An initiative of the international project Islands of Kinship, Language Matters: Accessible and Inclusive Communication in Art Spaces, a free symposium about accessibility in art institutions focusing particularly on the role of language and communication, will take place at Stroom den Haag in The Netherlands on Friday, June 14.
The program brings together professionals with various specializations; including the visual arts, accessibility and mediation, and crip theory; for workshops, lectures, screenings, performances, artist talks, and the launch of a new publication titled Islands of Kinship: A Collective Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions. This book is a major outcome of the two-year project Islands of Kinship, which connects six mid-scale visual art institutions across Europe (Jindřich Chalupecký Society/Prague, Július Koller Society/Bratislava, Faculty of things that can’t be learned/Bitola/Skopje, Temporary Gallery/Cologne, Frame Contemporary Art Finland/Helsinki, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art/Riga) in an innovative collaboration model addressing issues of inclusion, kinship and togetherness, democratic exchange and the ethics, emotions and practical solutions for a sustainable and fair institutional operation.
The heart of the IOK project was the possibility for each of the participating institutions to create a new job position of an Inclusion Coordinator. A unique group of insiders to the themes of accessibility, neurodiversity, social justice, ecological sustainability and gender diversity was formed. Each Coordinator worked both within the local context of their respective organization and engaged in an international and intersectional exchange as a part of the network. Texts by the Inclusion Coordinators, alongside those by the project’s curators and close collaborators, form the contents of the publication. We understand them as a call for wider discussion, as our means of sharing where we have come so far, acknowledging that this may only be the beginning in our attempts to lay grounds for art institutions that don’t solely survive the profoundly difficult times we find yourselves in, but also create grounds for positive and possibly radical change.
Program schedule
11am–12:30pm, Workshop one: Cripping Communication by Isa Hukka
To Isa Hukka, accessibility is the starting point for humanity, connection, and communication for all types of community well-being. Their methods are rooted in a crip reality and are universally applicable. In their workshop, Cripping Communication, Hukka invites us to rethink accessibility together.
1:30–3pm, Workshop two: Paulina Seyfried
Paulina Seyfried’s workshop encourages joint reflection on the power dynamics (of language) in the art field. We will discuss language not just as a barrier, but also in terms of its ambivalent role as an opportunity for social ascension.
3:30–5pm, Artist talks and screening by Alžbeta Bačíková and Sarah van Lamsweerde
Alžběta Bačíková’s presentation will reflect on her audio-visual projects about representing identity in art and issues of accessibility to open a discussion about privilege, focusing on the visibility or amplification of certain voices in artistic production.
Sarah van Lamsweerde will discuss her experimental art practice, which incorporates oral traditions, unfamiliar languages, and underprivileged senses into performances, installations, and publications.
5:30–6pm, Performative lecture by Ludmila Rodrigues
For this special occasion, Ludmila Rodrigues has created a spatial intervention for one of Stroom’s rooms, where visitors are welcome to slow down while experiencing a decrease of sensory stimuli.
6–7pm, Launch of the Islands of Kinship publication followed by a panel discussion
The peak of the June 14 event is the launch of Islands of Kinship: A Collective Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions. The publication is a result of the joint endeavors in Islands of Kinship to address themes of inclusivity and sustainability via collaborative exhibitions, educational and public programs, and co-commissioned artworks — but most importantly, through smaller and larger transformative institutional experiments, aimed both at internal operations as well as external collaboration and communication.
7–8pm, Dinner with listening session by Katayoun Arian
*Please contact us through reserveren [at] stroom.nl if you would like to make use of an interpreter and/or live transcription.
The international project Islands of Kinship: A Collective Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions is co-financed by the European Union.