15th ELIA Biennial Conference
Resilience and the City: Art, Education, Urbanism
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
21-24 November 2018
We would like to thank the 460 delegates, the speakers and presenters, our partners and our dear hosts Codarts University of the Arts and Willem de Kooning Academy for their dedicated contributions and for an inspiring and dynamic week in Rotterdam!
Take a look at the photo highlights and keynote videos! Here below you can watch the impression video from this year's Biennial.
We are also planning to publish a Conference Proceedings Publication in the following months, in which we will gather content that was presented at the 15th ELIA Biennial Conference.
Early Bird ELIA Member Fee [registered before or on 30 June 2017]
395 EUR
Regular ELIA Member Fee [registered on or from 1 July 2018 onwards]
Final registration deadline 9 November 2018
495 EUR
Students’ Fee
There is a limited number of spaces available in the student category. Preference is given to doctoral and master programme students from ELIA Member Institutions. Individuals employed by a Higher Arts Education institution do not qualify for the students’ fee.
75 EUR
Non-Member Fee
2000 EUR
Accompanying Person Fee
100 EUR
The registration fee includes all conference materials and publications, access to all conference sessions and related events, two lunches, two dinners and the Closing Party. Please note: the Accompanying Person Fee is meant for accompanying persons joining the social and cultural events only.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Please note that by registering for this event, you accept ELIA Events Terms and Conditions. These include the cancellation policy and permission to use or publish any videos or photographs recorded by ELIA during the event.
Theme
Resilience and the City: Art, Education, Urbanism
"Over the past decades, few concepts have gained such prominence as resilience. Resilience is the capacity of a system, be it an individual, a forest, a city or an economy, to deal with change and continue to develop. It is about how humans and nature can use shocks and disturbances (like a financial crisis or climate change) to spur renewal and innovative thinking." (Stockholm Resilience Center)
The 15th ELIA Biennial Conference sets out to examine how the arts can play a vital role in building resilience, especially in the urban context. The topic will be developed along four subthemes:
Shifting Centres, Shifting Margins
The world is always changing. But changes are becoming greater and more rapid than ever before, due to unprecedented technological advancement and unpredictable political upheaval. Margins and centres are continually shifting. From expanding urbanisation to immigration, to climate change, we are facing grand societal challenges that require radical questions and innovative answers.
The City of Rotterdam is addressing these challenges by becoming a ‘resilient city’. Urban resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city, to survive, and adapt no matter what kind of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience. Arts and culture are fundamental in shaping the critical discussion about urban resilience, pointing to dimensions of urban development that often too-eagerly embrace neoliberal concepts of gentrification and commercialisation, bringing changes that are profitable for some, but negative for others.
Art and Social Cohesion
The Arts enable us to express and develop our cultural identities and reveal the diversity within our society. Cross-disciplinary projects create new structures that can pinpoint social tensions, address differences and demonstrate how much we have in common. In addressing these social challenges there is also an imperative to uphold a heterogeneous society, protect minority rights and integrate or perhaps also simply accept differences of all kinds. Do the arts, especially socially engaged artistic practices, gain a particular responsibility in times of increasing right-wing conservatism, when the freedom of artistic expression is threatened?
Art and Economy
Urban resilience cannot be achieved without economic prosperity. An innovative city is one, which is sustainable environmentally, socially and economically. Fostering vibrant and proactive cultural communities, therefore, needs to be a priority for any resilient city. How do we see the interaction between the arts and economics, in what ways can artists and urban planners collaborate to create alternative cultural and social habitats, which promote common practices and different forms of living together?
Art and Innovation
In 1968, NASA developed a tool to assess creativity skills, in an effort to increase innovation by hiring the most creative engineers. The test worked so well with employees that they decided to test it on children. To their surprise, 98% of 4-5 years old were considered geniuses on the creativity-scale. When they tested the same group 5 years later, only 30% of the children scored in the genius-level of creativity. The NASA survey shows both the importance of creativity for innovation and the declining levels of creativity, as we grow older. How do we see the role of arts and arts education in improving creativity and 21st century skills? And what is our own role as arts education institutions in addressing these changes, both for our students and for society?
The ELIA Biennial Conference provides ample opportunity to delve deeper into these topics, exchange views from around Europe and beyond, and push for action (show don’t tell). We are looking forward to welcoming you in Rotterdam!
School Tours (optional) Willem de Kooning Academy incl. presentation of 'station model' - new role of workshops in art education, Codarts
16:00 -18:00
ELIA Afternoon Get to know ELIA through its active projects and join the various discussions on Artistic Research, EU Funding, Art in Education, Quality Assurance, Evaluation Models and Teaching Practices on How to Make a Living from the Arts.
18:00 - 18:30
Exhibition Opening Maaskant Award: alumni of Willem de Kooning Academy
We are happy to announce the following keynote speakers for the 15th ELIA Biennial Conference. The keynote speakers will shine a light on the relevant issues facing art education, engage with the audience and initiate the debate.
ELIA has provided more info about the hotel and travel recommendations.
Venues
Check out the many venues that you will discover at 15th ELIA Biennial Conference.
Main venue
De Doelen Concert Hall
De Doelen is a renowned concert hall and established congress centre that attracts more than 650,000 people per year.
De Doelen is Rotterdam’s leading venue for music and its central arena for the exchange of information. For both these activities, the Doelen has a national and international reputation, taking its role as an engine for cultural and economic development seriously. De Doelen is a place where musicians, their audiences, conference delegates, visitors meet and mingle freely, providing people of all kinds with meaningful experiences through music, debate and dialogue.
Map of ELIA Biennial Rotterdam
Acknowledgements
Steering Group
Mark Dunhill (Chair), former Dean, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
Andrea Braidt, Vice-Rector for Art and Research, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria
Jeroen Chabot, Dean, Willem de Kooning Academy/Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands
Wilma Franchimon, President of the Executive Board, Codarts University of the Arts, the Netherlands
Ana Garcia Lopez, Vice-Dean for Internationalisation and Research, Fine Arts Faculty, University of Granada, Spain
Maria Hansen, Executive Director, ELIA – European League of Institutes of the Arts, the Netherlands
Selection Jury
Michaela Glanz, Head of Art Research Support, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria
Simon Betts, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
Nicole Jordan, Codarts University of the Arts, the Netherlands
Giaco Schiesser, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
Renee Turner, Willem de Kooning Academy/Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands
Zoran Erić, University of the Arts in Belgrade, Serbia
Charlotte Bonham-Carter, Director for the Culture and Enterprise programme, Central Saint Martins UAL, United Kingdom
Susanne Stürmer, University of Film Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany
Cecilie Broch Knudsen, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway
Christoph Weckerle, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
Mara Raţiu, University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Johan Scott, Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden
Conference Organisers
Kyara Babb, Communication & Events Intern, Willem de Kooning Academy/Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands
Janja Ferenc, Conference Manager, ELIA – European League of Institutes of the Arts, the Netherlands
Cora Santjer, Head of International Relations, Willem de Kooning Academy/Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands
Monica van Steen, Codarts Agency & External Relations, Codarts University of the Arts, the Netherlands
Joost van der Veen, Board Advisor, Codarts University of the Arts, the Netherlands
Day 1 ELIA Biennial Rotterdam | 21 November 2018
All photos by Michele van Vliet.
Day 2 ELIA Biennial Rotterdam | 22 November 2018
All photos by Michele van Vliet.
Day 3 ELIA Biennial Rotterdam | 23 November 2018
All photos by Michele van Vliet.
ELIA Biennial Conference Keynotes
Elizabeth Giorgis and Berhanu Ashagrie
In Conversation: Art Architecture and Urbanism in the Myths and Realities of Addis Ababa’s Ruin and Production of Space double-feature keynote explores the voices of artists and architects who are not only interrogating the challenges of their environment but who are emerging as resilient interventionists who envision a better collective by struggling for the rights and justice of urban citizens. Read more here.
Maria Balshaw
Maria Balshaw is the director of Tate in London. Her keynote was on the ways Tate supports resilience and creativity in the contexts and times that we live in. Read more here.
Panel Session What is the Role of Art Schools in a Resilient City?
Panellists: Roufaida Aboutaleb, Elke Krasny, Antoni Muntadas, Y. M. P.
A selected panel of professionals addressed the conference theme moderated by an expert in the field, Catherine Somzé. Read more here.
Registration Form
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Participation fees can be paid with the following payment types:
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iDEAL (The iDEAL platform combines the online banking systems of 10 of the largest Dutch banks - ABN AMRO, ASN Bank, Bunq, ING, Knab, Rabobank, RegioBank, SNS Bank, Triodos Bank and van Lanschot)
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Bank transfer (By selecting this option, an invoice will be sent to your e-mail and you will be asked to complete the payment by the due date.)
If you are having problems with the payment, you can also contact ELIA Conference Manager Janja Ferenc at janja.ferenc[at]elia-artschools.org for further assistance.
Funding possibilities
EU delegates of an Institute or University
ERASMUS
The organisational support grant is a contribution to any cost incurred by the institutions in relation to activities in support of staff mobility, both inbound and outbound, to comply with the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) in Programme Countries, and with the principles of the ECHE as reflected in the inter-institutional agreements agreed in the case of institutions from Partner Countries.
For example:
Organisational arrangements with partner institutions, including visits to potential partners, to agree on the terms of the inter-institutional agreements for the selection, preparation, reception and integration of mobile participants; and to keep these inter-institutional agreements updated; facilitate the integration of incoming mobile participants in the HEI;
ensure an efficient mentoring and supervision arrangements of mobile participants.
The awarded grant will be in most countries 50% of the estimated total cost (minimum € 200). This amount might be adjusted after the expense report has been issued.
Please go to your international office for more information about grant possibilities through ERASMUS.
You can contact your National Agency if there is funding available for attending a conference.
Most countries have their own database for funding possibilities, please look for “funding database” online to find options for your country.
PIE Meeting
Join the first meeting of PIE (Platform Internationalisation ELIA), held on Wednesday 21 November from 10:00 to 12:30 in Rotterdam!
PIE welcomes colleagues from ELIA member institutions who are involved in researching and implementing internationalisation at Higher Arts Education Institutions to join the discussion on current challenges of internationalisation, which will be organized in the morning before the official opening of the 15th ELIA Biennial Conference.
Some examples of topics to be discussed:
Internationalisation, strategy-making and implementation
Internationalisation of the curriculum
Involving teachers and students in internationalisation policymaking
Rationales and effects/outcomes of internationalisation
Recent national political changes and internationalisation in higher arts education
Open Space is a creative and communal approach to facilitating workshops. It is a format where the participants generate the topics and angles for discussion. These will be brought into smaller groups where they will be debated and discussed. If at any time a participant feels that they are not contributing, aren’t learning or simply are irritated by the discussion, they can move to a different group.
The most important principle of the Open Space is that anyone who joins should be passionate about the topic and actively create something out of this passion and interest.
Here is more about the history of Open Space and its guiding principles.
At the ELIA Biennial, we invite the delegates to join the Open Space and create a marketplace of topics.
As an example, you can bring the following varied topics into the Open Space:
You have an idea for an international project-proposal and you are looking for partners.
You want to exchange ideas on how to motivate supervisors to participate in training workshops.
You want to learn how others have introduced a PhD-curriculum at their art schools and exchange ideas.
You want to offer a jam session in dancing (or piano playing, or singing, or drawing).
You want to organise a political action for Rotterdam that takes place during the conference.
You want to gain knowledge about archiving, documenting and publishing work of students and research with the help of The Research Catalogue, a platform that facilitates online multimedia documentation.
Among the varied topics proposed by the delegates, there will also be a few pop-up sessions in the Open Space. These will include a presentation of the new upcoming initiative of ELIA; a discussion on The Research Catalogue as Online Multimedia Repository for Higher Arts Education Institutions by the Society for Artistic Research; a walk through Rotterdam entitled ‘Grenzgang – Laying a Keyword Path’ by Markus Schwander, Beate Florenz, Tabea Lurk and Daniel Brefin (Academy of Art and Design FHNW Basel), discussing methods of artistic research as they relate to the fluctuating space of the city; and an interdisciplinary community project The Rotterdam Collection, based on The Darling Collection performed in houses and other locations of Rotterdammers, by Jan Grolleman (Fontys School for Fine and Performing Arts), seven residents from the area near De Doelen, with different backgrounds, and a group of students.
The Open Space will be moderated by Silke Lange, Associate Dean of Learning, Teaching and Enhancement at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
ELIA Afternoon
Find out what ELIA working groups have developed in the past months and take part in the conversation.
Teaching How to Make a Living from the Arts
This session will focus on sharing experiences and knowledge on existing and emerging approaches on how to support students in their artistic career development.
What are the skills that artists need in order to make a living from their artistic practice? Are Higher Arts Education institutions integrating these skills into the curriculum or are these taught in extra-curricular programmes?
In this session, we share insights from the project NXT Making a Living from the Arts and engage in conversation with ELIA members.
Arts in Education
ELIA and AEC have established a working group on art in (primary and secondary) education. This group has done a quick scan of how art, design and the performing arts are being taught at this level across Europe and is engaged in the discussion about key competences and the creation of a European Area of Education and Culture by 2025. The working group will discuss its findings with the delegates and is looking forward to a good conversation with those present.
Quality Assurance in cooperation with EQ-Arts
This session provides tools to arts universities to use their potential in critical reflection and innovative reasoning to come up with alternate and more development-oriented approaches to Quality Assurance and Quality Enhancement.
Artistic Research Working Group: What can the city / what can Europe do to make Artistic Research resilient? Focus Supervision
The workshop will start off with input by members of the ELIA working group on artistic research: What has happened since the presentation and publication of the "Florence Principles on the Doctorate in the Arts" in 2016? Under the lead of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna the group was successful in securing EU-money for a 3-year project focussing on "Advancing Supervision for Artistic Research Doctorates", which has started in September 2018. The workshop will present the main questions of the project, give an overview of the work packages and open up the space for a discussion on the key issue of "supervision" in third cycle artistic research programmes. The topic of the city will concern us during the workshop only peripherally in the sense as cities are usually the contexts in which universities and thus doctoral programmes take place.
EU Funding
This interactive workshop will provide up to date information on European funding programmes and policies. Participants will learn more about taking part in calls and building a strong consortium.
Evaluation Models HAE Institutions
Models to assess the outcome of teaching and research – be it rankings, indicators or peer reviews – have become highly influential not only for ranking universities worldwide, but also for the funding schemes applied to these institutions. Higher art education is increasingly affected by this development. At the same time, the models used to judge higher arts education are usually not fit to give valid information on these institutions. In the ELIA community, there is a controversial debate going on whether to abstain from these issues altogether or to explore ways in which adequate criteria could be found to actually assess higher arts education institutions. ELIA recently created a working group to work on this topic which will report on its work in this session.
Plenary Sessions
Including the Official Opening, there are three Plenary Sessions that will address the theme of the conference, Resilience and the City: Art, Education, Urbanism. During the Plenary Sessions, keynote speakers will shine a light on the relevant issues facing art education, engage with the audience and initiate the debate.
Thematic Mobile Sessions
Rotterdam has a rich cultural life. Renowned museums, art institutions and galleries display the most controversial art, both old and new. To engage with Rotterdam in a broader sense, the Thematic Mobile Sessions have been designed to give conference participants the rare opportunity to explore behind the scenes and meet local practitioners, producers and leaders. Beyond meeting the local cultural representatives, the delegates will also have the opportunity to experience the unique spaces, since the Mobile Sessions’ organisations will also host thematic presentations.
Presenters who were selected from the Call for Presentations for ELIA Member Institutions will address the four sub-themes of the conference, presenting research papers, case-studies and innovative projects. Delegates will be able to choose between parallel Thematic Mobile Sessions addressing the following themes:
Each sub-theme is linked to a location; please find a description of the different venues and detailed programme via the provided links.
Panel session
Following the keynote speakers, a selected panel of professionals will address the conference theme moderated by an expert in the field. The panel will address the question: What is the Role of Art Schools in a Resilient City?
Delegates are an active part of the debate and will be invited to submit their questions beforehand.
We are proud to present to you our panelists:
Roufaida Aboutaleb
Roufaida Aboutaleb is Codarts Pop Alumna. Singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist in a band. She is a freelance pr-advisor, and festival booker for several festivals and cultural institutes. Runs a tiny little label called UIT ROFFA to connect young local talent to venues and festivals. Currently committed to pop venue Bibelot in Dordrecht as researcher.
Elke Krasny
Elke Krasny is a cultural theorist, urban researcher, and curator. Her work specializes in architecture, contemporary art, urbanism, histories and theories of curating, critical historiographies of feminism, politics of remembrance, and their intersections. She is Professor of Art and Education at the Academy of Fine Arts of Vienna. Krasny holds a Ph.D. from the University of Reading. In 2012 she was Visiting Scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal. In 2011 she was Visiting Curator at the Hong Kong Community Museum.
Antoni Muntadas
Through his works, Antoni Muntadas addresses social, political and communication issues such as the relationship between public and private space within social frameworks, and investigates channels of information and the ways they may be used to censor or promulgate ideas. His projects are presented in different media such as photography, video, publications, the Internet, installations and urban interventions. Muntadas has taught and directed seminars at diverse institutions throughout Europe and the United States, including the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, the Fine Arts Schools in Bordeaux and Grenoble, the University of California in San Diego, the San Francisco Art Institute Cooper Union in New York, the University of São Paulo, and the University of Buenos Aires. He has also been invited as a resident artist and consulting advisor at various research and education centers including the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, the Banff Centre in Alberta, Arteleku in San Sebastian, The National Studio for Contemporary Arts Le Fresnoy, and the University of Western Sydney. Antoni Muntadas has been a visiting professor at the Visual Arts Program in the School of Architecture at MIT in Cambridge from 1990 to 2014. He is currently teaching at at the Veneto Institute of Architecture in Venice.
Y. M. P.
Y.M.P., aka YoungMichPoetry, is a talented spoken word artist, entrepreneur, writer and producer from Rotterdam-South. He discovered his love of language at the lowest point of his life: in prison.
Raised with hip-hop, inspired by others artists like, 50-Cent, Eminem, DMX and the Wu-Tang Clan. His lyrics are provided with rhythmic influences. Hip-hop blood rages through his body. Influences of classical music also flows through his performances. He started writing to turn his negative experiences from the past into positive events for the future. Armed with a pen, love for his talent and his brain as ammunition, Y.M.P fights to gets the best out of himself and others.
The panel will be moderated by Catherine Somzé. Somzé obtained her BA in Art History from the Complutense University of Madrid. She completed an MA in Film and Television Studies at the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences as well as an MA in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Currently, she is the thesis director at the Dirty Art department at the Sandberg Insitute, and teaches courses on the history and theory of art and cinema at the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Erasmus University College. She was Time Out Amsterdam's chief art critic and contributes on a regular basis to publications on art and culture such as ZOO Magazine and Flash Art.
General Assembly
The ELIA General Assembly will be held on Saturday 24 November in the morning at 09:30hrs.
While the ELIA Biennial Conference will be open to all conference delegates, the General Assembly is a forum that is restricted to ELIA Members only. The agenda and relevant papers will be distributed separately.
Maria Balshaw
Maria Balshaw is Director of Tate, a role she has held since June 2017. She has overall responsibility for Tate’s strategic direction and day to day operations, working with a talented group of colleagues to further Tate’s mission to promote the public understanding and enjoyment of British art, and of twentieth-century and contemporary art. As Director, Maria is also the Accounting Officer appointed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Previously, as Director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester and Manchester City Galleries, Maria was responsible for the artistic and strategic vision for each gallery. During this period, Maria oversaw the £17 million transformation of the Whitworth, which was subsequently awarded the Art Fund Museum of the Year award for 2015. As Director of Culture for Manchester City Council from 2013-2017, Maria played a leading role in establishing the city as a major cultural centre, including the development of a new £110 million arts venue, the Factory, as the new site for Manchester International Festival from 2020.
Maria is a Board Member of The Clore Leadership Programme and Manchester International Festival, she was a Board Member of Arts Council England until March 2018. Maria was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the arts in June 2015.
Photography: Hugo Glendinning, 2017
Elizabeth Giorgis & Berhanu Ashagrie
Elizabeth Giorgis
Elizabeth Giorgis is Associate Professor of Art History, Criticism and Theory in the College of Performing and Visual Art and the Center for African Studies at Addis Ababa University. She is also the Director of the Modern Art Museum Gebre Kristos Desta Center at Addis Ababa University. She served as Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Art and as Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies of Addis Ababa University. She is the editor and author of several publications.
She has curated several exhibitions at the Modern Art Museum, Gebre Kristos Desta Center, more recently an exhibition of Julie Mehretu’s work titled “Julie, the Addis Show,” the exhibition “Addis Ababa the Enigma of the New and the Modern that showcased four artists who engaged the changing cityscape of Addis Ababa, and the exhibition “Time Sensitive Activity” by the Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. She has also participated in several international conferences and public lectures, more recently at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her book Modernist Art in Ethiopia, which is the first comprehensive monographic study of Ethiopian visual modernism within a broader social and intellectual history is currently in press and is expected to be released in Fall/Winter 2018.
Berhanu Ashagrie
Berhanu Ashagrie is an Ethiopian Visual Artist, and an Assistant Professor at Addis Ababa University, Alle School of Fine Arts and Design. He has also worked as a Director of the school nearly for four years, until April 2016. Berhanu has studied his main education in Ethiopia and Europe and currently, he is working as a researcher at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts on a project funded by Peek.
Berhanu has actively been engaged in various cultural, educational and professional activities in local and international platforms, on which he managed to initiate, organize, participate and contribute in different international conferences, workshops, festivals, biennales; like Video_Brasil ‘Southern Panoramas’ - Sao Paulo, Bamako Biennale ‘Telling Time’ – Bamako, European Forum Alpbach Seminar ‘Inequality’ - Alpbach, Future Memories International Conference ‘Art, Public Space and the Culture of Memory’ - Addis Ababa, Institute of Spatial Experiments ‘Acting Archives’ – Berlin and Addis Ababa, International Conference ‘Sounds of Change and Urban Transformations’ - Addis Ababa, 1st Tbilisi Triennial - ‘Offside Effect’ – Georgia, ‘You’re here is Our Here’ - Studio Olafur Eliasson – Berlin, 1st Former West Congress, Utrecht.
As a visual artist, Berhanu has mainly been focused on issues that come along with the idea and activities of change/ development/transformation /modernization on urban spaces/places and the human conditions in it. He is very much interested on process-based creative production activities that generate open-ended possibilities to interact, engage, discuss, react and imagine; beyond the everyday. He realized various individual and collective artistic projects inside and outside studio environment. Multidisciplinary creative outcomes of his projects have reputedly been shown internationally in Ethiopia, Germany, Netherlands, Georgia, Italy, Austria, Greece, Spain and England.
In Conversation: Art Architecture and Urbanism in the Myths and Realities of Addis Ababa’s Ruin and Production of Space
By Elizabeth Giorgis & Berhanu Ashagrie
Conceptualizing resilience as both a theoretical category and a framework of analysis, we explore a range of critical positions and cultural practices to examine how we think about the urban in African cities. By reflecting on the debates of southern urbanism and the dialectical link between subjection and authority in the political and social urban realities of the south, we attempt to examine the multiple truths of African urbanism to potentially produce possibilities for new models of aesthetic education and cultural critique. Particularly focusing on the city of Addis Ababa, we first examine the increasingly contested geographical and conceptual terrain that frames the contemporary ideological and political discourse of the genesis and evolution of the city. By combining strong anti-establishment rhetoric with potent demands for identity politics, marginal groups have conveyed the historical experiences of oppression by claiming Addis Ababa as an encounter that the hegemons of the past unduly appropriated. Such dissent is exacerbated by the realities that shape the tension between authoritarian led urbanization projects of the last decade which has unrelentingly paralleled urbanization with modernization in cruelly conclusive and inhuman ways.
Furthermore, the significant material and political inequalities in the urban space where the structure of urbanization fails to emerge from marginal locations has complicated matters in social relations and encounters. Dispossessed from their social fabric, millions of people are displaced to slum-like establishments. In this regard, Addis Ababa’s urbanization project has dismantled the body and its identity. Our body is now experienced and lived from the point of view of the new urban space where the virtual city makes the real world. A point to be taken then is imperative to resist such forms of dehumanizing urbanization projects. And it is in this regard that in the past few years, artists and architects are thinking productively about Addis Ababa’s urbanity and the urban space by critically engaging in artistic interventions that use resilience as a form of resistance.
This double-feature keynote explores the voices of artists and architects who are not only interrogating the challenges of their environment but who are emerging as resilient interventionists who envision a better collective by struggling for the rights and justice of urban citizens.
Jeanette Winterson
Born in Manchester, England, Jeanette Winterson, CBE, is the author of seventeen books, including the national bestseller Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, and The Passion.
She has won many prizes including the Whitbread Award for Best First Novel, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the E.M. Forster Award, and the Stonewall Award.
Jeanette was born in 1959. Her mother was 17, and worked in a factory called Raffles, sewing overcoats for Marks and Spencer.
1 of 10 children herself, Ann couldn’t keep her new daughter and she was adopted by Jack and Constance Winterson who raised her in the nearby town of Accrington.
Jeanette’s new parents were Pentecostals – a religious evangelical group who read the Bible more or less literally, and believe in the Second Coming of Christ and the End of the World.
Jeanette was raised to be a missionary. Books were not allowed at home unless they were religious books. As Mrs Winterson pointed out, ‘The trouble with a book is that you never know what’s in it till it’s too late.’
There were only 6 books in the house, including the Bible, and Cruden’s Concordance to the Bible. But there was another book – an accident, a chance – Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. These stories of the Grail, of Lancelot and Guinevere, of Arthur and the Round Table became as central to Jeanette’s imagination as the Bible.
Jeanette attended a girls’ grammar school – Accrington High School For Girls, and later read English at St Catherine’s College Oxford.
In between, she was living in a Mini, driving an ice-cream van, working in a funeral parlour and falling in love.
Her love affair with another girl at 16 meant that Jeanette had to leave home. Her mother asked her why she was still seeing this girl when she knew the consequences – homelessness. Jeanette replied – She makes me happy.
Mrs Winterson’s response was, ‘Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?’
She was a violent philosopher.
After Oxford Jeanette worked in the theatre for a while, at London’s The Roundhouse with the legendary Thelma Holt. ‘I did everything; wrote the programme notes, sold ice-cream, swept up, drove Thelma around, collated reviews and tried to sell advertising space to magazines like Time Out.’
In 1983, at a job interview at the newly formed Pandora Press (in the heyday of women’s presses in the UK), Jeanette started telling the boss interviewing her about her idea for a novel called Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit.
The boss was Philippa Brewster. She said, ‘If you write it the way you tell it, I’ll buy it.’
Jeanette didn’t get the job but she did write the novel and Oranges was published in 1985.
Mrs Winterson said, ‘It’s the first time I’ve had to order a book in a false name.’
The novel was a word-of-mouth success round the independent bookshops. Then it won a few prizes and got picked up by the press. Suddenly it wasn’t in the Jams and Marmalades sections anymore.
In 1994 Jeanette did two things; left London to live in the Cotswolds, where she still lives, and bought a derelict building in Spitalfields – London’s East End. At that time few people lived around the old fruit and veg market.
Over 2 years Jeanette rebuilt her building, and later put a shop back on the ground floor where it had been, on and off, since 1810. The shop Verde’s is still owned by Jeanette, and run by Harvey Cabaniss, who has made it into a successful business. Jeanette says, ‘It is beautiful to look at and it is as asset to the neighbourhood – especially now when the whole place is becoming a corporate playground.’
If you want to read about Jeanette and her life, buy the memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
In 2009 Jeanette met Susie Orbach, psychoanalyst and author of the classics, Fat is a Feminist Issue and Impossibility of Sex.
Susie had been separated from her partner of 34 years for 2 years, and Jeanette had also been 2 years out of a break up with the theatre director Deborah Warner.
Susie and Jeanette began an unexpected and unlikely romance. They married in 2015.
Jeanette continues to live in the Cotswolds. Susie continues to live in London.
‘There are so many ways of managing love and life. Be creative!’
Jeanette is also a Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester.
Photography: Sam Churchill
Hotels
Delegates are advised to book accommodation at the earliest convenience. ELIA has made pre-bookings for delegates at several hotels within walking distance from the main venue, De Doelen Concert Hall.
Please book directly with the hotel, using the reference code listed below. Any bookings after the deadline mentioned in the hotel details below will depend on availability and on a first come first serve basis.
Rotterdam Marriott Hotel
The leading hotel in Rotterdam. The central location, opposite Rotterdam Central Station and right next to our main conference venue, De Doelen Concert Hall, makes the Rotterdam Marriott Hotel your ideal starting point for your time at the ELIA Biennial.
Price rates: 159 EUR to 199 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Marriott Hotel.
DEADLINE: 23 October 2018
Holiday Inn Express
A modern hotel in Rotterdam city centre, 10-minute walk from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall
Price rates: 114 EUR to 124 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Holiday Inn Express.
DEADLINE: 23 October 2018
Hotel Room Mate Bruno Rotterdam
Room Mate Bruno is a luxury place located in Pakhuismeesteren, it is a former tea warehouse of the Dutch East India Company. It is located in the heart of Rotterdam, in the area of the Kop Van Zuid next to the Maas River. The area is beautifully transformed to an architectural hotspot where you can walk among the buildings of the most famous architects of the world. It is a 10-minute ride by public transport from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall and near the mobile sessions' venues.
Price rates: 105 to 150 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Room Mate Brune Rotterdam and use the following bookings code: ELIARM18
DEADLINE: 24 September 2018
Mainport Inntel Hotels
Mainport is the most luxurious and modern hotel in Rotterdam. Mainport’s unique location, on the banks of the river Maas, offers sweeping views over the water and the skyline of Rotterdam.
Inntel Hotel is a luxurious 4-star design hotel located in a unique spot in the centre of Rotterdam and at the foot of the Erasmus bridge. The rooms have all the amenities you need for a comfortable stay.
Both hotels are a 20-minute walk or a few minutes on public transport or a bike from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall.
Price rates: 160 EUR to 215 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Mainport Inntel Hotels.
DEADLINE: 20 October 2018
Hotel Emma
Hotel Emma is a cosy and intimate three-star hotel in Rotterdam's city centre. It is a 10-minute walk from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall.
Price rates: 90 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Hotel Emma and use the following bookings code: ELIAEMMA18
Hotel Grand Central
Grand Hotel Central is a cosy and classic accommodation in the heart of lively Rotterdam. Located within a 3 minutes' walk to the popular shopping street Lijnbaan, Town Hall Square and cinema complex. Rotterdam Central Station is a 10-minute walk away.
It is a 5-minute walk away from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall.
Price rates: 89 EUR to 150 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Hotel Grand Central and use the following bookings code: ELIA2018
NH Atlanta
Across the street from Rotterdam World Trade Centre, NH Atlanta is an Art Deco 4-star hotel. It offers modern accommodation with free Wi-Fi.
It is a 5-minute walk away from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall.
The Parkhotel in Rotterdam offers the perfect mix of a trendy metropolitan hotel in the heart of a lively port city. It also offers the peace and personal service which you expect to find at a luxury hotel. The hotel is within walking distance of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, the welcoming Witte de Withstraat and the Museumpark.
It is a 10-minute walk away from the main conference venue De Doelen Concert Hall.
Price rates: 124 EUR to 154 EUR per night
Click HERE to book your room at Bilderberg Parkhotel Rotterdam.
DEADLINE: 20 October 2018
Travel information
Rotterdam can be reached easily from across the country and abroad. Whether you come by train, bus, car, plane, boat or possibly even by bike, Rotterdam offers excellent connections in and around the city.
By Plane
An increasing number of European cities provide direct flights to Rotterdam The Hague Airport. Operators Transavia, CityJet, British Airways, bmi regional, Turkish Airlines, TUIfly, Lufthansa, VLM, Vueling, Corendon, Onur Air fly to the second regional airport in the Netherlands.
From Rotterdam The Hague Airport, you can reach the very heart of Rotterdam very quickly, travelling by taxi or public transport.
Alternatively you can fly to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and take a 30 minute train ride to Rotterdam Central Station. Watch the video with instructions here.
By Train
One of the fastest and easiest ways to get to Rotterdam is to travel by train. Intercity trains hailing from every corner of the Netherlands make a stop at Rotterdam Central Station, including the high-speed train. The fastest connection between Amsterdam, Schiphol, Rotterdam and Breda is the NS Intercity Direct. It runs twice per hour. When travelling between Schiphol and Rotterdam, you will have to pay an Intercity Direct surcharge.
When travelling from France and Belgium, you should take the Thalys (it runs ten times per day). When travelling from the United Kingdom, you can take the Eurostar (and transfer to the Thalys in Brussels).
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Previously, as Director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester and Manchester City Galleries, Maria was responsible for the artistic and strategic vision for each gallery. During this period, Maria oversaw the £17 million transformation of the Whitworth, which was subsequently awarded the Art Fund Museum of the Year award for 2015. As Director of Culture for Manchester City Council from 2013-2017, Maria played a leading role in establishing the city as a major cultural centre, including the development of a new £110 million arts venue, the Factory, as the new site for Manchester International Festival from 2020.
Theory in the College of Performing and Visual Art and the Center for African Studies at Addis Ababa University. She is also the Director of the Modern Art Museum Gebre Kristos Desta Center at Addis Ababa University. She served as Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Art and as Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies of Addis Ababa University. She is the editor and author of several publications.
Addis Ababa University, Alle School of Fine Arts and Design. He has also worked as a Director of the school nearly for four years, until April 2016. Berhanu has studied his main education in Ethiopia and Europe and currently, he is working as a researcher at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts on a project funded by Peek.
seventeen books, including the national bestseller Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, and The Passion.