structures. Their presentation challenged the participants to reflect upon the role of artists as co-shapers of politics and policy.
Prior to this gathering, students of the mdw, the University of Michigan, Hochschule Niederrhein, and further (arts) universities on various continents joined with Wiener Festwochen’s Milo Rau and Kolja Burgschuld to discuss the development of a “code of ethics” for cultural workers with an eye to the “Constitution/Code of Conduct” of their festival’s “Vienna Republic”. This collaboration gave rise to the development of a further seminar concept that is now planned for the 2025 summer semester in collaboration with the interdisciplinary graduate school “Performing Sustainability” (Cape Coast, Ghana; Maiduguri, Nigeria; Hildesheim, Germany).
A total of 225 registered individuals took part in these discussions. This high number speaks to how the conference’s theme can indeed be considered relevant and necessary. Around 28 % of the participants travelled to Vienna from countries of the Global South. Several invited overseas grantees, however, were prevented from attending in person by visa difficulties and geopolitical uncertainties.
mdw.ac.at/ikm/veranstaltungen/critique-of-power-in-the-arts
authors: Lisa Gaupp, Tatjana Nikolić, Slavomíra Martišková
