Radical Hospitalities

Discussing two particular initiatives – ‘Trampoline House’ by artist Morten Goll with curator Sara Alberani & ‘Al Madhafah-The Living Room’ by artist Sandi Hilal with in-tangible founder, Zoe Butt. In conversation with Nico Dockx and Judith Wielander. Moderated by Johan Pas 

Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerpen, Belgium

Invited to present to the students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the creative community of Antwerpen, this discussion queried the role of hospitality as an artistic pedagogy in the face of governmental neglect and oversight, studying particular experience and perspective by Morten Goll and Sandi Hilal. Both, as artists, labour beyond the presumed eye of the exhibitionary machine of art, addressing the social needs of those displaced who face systemic injustice – refugee, asylum seeker, political exile or culturally discriminated.

Conversation unpacked Trampoline House (established in Copenhagen) recent participation in dOCUMENTA15, questioning the impact of such spectacle on the realities of the lives this initiative attempts to cater; while the eviction of ‘Al Madhafah – The Living Room’ from a particular refugee processing centre in Sweden (where Sandi Hilal was enabling this community’s right to arrange their own social networks) left her questioning how enforced migrants can ever feel they have the right to belong. Conceived as dialog between artists and involved curators, this event saw public debate surrounding the complexity of artistic representation in such socially anchored projects presented in biennial and museum platforms, of how artists may perhaps exploit perceptions of victim and trauma for the sake of reputation and profit. Critical consideration of museums and biennials as sites of learning and engagement were hence unpacked, whereby artistic intervention can remind audiences of the value of culture in allowing room for tolerance of difference, and as Morten Goll and Sandi Hilal so eloquently remind, it is also up to the artist to set their own terms of engagement with the hegemony of art.

See here for more information: https://www.expanding.academy/activities/radical-hospitalities-versus-radical-pedagogies