Speak! English program
Interview with Kenyan-British author Priya Basil and Nigerian-German author Olumide Popoola. Mini-lecture on the documentary ‘Beuys’, by critic and philosopher Dana Linssen (Amsterdam), with clips of the film. ‘Beuys’ tells the story of the legendary, activist artist of the 20e century: Joseph Beuys. Interview with filmmaker, artist & activist performer Mischa Leinkauf (Berlin), with clips of his work.
And more
- Slampoet Julius Schneege (Aachen)
- Sociologist and accelerator Theo Ploeg (anti-city Heerlen) reads his manifest
- Philosopher René Gabriels (Maastricht) on the importance of May ‘68
- Short film of The Nestcollective (Nairobi) with a critique on the western museum world
Aftermovie
- ‘Symbolic Threats’, a film by artist duo Wermke/Leinkauf.
In 2014 artists Wermke and Leinkauf replaced American flags with white ones on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. The film shows how the media and the public reacted on this ‘terrorist threat’.
Programme
19.45 – 20.45 blok 1 - Priya Basil, and Olumide Popoola, interview Rob van Duijn
20.45 – 21.15 break
21.00 – 22.00 blok 2 - Dana Linssen / docu Beuys, Mischa Wermkauf - interview Dana Linssen
22.15 - 22.45 - performance Beuys - Rene Gabriels on the current importance of May ’68 -slampoet: Julius Schneege mit Gedicht im Deutsch -Theo Ploeg reads his manifest - Film: The Nestcollective Nairobi with ‘We need prayers: This one went to market’ - Moderator Dana Linssen
After 22.45: screening Symbolic Threats (17’)
Priya Basil
Priya Basil is Kenyan-British writer, living in Berlin. She has published novels as well as numerous articles and essays for various publications, including The Guardian and Die Zeit.
Her first novel, Ishq & Mushq, explored the journey of her own family from India to East Africa to Great Britain.
She is a supporter of the Control Arms Campaign. She is keen to be a more active advocate in getting all nations of the world to sign up to a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty. She founded Authors for Peace in 2010. It is intended to be a platform from which authors can actively use literature in different ways to promote peace.
Olumide Popoola
Olumide Popoola is a London-based Nigerian German writer, speaker and performer. She writes fiction, essays, plays, poetry and ‘hybrid pieces’.
She is the co-author of the short story collection breach, a collection of stories on the Calais refugee camp. The stories explore the refugee crisis through fiction.
Her novel When we Speak of Nothing was published in 2017 and is about the friendship between two young black men grappling with injustice and gender identity.
Mischa Leinkauf
Mischa Leinkauf is an artist and filmmaker and part of the artist-duo Wermke/Leinkauf in Berlin. Together they create interventions in public space since the 1990-ties. They climbed bridges, skyscrapers and towers and documented their daredevil enterprises in a unique way, celebrating freedom and the beauty of public space. In 2014 the artists replaced American flags with white ones on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Was it a prank or a grave security breach? New York City was confused, the New York City Police felt embarrassed.
We will show their short documentary ‘Symbolic Threats’ – how the media and the public reacted on this ‘terrorist threat’ in New York City.
Dana Linssen
Dana Linssen is philosopher, film critic and film curator. She is editor in chief of the Dutch Filmkrant and film critic of NRC Handelsblad. She received the Louis Hartlooper Price for film journalism.
She will give a mini lecture on the film ‘Beuys’ by film maker Andres Veiel, about the legendary, German activist artist of the 20th century: Joseph Beuys.