“We are free to change the World”: The 2024 Arts of Democracy Conference

In the spirit of the quote from German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt*, Bodø 2024, ICORN and Arts and Culture Norway invite to a conference on how arts and democracy intersects and interacts in today’s world. “Culture policy is freedom of speech policy” the Norwegian Governments white paper “The Power of Culture” states, and the conference will explore if and how we can work stronger together to protect and promote artistic freedom globally.

Conference programme:   

09:00 Welcome, introduction by conference chair; writer and journalist Larry Siems (Knight First Amendment Institute; USA) 

09:10 Keynote I: Dr. Ulf Bohmann: “Democracy under pressure: Right-wing extremism as a challenge and a mission for Chemnitz as European Capital of Culture in 2025” 

The City of Chemnitz was the scene of one of the biggest right-wing extremist riots in post-war Germany in 2018. Remarkably, the city’s application to become European Capital of Culture (ECoC) in 2025 was written as a comprehensive response to the 2018 events. In his speech, Dr. Bohmann will explain the nature or this challenge, and, as Chemnitz ECoC programme starts to unfold, look at how the city, through arts and culture, can deal with the rapidly progressing normalisation of anti-democratic forces. “If sustainable democratic ways of dealing with those challenges can evolve, a model of general significance could emerge”.  

09:40 Short interventions and panel debate around how cities can work to protect freedom of expression, and counteract extremism and xenophobia.

Participants:   
- Patrik Zak  - Deputy Mayor Trencin, Slovakia
- Henry Reese - Founding director, Pittsburgh City of Asylum 
- Sabine Gimbrere - Director of the international office, the City of Amsterdam  
- Åsa Steinsvik – Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, the City of Stockholm

10:15 Coffee break 

10:35 Artistic intervention by Mohammed Elsusi (Palestine/Stavanger)

10:45 Keynote II: Dr. Mary Ann DeVlieg: “It’s up to us to take the space”

Does democracy need the arts, and do the arts really need democracy? Based on decades of extensive practice, experience and research from the international culture and human rights sector, Dr DeVlieg will ask if and how, in our current world transitioning out of an ‘order’ we assumed, the interaction of arts and democracy can still have a cohesive and generative effect on our societies. In her speech, Dr. DeVlieg will also draw upon her recent PhD thesis around artists who are persecuted and impacted by displacement, “exploring if and how the arts sector shares a collective responsibility for hospitality, and proposing care ethics as foundational to the evolution of common practices at a moment of increased migration and repression of artistic freedom.”

11:15 Short interventions and panel debate, around how individual artists, NGOs and government/funding bodies perceives and responds to the role of the arts and the challenges for democracy in today’s world.  

Participants: 
- Mohamedou Slahi - Writer, artist, activist, Mauretania/Amsterdam 
- Ingeborg Kværne  – PEN Norway, coordinator for the Norwegian ICORN cities
- Wesam Almadani – Writer, journalist, activist, Palestine/Larvik  

12:00 Lunch 

13:00 Common Ground: How to join forces to protect artistic freedom? 

The after lunch session hosted by Arts and Culture Norway gives floor to speakers representing different stakeholders in the field of artistic freedom and will focus on two important and transnational agreements as a frame for  short key notes and a panel discussion. 

The UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Culture reaffirms that freedom of thought, expression and information, as well as diversity of the media, enable cultural expressions to flourish within societies. One of the main objectives of the convention is that international and national legislation related to human rights and fundamental freedoms promote both artistic freedom and the social and economic rights of artists.   

Council of Europe’s treaty - European Convention on Human Right states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. In 2020 the Council of Europe Manifesto on the Freedom of Expression of Arts and Culture in the Digital aera was launched. The Manifesto sums up the importance of artistic creation and cultural industry for our democratic societies as well as the protection. It highlights the key role of arts and culture as powerful means for maintaining constructive dialogue in democratic and open societies.  

13:00 Introduction by Kristin Danielsen Director of Arts and Culture Norway. She is currently holding the position as General Director of International Federation of arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA).

13:10 Short keynote interventions from:  

- Anaïs Chagankerian - Associate Project Officer, Diversity of Cultural Expressions Entity, UNESCO  
- Matjaz Gruden - Director of Democracy, Council of Europe 
- Khalid Albaih - Romanian-born, Sudanese artist and political cartoonist, currently Oslo based.  
- Marianne Borgen - Member of the ICORN Board. Mayor of Oslo from 2015 – 2023.  

14:15 Panel discussion  

- Arts and artists as critical infrastructure  
- How to make use of international conventions  
- What role can civil society organisations and public agencies have in strengthening artistic freedom and freedom of expression?  
- How to join forces to protect artistic freedom 

14:50 Artistic intervention by Hamid Sakhizada (Afghanistan/Harstad)

15:00 End of conference 

Arts and Culture Norway invites all participants to a small mingle with refreshments immediately after the conference.  

The programme can be subject to change/adjustments 

* Quoted from Lyndsey Stonebridge’s book We Are Free to Change the World – Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience. 

The conference is organized by Bodø 2024, ICORN and Arts and Culture Norway, and is supported by the Fritt Ord Foundation.  

Conference registration 

Please follow this link to register for the Arts of Democracy conference. Participation fee is NOK 500,-, and covers conference participation at www.woodbodo.com, including lunch buffet. The number of seats is limited, please make sure to register early.