Photos by Jan Locus
The AFIELD Forum 2024: Systems Change by Artists was held from September 27 to 29, in Brussels, Belgium. It gathered an international cohort of artists, activists, thinkers, cultural workers, and social entrepreneurs around a set of questions: how, why and should artists bring systems change for a better society? What do artists bring when they take on the roles of NGOs, educators, activists, and active agents involved in social transformation?
The list of speakers included: Ambassade Universelle, Martha Atienza, Lauren Bon, Linda Goode Bryant, Anna Dantes, El Warcha, Future Farmers, Analida Galindo, Anand Giridharadas, Sergio Roberto Gratteri, Jessica Gysel, Ola Hassanain, Helena Kritis, Fernanda Laguna, Giuseppe Micciarelli, Eileen Myles, Majaw Njaay, Bernardo Robles Hidalgo, Sahad Sarr, TransfoCollect, Ana Vargas, Visible (Matteo Lucchetti and Judith Wielander), Waad, Andrea Yarbrough.
The AFIELD forum is a project by AFIELD co-produced with KANAL-Centre Pompidou, in partnership with CIVA & Établissements A. Dewitte & Filles. With the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Conference report
Anand Giridharadas on the problem of billionaires funding art and why he’s voting for Kamala Harris
Charlotte Kilpatrick, Alliance magazine
Speaking at the Afield forum in Brussels, Giridharadas calls for a re-democratisation of art, and argues a vote for Harris is a vote for the continuation of democracy.
Anand Giridharadas is clear about both his love and disdain for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The writer and journalist opened his panel discussion at the Afield Forum on art and systems change in Brussels by talking about his book, Winners Take All, in which he outlines how the wealthy use philanthropy to maintain systems of power.
In a time of increasing wealth inequality and the number of billionaires, Giridharadas referred to philanthropic efforts to reduce poverty as a drop in the wide bucket needed to close income and prosperity gaps. “If we have more drops in the bucket, the bucket might get filled,” said Giridharadas. “But we have all these problems because billionaires use do-gooding to protect morally indefensible systems. They are interested in change at the top, so long as the change doesn’t come for them.” Read more…
Reader’s poll winner
Alliance asked its readers what session they would like to hear about most in a poll. This year’s winner was a session ‘Conversation on Livable City #1: Urban Commons’. Read the report below.
Art is essential to making cities liveable
Speaking on a panel about the Urban Commons, representatives of the El Wacha studio from Tunisia told conference goers about their different collaborative projects around the city of Tunis. One short video showed young people from the medina working with power tools to help construct wooden structures that floated around the city. In another segment, children were seen practicing various circus acts such as juggling and balancing spinning wooden plates on thin metal rods. Putting it all together, the members of El Wacha succeeded in creating a floating circus where performers entertained audiences on the sea accompanied by spotlights and a marching band. Read more…
Interview
AFIELD director Sandra Terdjman explains the critical role of arts creating systems change
Charlotte Kilpatrick, Alliance magazine
During the 2024 AFIELD Forum: Systems Change by Artists, Alliance Digital Editor Charlotte Kilpatrick interviewed AFIELD director Sandra Terdjman.
Charlotte Kilpatrick: Can you tell me how AFIELD started?
Sandra Terdjman: AFIELD began in 2014 with two fellowships awarded to artists and cultural entrepreneurs who had created impactful social initiatives for their communities. The idea was born from the need to bridge two worlds: the arts and philanthropy. We wanted to show that artist-led initiatives can not only inspire creative expression and imagination but also bring about tangible social change.
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