Contemporary Art Practice: Connectivity and Creativity in times of Conflict

As Chair of Cumulus Contemporary Art Working Group I was invited to design the session for the Contemporary Art Practice Research Group at University of Antwerp. The area of focus was placed on a facilitated discussion on Connectivity and Creativity in times of Conflict.

For this session I invited 3 International guest speakers from the UK, China and the US. They shared examples of best practice in relation to how they have developed research that connects and sparks creativity in times of conflict through artistic practice. Following their presentations I chaired a discussion as to how these different methodological approaches and artistic endeavours can open up a space for public pedagogy. The resulting conversation concluded that a working paper into how society is being constantly challenged by conflict (global/local), is impacted by the roles of technology and colour within artistic practice, which remains ever shifting. By reflecting on the artistic research strategies employed by Dr Michael Pinchbeck, Luanne Stovall and Claire Qi. Together, we were able to identify tactics for sparking creativity in times of conflict.