31 Jan 2019
19:00 - 22:00
Citizenship & Cultural Production #2: In-between
In-between: Reflecting on Building an Artist-run Platform with the Salwa Foundation
Location: Studio Yalla, Derde Kostverlorenkade 35, Amsterdam
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).
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
Entry: free
Broadcasting from Babylon: Citizenship and Cultural Production
Broadcasting From Babylon is a public program series that focuses on intersectional feminist, queer, and anti-colonial embodied, listening and sounding practices, which are broadcasting from Babylon, Fort EU. The gatherings take place from 21 January until 15 March at mostly independent initiatives and spaces throughout the city of Amsterdam. Broadcasting From Babylon is developed by Amal Alhaag & Maria Guggenbichler as a DAS Theatre ‘Block Programme’. It’s free and open to all to participate.
As part of Broadcasting from Babylon, we will investigate how citizenship informs cultural production, and how different forms of social engagement and place-making are currently developed by reclaiming and rewriting democracy through cultural self-representation and production. What can cultural practitioners learn from social movements, hackers, squatters and open-source activists? Each week, Josien Pieterse and Anne de Zeeuw (Framer Framed/Netwerk Democratie) invite different guests to explore a specific topic.
Dates
Thursdays 2-5 PM:
24 January,
31 January,
7 February,
14 February,
21 February,
28 February,
7 March.
Read more on Broadcasting from Babylon and the Citizenship and Cultural Production series.
Middle East / Migration /