2024 ~ WHY GERMANY ? is an international lecture series addressing the crackdown on free speech in Germany and beyond.
The weekly lectures are co-hosted by a network of institutions that grows over time. By means of a rolling program, it creates a space for creative, informed and considered expression. Importantly, the series will move beyond critique alone, to propose strategies for the future: which languages, alliances, policies and support systems might ensure a measure of autonomy in the longer term?
Within Germany, some of the most effective actors in the intimidation of Palestinians and their allies over recent months have been cultural venues, art schools and universities. The hostility towards advocacy for Palestinian lives has surpassed recent escalations across Europe or even the USA: the lockstep is more thorough, the language more hateful, the measures more extreme. With the help of historical perspectives and specific case studies of German art schools and universities, this series addresses the eclipse of free speech and its ramifications for local cultural landscapes, but also for neighbors and allies - not to mention for Palestine itself.
Participating venues
• L'Observatoire des Mondes Arabes et Musulmans (OMAM), Université Libre de Bruxelles
• De Appel Amsterdam
• SWOP Institute & Department of Fine Arts, Wits University Johannesburg
• Academy of Fine Art at Oslo National Academy of the Arts
• Zurich University of the Arts
• Center for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London
• School of Architecture Royal College of Art London
• Ashkal Alwan, Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Beirut
• Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm
• Dutch Art Institute, Roaming Academy
• The Racial Reckoning in Art and Performance at Yale University
• The Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender (ISSG), Columbia University
Program
Tuesday 7 May 6pm CET
Lecturer: Nadija Samour
Host: L'Observatoire des Mondes Arabes et Musulmans (OMAM), Université Libre de Bruxelles
https://msh.ulb.ac.be/fr/agenda/seminar-germany-s-palestine-problem
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Tuesday 14 May 6pm CET
Lecturers: Tirdad Zolghadr & Hanan Toukan
Host: de Appel Amsterdam.
https://www.deappel.nl/nl/events/
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Tuesday 21 May at 6pm CET
Lecturers: Noor Niefgotodien & Ulrike Kistner
Host: University of Witwatersrand (Wits) Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Tuesday 28 May at 5pm CET
Lecturer: Sami Khatib
Host: The Academy of Fine Art at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
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Tuesday 4 June at 6pm CET
Lecturer: Marwa Arsanios
Host: Masters of Transdisciplinarity in the Arts at Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland.
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Tuesday 11 June at 6pm CET
Lecturers Sarah Naira Hachem Herfurth & Laura Fiorio, introduced by Alessandro Petti,
Host: Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden.
*
Tuesday 18 June
CANCELED
Host: Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom.
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Tuesday 25 June 6pm CET
Lecturer: Yasmeen Daher
Host: Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon.
https://www.ashkalalwan.org/calendarlist.php
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Tuesday 9 July at 4pm CET
Lecturers: Dirk Moser and Ana Teixeira Pinto
Host: Dutch Art Institute, Roaming Academy.
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Tuesday 15 July at 6pm CET
Lecturer: Joud al Tamimi (in Arabic)
Host: Wekalet Behna, Alexandria, Egypt.
For more background on the developments in Germany, see also DAI's evolving feed on our homepage Scroll to the chapter MEANWHILE IN GERMANY.
See also our Palestine Teach Outs