Artists in Discourse

Ruth Beckermann hosts Artists in Discourse 2019 - she invites personalities with whom she has always wanted to exchange, think and who inspire. What happens when, the first time they meet, artists of international calibre start talking about their personal take on the topic of liberty and security? Especially when that dialogue involves various different ways of speaking to all the senses? 'MEET' opens up new worlds of ideas and images and puts the audience in the thick of it - expect some intense experiences!

Ruth Beckermann on the encounters and her guests:

Fear is a part of life. You’d have to be stupid not to feel it.

But when did we become convinced - or do we convince ourselves? - that life is becoming ever more dangerous, and that safety measures are the cure: whether it’s knee pads for kindergarteners, certified toxin-free apples, CCTV in public spaces, or a wall around our country?

Whatever the case, the ground is fertile for populists to sow fear, creating new images of the enemy behind which lurk the old, archetypal ones: the Other, the Stranger. Of course, they claim to be the ones who can save us. Those who are afraid are ready to sacrifice freedom for security, even when the process ultimately leads to repression.

On this day, we set out to meet people who choose freedom, passion and rebellion in their work and in their lives, and who have opened the way to new connections. We’ll meet the photographer Elfie Semotan, equally at home in art as in advertising, in Vienna as in New York; the composer Georg Friedrich Haas and his wife, the American storyteller and BDSM educator Mollena Lee Williams-Haas, who together redefine work and sexuality; the Israeli filmmaker Avi Mograbi, whose work sheds provocative, humorous light on the Israel-Palestine conflict; and the German writer Max Czollek, whose essay "Desintegriert Euch!" [Un-integrate yourselves!] takes a new perspective on our community life.

Registrations for ‘Artists in Discourse’ are possible starting now. The participation fee is 400 euros.

The European Forum Alpbach will nominate 10 artists and cultural professionals to get free attendance for MEET /Artists in Discourse on August 21st 2019. Please send a short letter of motivation (max. 1000 characters) and a link to your online presence (homepage, social media) to katharina.schwab@alpbach.org until August 14th.