“Times are not looking good for so-called ‘Western’ artistic creation. Forced by the course of history to gradually abandon its old universalist aspirations, it gradually has to narrow its field of vision, to the point where soon it will be aiming its sight at its own feet… and even then, are they really clean? Nothing could be less certain.

So-called ‘Western’ artistic creation is charged by the powers it is controlled by (the new white aristocracy, its institutions, its foundations…), to mask the gradual rise of socio-economical disparities by building the mascarade of a ‘democratisation of culture’. It’s a matter of exalting the idea of horizontal companionship to the point of hysteria (B. Anderson) in order to distract the minds from the vertical differences which have become monstruous.

But, by doing so, the so-called ‘Western’ artistic creation finds itself quickly brought to the limits of an ‘inner neo-colonial’ (Stokely Carmichael) activity, a result of the strong racialisation of the social (non)relationships of an european urban population now pluriethnic and segregated, seperated by urban borders that are impenetrable (gentrification, the suburban, the ghetto…) and of which groupes are composed and structured accordingly to the old colonial history and its games of interracial disregard.

Thus, the path to follow seemingly blur, it is always allowed to sit and talk about it.”

The workshop

During three weeks, a groupe formed by up to 12 artists max., will address and debate subjects brought forth by Jean-Michel Bruyère and Jean-Paul Curnier (philosopher, writer, editor). Discussions will range from aesthetics, to politics and philosophy.

All along the exchanges, concepts such as the three-speed city, urban ghetto, pluriethnicity, racism and racialisation, relegation and repression will be adressed to bring about a radical shift in the common beliefs and debated in regard to art and culture.

The result of these debates will be visible for the public through an installation that will be created in parallel aswell as through ponctual and targeted actions in the city.

Jean-Michel Bruyère is a writer, director, sculptor, photographer, producer and graphic designer. He is head of the group of international artistic interventions LFKs, composed of intellectuals and artists from different nationalities and disciplines.

LFKs designs spaces of multidisciplinary creation that aim to question the contemporary world and its dominant ideologies. They are “chambers of strangeness”, “chambers of thoughts”, “chapels without devotion or sorrow”, where visitors experience unique physical and mental states, as if enveloped and immersed in an universe that penetrates them. The concept could be described as followed: we walk around, we look, we listen, we assist this political theater in action, and we leave feeling different, transformed by a question that now arises.

Workshop led by: Thierry ARREDONDO, Goo BÂ, Martine BRUNOTT, Jean Michel BRUYÈRE, Jean-Paul CURNIER, Nadine FEBVRE, Delphine VARAS, members of the collectif LFKs