Culture & Populism Do we believe that art can help to counter populism and simplifications?

Under the near total hegemony of the market and dominant political forces pandering to populism, the production, exhibition and mediation of culture has become increasingly depoliticized, with the “mainstream” widely ceding ground to the extreme right. Furthermore, political and cultural pluralism, once cornerstones of democratic modern and postmodern societies, are increasingly marginalized and denigrated. What is the role of art, cultural actors and institutions in blunting the nefarious impact and pervasive influence of populism? Can art constitute the ground for a counter-culture and the regeneration of democratic, egalitarian and plural social and political imaginaries?

Participants: Natasha Sadr-Haghighian, Inaya Fanis Hodeib, Adam Broomberg, Nasan Tur, Khaled Youssef and others

FLAX is a cultural network that promotes exchange, networking and cooperation for local and newly arrived cultural workers, artists and institutions inside Germany. In cooperation with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and the Akademie der Künste Berlin, FLAX invites newly arrived visual artists in Germany (in the past 5 years), to participate in a four-day workshop, designed as an Open Academy that will include lectures, panel discussions and workshops with established artists and experts from the art world.