First Supper Symposium presents:

PROLOGUE 3: Art Activism - Feminism - Transcultural Movements 

A conversation about current activist and feminist perspectives in Scandinavia and the Middle East

With: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen (Turkey/Norway), Mohamed Soueid (Lebanon), Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi (Iran), Manal AlDowayan (Saudi Arabia), Lamia Abi Azar/Zoukak Company (Lebanon), Javad Parsa (Iran/Norway), Amina Sahan (Norway/Iraq), Bruce W. Ferguson (US) and Tone Olaf Nielsen (Denmark)

Moderator: Marianne Bøe (Norway)

- How do artists that culturally identify themselves with the Middle Eastern regions communicate their understanding of activism and feminism, and how can these perspectives contribute to a new language within the Scandinavian transcultural context?

- Can artistic perspectives contribute to a sharper debate on cultural identity, immigration and integration in Scandinavia?

- By looking at the transcultural development in our society from an aesthetic perspective - can we acquire new knowledge and a more nuanced dialogue in the areas of gender issues, cultural identity and the relevance of art in social and political change? 


PRESS RELEASE:
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First Supper Symposium is delighted to invite you to the third part of its symposium series on art, activism and feminism, investigating the relationship between contemporary art practices and politics. In this edition Nefise Özkal Lorentzen, Mohamed Soueid, Fatemeh Ekhtesari, Mehdi Mousavi, Manal AlDowayan, Lamia Abi Azar/Zoukak Company, Javad Parsa, Amina Sahan, Bruce W. Ferguson, Tone Olaf Nielsen and moderator Marianne Bøe will engage and activate the audience in unfolding the means by which art may become an agent for change in a world of political and socio-economic crisis.

In Prologue 3, we will investigate the merging of perspectives within Scandinavian and Middle Eastern cultures seen from their respective aesthetic expressions and practices. By giving the word to key figures from within the cultural field in the Middle East and Scandinavia, we aim to explore different combinations of gender, art and politics. We will actively challenge and problematize the Western conceptions of gender relations in the Middle East, particularly uprooting the established notions of the Middle Eastern women as passive and oppressed victims. Thus, the symposium aims to facilitate a critical discussion around the simplistic division between Western activism and feminism on the one side, and Middle Eastern or Muslim cultures on the other. The symposium will contribute to the realization that neither gender, religion or ethnicity on their own are crucial as to what kind of activism and feminism is being promoted, and, on the contrary, demonstrate the kind of variety and breadth that is to be found on the artistic, activist and feminist scene in the two regions today. By facilitating a platform for debate and new knowledge, FSS aims at contributing a new and nuanced language to the Scandinavian transcultural context, specifically targeting the current polemic debates about cultural identity, immigration and integration.