Book launch | The Art of Civil Action
30 November 2017 at WALTER, Arnhem (NL)
The Art of Civil Action investigates how artists and cultural workers help build the civil domain. On 30 November the book will be presented and discussed at WALTER in Arnhem by (co-)editor Pascal Gielen (professor cultural sociology, University of Antwerp) and contributor to the book Thijs Lijster (assistant professor Philosophy or Art and Culture, University of Groningen).
Where: Bookshop WALTER, Looierstraat 43, Arnhem
When: Thursday 30 November 2017
Time: 20:00–22:00
With: Pascal Gielen, Thijs Lijster
Entrance: € 3,50 / € 6,50 (depending on financial means)
Language: English
Civil space covers a heterogeneous field of action that is under constant negotiation. It exists beyond government regulations and market forces, and serves people and communities to engage with socio-economic and political issues that concern them. The manifold crises of the past decade have made civil space more relevant again as a place of expressing controversy and dissent. The arts, with their ability to project alternative realities, can play a key role in addressing issues within this context. Looking at various artistic practices, activist platforms and new citizens’ initiatives, this book asks how cultural workers and artists can determine the civil domain. How do they put the ‘art’ of civil action into practice? What strategies can such initiatives adopt in order to increase their local influence and gain more global significance? Cultural theorists, activists and artists explore how they can provide the building blocks for a locally rooted civil society in a globally connected setting.