On 20 April 2020, the oil price dipped below zero for the first time in history. It wasn’t the only world record caused by Covid-19. In no more than a few months, a nasty virus was able to pull off what worldwide protest marches and general strikes couldn’t do: slowing down our planet. Correction: slowing down all human activities on this planet.
Suddenly, as a society, we remember the meaning of ‘economy’ as a way to support life and not to make profit at whatever cost. But how can we shape the future of our planet, without falling back into old damaging patterns? To solve the problems we are facing today and to come up with valuable alternatives for the future, the biweekly livestream School of Resistance creates a platform of experts of change around the world: artists, activists, politicians and philosophers.
THIS MADNESS HAS TO STOP
The online series School of Resistance starts off with a speech by the indigenous artist and activist Kay Sara. It should have opened the Wiener Festwochen live on the stage of the Burgtheater Vienna. But Covid-19 decided differently and Kay Sara sends a video from the Amazon. Her message is clear: today’s turbo-capitalist system poses an irreversible threat to the Amazon, the planet’s green lung, and therefore has to be stopped. An accusation, an outcry, a wake-up call.
Following the speech, the Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera, the Swiss director Milo Rau and the Dutch curator Lara Staal engage in a dialogue about forms of activism in the arts today. Another meeting that should have happened live during the Wiener Festwochen, but inevitably takes place from the artists’ homes instead.
Next guests on Thursday, 28 May, 17:00 (CET): Vandana Shiva (India) and Vanessa Nakate (Uganda). The livestream takes place every two weeks on Thursdays at 18:00 (CET), smaller time shifts are possible depending on the residence of the guests and will be announced.
The opening speech This Madness Has to Stop is realised in the context of and with the support of the Wiener Festwochen. School of resistance is hosted by NTGent & IIPM and supported by Akademie der Künste (Berlin), Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Berlin), Medico International (Frankfurt), Merve Verlag (Leipzig), HowlRound (Boston).
Watch the livestream Sat 16 May at 18.00 (CET) on https://www.ntgent.be/ of https://www.facebook.com/NTGen…
See you on Saturday!
the NTGent-team