"On Homelands and the Stateless as the World Tilts Right"

Admission is free, but advance registration is required: infotickets@sgt.gr / T +30 213 017 8036

Creative Time and the Onassis Cultural Centre’s Fast Forward Festival will come together in Athens to co-present "On Homelands and the Stateless as the World Tilts Right," an international symposium investigating the challenges facing artists and activist communities under our prevailing economic and political conditions.

Taking its cue from the Fast Forward Festival’s thematic interest in transcending borderlines, the symposium brings together seven representatives from cultural organizations across the globe (North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central America, Europe, South Asia, Southern Africa, Greece), who have each invited artists and activists from the same geography, to share critical, practice-based perspectives on art and politics in this moment as experienced in their specific regions. These situated perspectives will address shared concerns around the im/mobilities of migrants, labor, capital and culture; the workings of power; and the constructedness of borders. International participants will be joined by seven Greece-based artists and activists who will provide local perspectives to these global challenges.

The symposium will feature keynote presentations by artist Tania Bruguera and curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila Patrick D. Flores. Panelists include:

Katia Arfara from the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens, Greece, with Michael Afolayan (ANASA Cultural Center), Anna Apostolidou (Project Press, Hellenic Open University), Nadina Christopoulou (Melissa Network), Angela Dimitrakaki (University of Edinburgh), Iliana Fokianaki (State of Concept), Yunus Muhammadi (Greek Forum of Refugees), artist and filmmaker Theo Prodromidis, Nikos Agapakis (Piraeus Open School of Immigrants) and UNHCR Greece.

Nato Thompson from Creative Time in New York City, US, with artist Simone Leigh (US) and legal activist and playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle (US)

Brigitta Isabella from the KUNCI Cultural Studies Center in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with singer and cultural geographer Anjeline de Dios (Philippines) and artist Tintin Wulia (Australia)

Beth Stryker from the Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research (CLUSTER) in Cairo, Egypt, with artist Nida Sinnokrot (Palestine) and researcher Shela Sheikh (UK)

Miguel Lopez from TEOR/éTica in San Jose, Costa Rica, with Maya K'iche' sociologist and activist Gladys Tzul Tzul (Guatemala) and multimedia artist and indigenous activist Benvenuto Chavajay (Guatemala)

Defne Ayas and Adam Kleinman from Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with author and pundit Natalia Antonova (Ukraine/Russia/United States) and writer and curator and researcher Antonia Majaca (Croatia/Germany)

Pooja Sood and Radha Mahendru from Khoj International Artists’ Association in New Delhi, India with theatre director Zuleikha Chaudhari (India) and environmental lawyer Norma Alvares (India)

Athi Mongezeleli Joja from Gugulective in Cape Town, South Africa, with activist and journalist Zimasa Mpemnyama (South Africa) and researcher and activist Ziyana Lategan (South Africa)

Special lunches will be created by Options FoodLab, a community of locals and newcomers to Athens who use food and cooking as a catalyst for intercultural exchange, personal growth, and integration.

On Homelands and the Stateless as the World Tilts Right is co-curated by Onassis Cultural Centre’s Katia Arfara and Creative Time’s Nato Thompson, and is made possible by the support of the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens.

For more information visit our website.
For more information about Onassis Cultural Centre visit www.sgt.gr.