Seminarie LUCA School of Arts: ‘Cultural Entanglements: Politics, Power, and Artistic Exchange’ – Maya Al Khaldi + ’s Lands Welvaren Seminarie & muziek

10:00 – 17:00 – Talks, keynotes, workshops en performance rond het thema Cultural Entanglements: Politics, Power, and Artistic Exchange onder leiding van Annelies Monseré en Maya Al Khaldi.

20:00 – Muzikaal avondprogramma in thema met ’s Lands Welvaren en Maya Al Khaldi.

OVER HET SEMINARIE

Cultural Entanglements: Art, politics, power, traditional arts and historically and/or culturally remote artistic practices more broadly, have been a major source of inspiration for artists since the late 18th century. Traditional (also called folk or vernacular) arts are usually seen as artistic practices that are passed down from generation to generation and are deeply rooted in the cultural, historical, and social context of a specific community and include practices such as visual and textile (utilitarian or decorative)  andicrafts, ritual dances and folk music. The revival, appropriation and adaptation of traditional art sources is evident in the compositions and artworks of a very diverse set of composers and artists, ranging from canonical figures + such as Ludwig von Beethoven and Pablo Picasso, to contemporary figures such as Frederic Rzewski and Akram Khan. While the artistic merits of such appropriations often have been praised, many have been criticized for political instrumentalization, cultural appropriation, (self-)exoticism and heritagization.

Political instrumentalization refers to the appropriation of traditional arts, by individual artists or communities, in order to make political statements, to reinforce nation building or to influence the current political state of affairs. This kind of appropriation is deemed problematic when traditional arts are merely instrumentalized for political objectives that do not necessarily align with original uses or meanings of the appropriated traditional art.

Cultural appropriation is the appropriation of the arts (often of style features) of a minority culture, by artists of a (more) dominant culture. While by no means all forms of cultural appropriation are deemed problematic, some argue such appropriation can be problematic when it is rooted in imbalances of power, and when it leads to silencing, exploitation, misrepresentation or offense of the appropriated culture. Others maintain that cultural appropriation is unwarranted when it constitutes a breach of the group’s intimacy. Self- exoticism encompasses the adding orientalist or exotic elements to one’s ‘own’ traditional art. This is often considered problematic, and these practitioners are accused of corrupting the value and meaning of the tradition, in order to cater to Western needs, and of perpetuating harmful Western stereotypes about the traditional culture. Heritagization entails the safeguarding of traditional art practices through institutional protection and exhibition. Such processes can lead to political instrumentalization, and, more specifically, assimilation of traditional practices in the dominant national culture. Additionally, it has been argued that by safeguarding a traditional practice through institutions, they become relics of the past, rather than living traditions (cf. museumification).

This seminar will revolve around questions regarding cultural appropriation, political instrumentalization, exoticizing and heritagization of historically or/and culturally remote artistic practices, including traditional arts.

Topics of the seminar include, but are not limited to:

– The political, including decolonial and emancipatory, potential of remote artistic traditions for contemporary art practices;

– The development of decolonial artistic methodologies for engaging with remote and/or traditional art practices;

– The risk of political instrumentalization of art forms within contemporary artistic practices;

– The historical fluidity of the meaning and aesthetics of cultural practices;

– The challenge of establishing genuine dialogue with remote artistic traditions rather

than reproducing asymmetrical power dynamics;

– Epistemic injustice and cultural appropriation;

– The material, social and political history of intangible cultural heritage;

– The exoticization of distant cultural practices in contemporary art.

Key words: cultural appropriation, cultural borrowing, cultural exchange, decolonial methodologies, emancipation, art and politics, political instrumentalization, exoticism, co-creation, heritagization, historically remote artistic practices, culturally remote artistic practices.

20:00 – ‘s Lands Welvaren

“In ‘s Lands Welvaren dialogeren veldopnames van Vlaamse folkloristische feesten met organische, vrije folk. Zo ontstaat een zoektocht naar een fictief verleden die vaak uitmondt in een vreemdsoortig sonisch neo-naturalisme.”

’s Lands Welvaren bestaat uit Glen Steenkiste (AKA Hellvete), Steve Marreyt (Edgar Wappenhalter) en Simon van Honacker. Twee muzikanten en een geluids-kunstenaar/installateur die hun werk weiden aan het onderzoeken van traditionele muziek uit alle windrichtingen maar met sterke voet in het pastorale Vlaanderen. Onafhankelijk van elkaar en samen in ’s Lands Welvaren exploreren ze op elk hun eigen manier de experimentele kwaliteiten van folk, blues, indische/pakistanische drones en alles er tussen. In plaats van een reproductie van het verleden na te streven zoeken ze klank in het heden, in archieven en in hun instrumenten. Een moment nemen en publiek leiden tot akoestische verstilling, een droom, een trance.

21:00 – Maya Al Khaldi

Maya Al Khaldi is a musician from Palestine, based in Jerusalem. Maya’s work explores the voice and the music of the past and present, working with archival materials to imagine the future.