October must be one of the cruellest months in Cairo, with pollution, smog and all other avian things nasty at their height. After a month of migraines and coughing bouts, my rescue came in form of an invitation to conduct a 2-day workshop at Fossoy, in the heart of the Champagne region, for Melopee #5, a cultural management training program for young cultural operators from the Euro-Med region. Organised by the wonderfully energetic Fanny Bouquerel for http://www.amuni.org/“" target="_self">AMUNI, Melopee has since 2004 taken place o.a. in Tunis, Cairo and for the past years in Fère-en-Tardenois, in collaboration with http://www.echangeur.org/“" target="_self">L’Echangeur, a centre for artistic production and exchanges. In her introduction to the newly released Melopee publication Bouquerel writes: ”In spite of a confused social context, turbulent political life and rather poor dynamic economic results in some regions of the Euro-Mediterranean area, there are numerous signs of a vigorous cultural and artistic life in the region, especially in the field of contemporary arts. To accompany and foster this trend, there is a dramatic need for qualified and skilled cultural managers.” Further on in the text she pleads for a grassroots and context-sensitive approach, which defies copy/paste schemes. Over the years I have dealt with many similar issues: how does one position oneself as a culture worker in-between geo-political contexts, how does one negotiate local and international audiences, the lures and pressures of markets, and the dizzying array of non-artistic agendas which have washed up on the shores of the Med, disguised as cultural projects.
It sounded like a perfect deal to me: sharing experiences with art and culture practitioners whose geographies ranged from Malta to Syria, from Hungary to Jordan, whilst enjoying the oxygen-rich Picardian air, French cheese in abundance, seeing the new http://www.jeremy-deller.co.uk/“" target="_self">Jeremy Deller show at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and of course the champagne!
It definitely was a good deal, despite the minor travel horrors which included me having to buy a new ticket at Cairo airport because of some incomprehensible Egypt-only rule for e-ticketing, and stay in a seedy Parisian downtown hotel with the most bizarre shower gel I ever encountered. Would you as a seasoned traveller, attempt to lather your fatigued body with something coming from a bright Barbie-pink sachet, covered in Chinese characters, with the cryptic information: “base make treatment/fragrance/skin whitering/show whole mode/women/formal elegant demeanour”? Sounds like a haiku dealing with grave existential polemics. I marvelled, but wisely left the sachets unopened.
This being said, the shower gel did aptly illustrate problems with (inter-cultural?) translation, and what gets lost (or perhaps gained in this case) in the process. I have the past few years tried hard to avoid such empty phrases as inter-cultural dialogue, knowing very well that interlocutors are hardly ever on equal footing. Yet there the policy makers go and declare 2008 the http://www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/“" target="_self">Year of Intercultural Dialogue. Perhaps it’s better to keep people talking instead of undertaking genuine action, and face up to the real issues. There’s a very similar dynamics going on in the Med for the past few decades: it’s called the Israeli-Palestinian “Peace Process”, where as long as everything is in process and summits are continuously being planned, nothing will ever change. Indeed, one might wonder at the strategies for maintaining a status quo through the strategy of dialoguing.
Fanny had asked me to focus on the artistic/conceptual side of things during the training sessions. We commenced the session with an introduction round, and it became apparent that many participants were focusing on performing arts (from world music to contemporary dance). Not exactly my expertise, but we did manage to discuss issues of audience, representation, stereotypes, collaboration and expectations. I had also put together a screening program under the title “Perception Management”, drawing on the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) definition of the term. The videos in “Perception Management” meant to take the viewer for a ride, which unravels the mechanisms and power structures behind processes of mediation and communication. The works shown are testimony to a present condition wherein systems of representation are in crisis, or plainly seem to fail. Though firmly grounded in the geographical and political realities of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, the videos reach well beyond local concerns, and question what happens when information becomes mere speculation, when images and language become manipulated till degree zero, till they have lost all meaning. Hopscotching from humour, to personal archive, from performance improvisation, to documentary, the underlying message is that passive compliance with the current state of affairs is not really an option. I was quite pleased that Pierre Fourny and Nathalie Garraud from the theatre group http://www.alis-fr.com”" target="_self">Alis, who graciously presented their work and methodology to us, also reiterated the convoluted contemporary relationship to language. It made a perfect link to the video program’s pre-occupation with image and language in-crisis. Pierre and Nathalie asked how one can make theatre when the link between word and action is severed; when language is rendered powerless or depleted, when all systems of representation, be they linguistic or visual are rendered meaningless. In addition they highlighted the importance of artist-to-artist meetings when talking about Euro-Med collaborations. Again, a very bottom-up approach to things.
As is mostly the case with any social/professional gathering, moments of irritation and disappointment, alternated with moments of delight. At times I was struck at the lack of criticality and the meek compliance with trodden paths and tired formulas. Indeed, even if “the masses want stereotypes”, does that mean that we as producers and facilitators of art and culture need to comply? Of course not! And if we do things “because everybody does it”, why not break out of that routine? Sometimes I was wondering whether some participants could convincingly answer the most basic of questions, yet possibly the hardest: WHY? I would have been content hearing: because art/culture matters; because it is an autonomous zone; because within a state of exception it is the only thing left, whether it has impact or not, etc etc. I hardly heard those sounds, but then again I might unfairly be projecting my West-European-bourgeois-art-radical expectations onto wished-for responses. This is exactly the thing to be cautious of. On the other hand, the pioneering spirit of some of the participants to stubbornly insist on carrying through their projects, against a slew of financial, political and societal odds, was impressive.
Having sat through my share of network meetings and DIY workshops, I know that most of the “real” work is done in-between: during breakfast, lunch and dinner; on the bus while driving to see a play or exhibition in Paris; in the computer room, when the Internet is down, or when sharing a cigarette outside in the cold. Melopee smartly accommodated this professional social time as part of the format. Recommended!
Tagged as:
amuni, cultural management, euro-med collaboration, fanny bouquerel, melopee
LabforCulture is a partner initiative of the European Cultural Foundation. LabforCulture is grateful for the support provided by its funders.
