From January – March 2019, Netwerk Democratie co-organises Broadcasting From Babylon, a public programme series focusing on intersectional feminist, queer, and anti-colonial embodied, listening and sounding practices, which are broadcasting from Babylon, Fort EU. Taking place between 21 January – 15 March 2019. The sessions are organised as a DAS Arts Theatre ‘block’, but are free and open to all to attend!
Netwerk Democratie will host seven meetings in collaboration with Framer Framed, every Thursday, on the topic of ‘Citizenship and Cultural Production’. For this second session in the series, we invited artist, researcher, educator and community organiser Shailoh Philips and visual artist Yara Said. They will talk to us about setting up Studio Yalla: a platform for refugee artists newly arriving in the Netherlands. What have they learned about building this inclusive community, setting up support structures, working the system?
Thursday 31 January
BFB Citizenship and Cultural Production #2: Inbetween: Reflecting on Building an Artist-run Platform with the Salwa Foundation
In the winter of 2015, Shailoh Phillips initiated offering studio space to newly-arrived artists in the Kostgewonnen collective, an artist-run autonomous space with over 20 studios and a theater in Amsterdam West. The first artist to respond to this Open Call was Yara Said, a visual artist from Syria. Over the past three years, they have worked together with a dedicated team of people in building a platform for artists in this in-between zone: newly arriving in the Netherlands and finding their way in the art scene.
In this conversation, they will openly reflect on what they’ve learned about building an inclusive community, issues of prejudice, the conundrums of grappling with the “r” word, the importance of eating and dancing together, developing a visual identity, working the system, building support structures and coping with their vulnerabilities, their failures and what they learn from them, celebrating their continued existence, the ongoing work of radical solidarity. And they will share the upcoming events in the program they are developing: How Wow Now and GYST (get your shit together).
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SPEAKERS
Shailoh Phillips is an artist, researcher, educator and community organizer. She has spent the past decade working in the field of digital media and design education. Her practice revolves around fostering playful forms of collaborative resistance and seeking out pressure points to act in the face of social inequalities and unfolding ecological disasters. In 2016, she co-founded Studio Yalla, offering support and studio space to artists restarting their lives in the Netherlands.
Yara Said is a Syrian visual artist based in the Netherlands. As a result of personal experience, she is aiming to connect art with social development. By immersing herself in disciplines such as politics, psychology, sociology, and theology, she endeavours to pinpoint the position of artists in society and the perception of that same society on artists. With this goal in mind, the Salwa Foundation was established. Named after Yara’s grandmother, Salwa is a name for girls in Arabic. Salwa means: “consolation”, “that which brings happiness”, “something that makes you forget your sadness and worries”.
She is also a part of the collective Tools for Action, working with inflatable sculptures in public space in collaboration with social movements and activist groups. www.studiobabel.nl
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MORE INFO
Date: Thursday 31 January
Time: 19:00 – 22:00
Location: Studio Yalla, Derde Kostverlorenkade 35-D, 1054 TS Amsterdam
Entry: Free. SIGN UP VIA FACEBOOK.
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OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS IN BROADCASTING FROM BABYLON/CITIZENSHIP AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION:
Thursday 7 February, 14:00 – 17:00
#3 Business as Art – with ethical hacker Melanie Rieback. An exploration and dialogue on using business models for art and activism.
Location: Framer Framed, IJpromenade 2 1031 KT Amsterdam
More info | Facebook event
Thursday 14 February, 14:00 – 17:00
#4 Inclusion
Location: TBA
Thursday 21 February, 14:00 – 17:00
#5 Creative Coding: Transparency and data ownership
Location: DAS Arts
Thursday 28 February, 14:00 – 17:00
#6 Public space and gender, part of project The City is Ours.
Location: Werkplaats Molenwijk
Thursday 7 March,= 14:00 – 17:00
#7 Community and empowerment
Location: ZID theater
