9 May 2012 – ICA, London 9:30am – 7:00pm

Institute of Contemporary Arts. 12 Carlton House Terrace, The Mall. London SW1Y 5AH. The nearest tube stations are Charing Cross (Northern and Bakerloo lines) and Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines).

Flyer (pdf) Full Details (pdf)

The symposium is supported by the School of Arts in collaboration with the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent.

The focus of this one-day symposium is the current and on-going revolutions and popular uprisings and their wider political, social and cultural implications. The people’s mobilisation of these globally significant events succeeded in, and is aiming towards, destabilising the state’s power and countering hegemonic narratives of oppression. A crucial aspect of the revolutions is their nature as creative acts that are serving to reclaim the people’s senses of empowerment, belonging and national identity. People’s peaceful struggle has evoked a proliferation of forms of creative expression and ‘performative’ acts of resistance that transformed public spaces and urban geography as a response to the transformation in people’s attitudes towards the status quo. Demonstrations, marches, various acts of civil disobedience witnessed the formation of ‘alternative communities’ that found a platform for the newly formed narratives of democracy in various mediums and artistic traditions. A diversity of forms have been reclaimed or reshaped; from graffiti to street performance to song and poetry, intervening in the spaces of illegitimate authority and subverting dynamics of aggression.

Programme 9:30 – 10:00 – Opening: Nesreen Hussein and Iain MacKenzie:

Public Space, Identity & 'New Democracy'. Chair: Iain MacKenzie

10:00 – 11:00 – George Sotiropolous: Nothing for Us Without Us: Staging Democracy in the Squares of the World

11:00 – 12:00 – Ziad Adwan: From the Desirable Lightness of Demonstration to Instinctive Survival

12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch

Creative Practices & Revolutionary Aesthetics. Chair: TBC

13:00 – 14:00 – Reem Kelani: Music: Documenting Song and Cultural Resistance (Accompanied by Bruno Heinen on piano, accordion and percussion)

14:00 – 15:00 – Ayman El-Desoukey: The Quest for Amāra: Connective Agency and the Aesthetics of the Egyptian Revolution

15:00 – 15:30 – Coffee

The Politics of Production & Participation. Chair: Nesreen Hussein

15:30 – 16:30 – Helen Varopoulou: Politics and Interculturalism

16:30 – 17:30 – Hans-Thies Lehmann: The Problem of Participation in Contemporary Theatre Work

17:30 – 17:45 – Break

17:45 – 18:45 - No Time for Art / 0. Performance by Laila Soliman

18:45 – 19:30 – Roundtable discussion

The symposium is supported by the University of Kent. It's organised by Nesreen Hussein (the School of Arts), in collaboration with Iain MacKenzie (the School of Politics & International Relations).

This event is free, but booking is essential. For further information and to reserve a place, please contact organisers at n.hussein@kent.ac.uk or i.mackenzie@kent.ac.uk. Institute of Contemporary Arts.12 Carlton House Terrace, The Mall. London SW1Y 5AH.

The nearest tube stations are Charing Cross (Northern and Bakerloo lines) and Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines).