Cultural productions with "the Other"
•
0 likes•205 views
This document discusses three cultural productions that used participatory approaches to involve marginalized communities. The first was a dance production that collaborated with disabled dancers. The second was a museum exhibition exploring the history of disability in Finland created with input from those with disabilities. The third case discussed an exhibition on Somali weddings developed over several years in collaboration with the Somali community. It highlighted the challenges of representing other cultures but also how long-term cooperation and reciprocity can build trust to have outcomes meaningful to both the community and broader society. The document emphasizes that participatory projects take time but can influence communities far beyond the initial production. Relationship-building, giving voice, and finding solutions flexibly are keys
Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to Cultural productions with "the Other"
Similar to Cultural productions with "the Other" (20)
Cultural productions with "the Other"
- 1. Cultural productions with ”the other” Maria Koskijoki and Sari Salovaara Arts & Audiences, Stockholm 11.10.2012
- 2. Who is the other? You or me?
- 4. Steps from access to participation to inclusion
- 6. Case one; dance production State of Being
- 7. QuickTime™ and a DV - PAL decompressor are needed to see this picture. http://www.paasonen.com/static/video/olotila%20trailer.mov
- 8. stake- funding timeline disseminat- holders ion EUCREA Finland Helsinki 2000-2009 FINLAND Rajat’on European Helsinki Capital of (Zodiak+Stoa), Coreographer Culture Pyhäjoki, Tomi Paasonen Year 2000 Vaasa Zodiak State grants EUROPE Center for and Stockholm, New Dance several Finnish Göteborg, cultural trusts Bergen, Berlin, Paris + dancers Arts and Dance ASIA + visual and festivals in Hong Kong audio planners different + technical crew countries + assistants
- 9. Dance production State of Being • Goal achieved a high quality dance performance together with dance professionals and dancers who have disabilities • Challenges access issues, assistants needed, expensive, emotional roller coaster, dancers quite unreplaceble • Methods and practises made use of the physical otherness and personal experiences
- 10. Case two; museum exhibition Absolutely abNormal
- 11. stake- funding timeline Dissemin- holders ation Threshold Different 2009 -> Labour Association partners touring Museum applied for Werstas in EUCREA Finland several grants Tampere 2011-2012 Labour Museum State funds for Satakunta Werstas, Museum museums Museum, of the Deaf, innovative Pori 2013 Museum of Visual projects x 2 Impairment State funds for Culture for All development of Service/Finnish e-services National Gallery within the culture field
- 12. Exhibition Abolutely abNormal • Goal to review the history of disability in Finland in an empowering way • Challenges the division of roles and tasks blurred, too much expected from the unpaid partakers, gap between the ultimate dream and the reality • Methods and practises multiple partakers and skills united, voice of the minority put forth, today’s issues shown in the light of history, social – not medical – approach
- 13. Case three; Exhibition Arooska - somali wedding
- 14. stake- funding timeline Dissemin- holders ation Somali Joint applications initial idea 2010 project presented associations with HRM, from collaboration in events expenses covered Network of Voluntary work, from 2011 networking individuals traineeships, documentation, project workers networking, (employment and communtity training activities opportuntities Helinä Foundations and production from Exhibition at HRM Rautavaara state funding for 2010 9/2013-1/2014, Museum multicultural touring? projects, own work
- 15. Exhibition Arooska • Goal to present somali culture in an empowering way with an outcome that is relevant for the somali community as well as for the society • Challenges ethics of representation: very delicate issues discussed in the (Finnish-speaking) public sphere by the somali community for the first time • Methods and practises long-term cooperation: learning together, personal involvement, reciprocity, building trust, creating methods of interaction in collaboration, co-curation = appreciation!
- 16. Suado Jama, Arooska project coordinator on motivation and methods: -”There is quite an influence... We want our children and grandchildren to learn about and appreciate our culture - they haven’t had the possibility to go and see the country we come from...” - ”... lots of new information, I have been collecting objects, interviewing and talking with families from all parts of Somalia, different people”
- 17. Participatory approaches; Goals • ...set them together! • emerging from collaboration • relationships of trust • reciprocity! • giving voice - finding voice together? • dream big but work with available resources • prepare for flexibility
- 18. Participatory approaches; Challenges • Skills of social interaction are put to the test when outside of one’s own comfort zone • Stamina needed to keep on finding solutions when • (unexpected) problems occur •. uncertainities and surprising encounters feed creativity! • Time consuming processes > more resources needed • Volunteers commitments are different from (paid) professionals
- 19. Participatory approaches; Methods and practices • processes need time (but influence far beyond the production) • participants capacity-building part of the process • room for ideas emerging from the collaboration • empowering (democracy-building, active citizenship, reflection etc.) • face to face -meetings • appreciation of different discourse/discussion styles
- 20. Who is in charge of representating the other?
Editor's Notes
- Simply: others are people aside from oneself. Those who are different. Everyone knows that this experience can change from time to time; I see those who I consider odd or strange as the other but if I can find enough in common, I can relate and what seemed alien or unusual is no longer so. It is a matter of constant positioning. But certainly there are those who have been marginalised by the society's standards of 'normalcy'. I’d like to quote Trinh T. Minh-ha, Vietnamese-American filmmaker and feminist theorist who handles marginalisation and otherness in her work: “ I do not always know who this Other is or to whom the term can be fully applied, but the tool – to look at the otherness - should be such that it can reach a wider range of peoples whose struggles link them with other struggles of liberation.” http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/faculty/bourdier/trinh/TTMHInterviews002.htm
- Cultural institutions are - or they should be - striving to give voice also to the ”other” in their activities. Is it enough to make space? To give equal opportunities in theory? To wait for the ”other” to represent themselves? Yes, that should happen and be possible I still want to argue, than in order to make the opportunities really equal we also need to provide advocacy. We need to be open for collaboration and facilitate projects and processes which would not be realised without collaboration. We can provide the specialist tools and professional practices that a group needs to represent itself.
- About co-operation with audiences I quote my friend Kaija Kaitavuori who is a c ultural educator and an art historian (and currently a PhD student in UK at Courtauld Institute of Art ). She wrote about museum as a public space and states that There is a clear difference between the approach of producing programs and events for an audience and the approach of giving space for an audience to make their program. In the first case people (or the target group) are considered audience, in the latter they are actors or users . ---the museum can provide a platform and resources for action. Instead (or aside) of defining target groups, the museum is letting people form their own communities. The museum space becomes a political space, a space of dialogue and debate. From accessibility to participation – museum as a public space, Kaija Kaitavuori (2007)
- In this presentation we discuss three different cases, three different stories that would remain untold without the collaboration of a marginalized group and a cultural institution. There are people involved! Sensitive stories you do not want to tell or expose to the public if you can’t be sure you can control the way you are represented. Sari presents dance production a State of Being and a museum exhibition Absolutely AbNormal: both projects involving the physically differently able. I will talk about an ongoing co-curated exhibition project Arooska - Somali wedding.
- Here I come to the first case study , a dance production where the platform was given to ”the other”.
- My own experience as one of the dancers: My own fears and uncertainties made me suspicious and even angry to start with, for many of us it was an emotional process The multy skilled coreographer created confidence The process became a booster of self esteem We called ourselves the State of Being family I’m honoured and greatful to have shared and experienced what we did
- My own experience as one of the initiators and hands on makers: I was eager to make this exhibition happen, this was something that we hadn’t had in this scale or with this type of approach before in Finland Afterwards it’s easy to see that the ambition to handle all types of disabilities in one exhibition was huge I am proud that we did this but would be wiser next time
- This case is about self-presentation and othering - participation as inclusion, working against stereotypes - self-presentation as response to subordinate position and experiences of marginalisation and discrimination - recognition often sought through self-representation participation as involvement and inclusion - not only documentation and presentation of own culture, but anallysing and discussing changing identities
- somali culture and tradition not well known somali tradition presented in Finnish media mostly in negative context young somali emerging in the field of cultural productions: in litterature as victims to be rescued as artists themselves (actors, screenwriters, comic artists) often normalising: we are the same as you this is needed, of course in Arooska we hope to discuss the somali experience in the communities own terms, not the dominant populations delicate issues? female circumcision or women’s headgear? no, not very relevant. more delicate from somali perspective to admit the disagreements inside community in the presentation of beautiful wedding traditions are discussed quite controversial issues: authority of parents, role of women in the family, traditional clan allegiances vs. modern unity personal stories challenging universalistic notion of ”tradition” : subtly also challenging hierarchies and authorities home: here or there? young Europeans with somali background or dhaqan eli? what is traditional/modern in the global somali commuity? modern= islam or ”european” My own experience as a participant and facilitator: in my position as a museum director I have been able to shape the project to the directions we have felt we needed, and I have been happy to see that funders have seen the relevance of our approach it is has been a very empowering experience to work with such interesting people!
- diasporic communities busy with survival little room for reflection tradition and heritage important also in formation of 2nd generation identities whose tradition? very important issue in somali community to reflect the internal diversity Suado feels that the project is also important in unifying the community: the internal conflicts in somalia -> echoes in diaspora
- The goal depends on who you work with, who you find to be your partners Suggest co-operation with ”the other”, start building a relationship and trust Find the guiding star together with the partakers What is the statement you want to make through your production Notice that the goals need to be set according to the resources and the budget may need extras
- uncertainities and surprising encounters feed creativity
- First of all the possibilities to step out of the otherness should exist. The questions include Are the possibilities to study arts and arts management created equal? Are there work opportunities for diverse people? -Do the mediators of art and culture recognise the identity through which they operate = who they are and who they see as the other Do they realize that they use power in the sense of who is ”allowed”, who becomes visible and who is interesting? Can cultural institutions be facilitators as well as or instead of authorities? Do the cultural policy makers use the means they have in the ways that produce diverse outcomes in constructive settings? Are the funding strategies succesful in supporting diversity? Constant evaluation and self reflection is needed and it should be executed in ways that include the different part takers and communities. So who is in charge of representing the other? Didderent culture sectors are in charge . All those who can contribute to the involvement of diverse audiences and different subcultures should do so. But the process cannot be started or carried on without communication on equal basis with ”the other”.