What Does Art Have to do with it?

Art, Fascism and the Politics of Dissent

From the crackdown on Palestine solidarity to growing hostility towards queer and trans rights, Germany is experiencing an increasingly heated debate about freedom, identity and the limits of political dissent.

Can art challenge the way a country sees itself? And what happens when artists refuse to stay silent?

Berlin-based artist and filmmaker Vika Kirchenbauer explores these tensions in her new film This Suffocating Now, presented as part of the International Shorts competition.

In this special festival conversation, Vika will discuss the power of art to expose political contradictions, challenge institutional hypocrisy and question the relationship between culture and the state.

Drawing on her own experiences as an artist and academic in Germany, she offers a fascinating perspective on the role of artists in times of political change – and on what happens when the institutions that support artistic freedom begin to restrict it.

A rare opportunity to meet one of Germany's leading contemporary artists, whose work has been presented at the Berlinale, New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and London's Whitechapel Gallery. She is Professor of Art in a Contemporary Context at the Kunsthochschule Kassel.

This event can be booked on its own. Alternatively, booking International Shorts 3 gives you free access to it.

Guest: Vika Kirchenbauer; Moderator: Don O’Mahony.

This event is supported by German-Films