It’s (about) politics - Performing the emancipatory potential of cultural practice
TEH Meeting 81
5 – 8 May 2016
WUK, Vienna
There is widespread unease about a loss of democracy, globalisation and the power of neo-liberal markets, about inequality, eroding solidarity, and ever-expanding job and living insecurity. This unease affects us – a political response and action are called for.
The Trans Europe Halles Meeting 81 at WUK offered room for debate and reflection upon the emancipatory potential and impact of cultural practice. It’s (about) politics investigated what it means to be ‘political’: What does it mean for cultural centres? For each and every one of us? How do we act? How can we act – as individuals, as collectives, as institutions?
Independent cultural centres have their roots in the political act of appropriating space for alternative cultural and social production. Therefore, cultural institutions are also places where civil society acts, where questions of how to take part in the political process are negotiated and lived.
Taking into account these roots, the conference focused on the self-conception and the role of cultural centres as institutions as well as the importance of art and culture in a political present characterised by the dynamics of inequality. In four thematic ‘routes’ It’s (about) politics addressed a variety of issues, from contemporary political theory to practice-oriented inputs.
