Art Against Discrimination Festival

ART AGAINST DISCRIMINATION

“I am an invisible man.... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me” Ralph Ellison

If you feel that discrimination is still a prevalent threat in society and that communication, despite all the modern means that supposedly enable it, is diminishing around us, and you feel that you have something to say about this, then we can offer you a chance to have your voice heard throughout Europe.

TUZRAKTER is an independent cultural centre located in Budapest that is currently organising a two month ‘Art Against Discrimination’ festival that will take place in May and June of 2010.

The festival will tackle the concept of discrimination in all of its forms and demonstrates the possibility of solidarity despite cultural, social and linguistic barriers.

It will involve a variety of art forms including cinema, theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, music, lectures and debate. In each of these areas, artists from a range of countries will work together, finding ways to communicate through the arts whilst still embracing their inherent cultural differences.

There will be a section of the festival in which they collect poems that focus on the topic of discrimination. They will print the writings on A1 size posters in the original language and also in translation and put them up in crowded public places in five different cities around Europe. This part of the project will reach the most people and will encourage them to think about the pre-determined cultural divisions that lie within European society and what ‘identity’ actually means.

They are currently searching for poets who feel they can contribute with works that stem from this theme and would be willing to participate in this way.

If you are interested please send either a poem or an example of your work to internationalaffairs@tuzrakter.hu.

The project believes that if it presents a variety of people from different cultures working together and creating new, harmonious and positive material based around the concept that supposedly tears them apart, discrimination, then we can further understanding between people, both artists and viewers alike, and they will begin to re-think and break down any stereotypes that exist for them. Through this concept we will ultimately help in weakening discrimination in society.