Trajectory Fair Governance Models is nested in an intriguing and challenging setting of RESHAPE as a reflection oriented process, where its focus - governance of artistic and cultural institutions and collectives - functions simultaneously as a form of critique and an open invitation to imagine and practice a different way of being-in-common.
Governance is a relationship and a lasting process of linking and disjoining different elements of knowledge and power, both human and non-human in their nature. Its many facets display and/or conceal truths about privilege and authority, critique and complacency, and inevitably, about resistance and solidarity. To think about governance in this context is of vital importance in the current state of cultural and artistic production in Europe and South Medditeranean, marked by galloping humanitarian and ecological crises. To think about governance, is not only to think about how arts and culture are being created, mediated and accessed, but also to think about reorganisation of life as such, as a means of providing for survival of Earth’s ecosystems, including sustainability of communities, both human and beyond.
Eight artists, researchers and practitioners in the cultural field, from across Europe and South Medditeranean will congregate through three workshops with hope to unravel some of the pressing questions regarding governance. Alongside the dedicated group of Reshapers, more people will participate in this journey, contributing with their specific experience and insights, including local artists, activists and decision makers from cities where workshops will be organised, as well as individuals who are in different aspects involved with development of the process of RESHAPE.
Some of the questions regarding these matters include:
What is fair governance in general, and in arts and culture in particular? What will be the future of governance? Who has to be included and how? How do we guarantee that a fair governance creates a fair space? Can governance become a part of an emancipatory agenda by rejecting exploitation of the people and instead gathering forces around a constructive agenda that doesn’t base itself on utilitarian or mercantile service logics?
A series of three workshops will be held in Morocco (Tangier), Bulgaria (Sofia) and in Greece (Athens). Workshops are co-organised by Goethe-Institut Barcelona, ACT Association Sofia, Onassis Foundation & Onassis AiR: (inter)national artistic research program, Athens.
