The Power of Art

Safe Havens Freedom Talks presented a conversation on The Power of Art livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 4 February 2022 at 8:30 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 14:30 CET (Oslo, UTC +1).

After 3 days of fruitful discussion in December with more than 190 registered participants from all over the world in the Safe Havens Conference 2021, Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT) is pleased to present the next event titled, “To Create and to Oppose: People Will Not Listen to Politicians, but They Will Listen to Artists.” In conversation with 3 powerful creatives in the field and focusing on the relation between the arts and politics, this event will take place as a part of the Freedom Talks series. The talk will be streamed on Friday, 4 February 2022 at 2:30 p.m. CET.

Moderated by Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor (advisor at Safemuse), three artists from three different disciplines, working in different contexts, talk about art as power, art as politics and how their background has influenced their views in this conversation. Aslak Borgersrud (musician and journalist, Norway), Hooman Sharifi (dancer and choreographer, Norway/Iran) and Yasmine El Baramawy (oud player and composer, Sweden/Egypt) dig deeper into how they believe art should approach politics and interact with people and society. This event is produced in collaboration with Safemuse.

About Freedom Talks
Safe Havens' Freedom Talks series is closely connected to the annual global Safe Havens conference. The Freedom Talks series is focused on issues regarding threats towards artistic freedom, free press, and intangible heritage. Guests in the Freedom Talks series are highly knowledgeable and prolific actors in the global arts rights justice sector fighting for artistic freedom. The Freedom Talks aim to share space and broaden the narrative of who can take center stage, by lending the brand to different organizations within the sector. The talks are presented in—or translated to—English. The talks can be watched through our website, our Facebook page, and through our partner HowlRound, where other previous events are archived.

The Participants @The Power of Art

Aslak Borgersrud is most known as a rapper from the political rap-group Gatas Parlament (translation: parliament of the street). Currently he is working as a political journalist in Dagsavisen (Norwegian newspaper). He continues to release music, both under his own name, and with the ska-band Hopalong AKA. He is also the host of a few podcasts, a travelling left-wing speaker, and he participates in anti-racism demonstrations as often as possible.

Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor has a background in international relations and international law. She has worked with human rights issues in several countries, but has in the last years been working in civil society organizations in Norway like NOAS, FIVAS and the Norwegian Council for Africa. She has been especially involved in the work with corporate social responsibility. Celina is passionate about how we through art and creative expressions can shed light on important questions in our society, how art opens up new ways to meet people and allows us to understand how changes in the society affects people’s lives.

Hooman Sharifi is a Norwegian choreographer with Iranian roots. He started his dance career with hip-hop when he was a teenager. Then, he went on to study classical and modern ballet in his twenties. Sharifi graduated in choreography at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Moreover, he is particularly interested in the artistic expression found in the intersection between dance, theatre and graphic art. In 2000, Sharifi established his own company, Impure Company, dedicated to highlighting civic engagement and politics in its art.

Yasmine El Baramawy is an Egyptian musician, sound artist, Oud performer and composer who came to Malmö, Sweden through the ICORN City of refuge programme in 2020. She develops an original sound universe around her practice of the Oud – one of the world’s oldest instruments, but also around concrete music and other electronic experiments. She builds sound installations mingling with poetry and spoken word added to her Oud live manipulations. Besides music composition and sound design Yasmine is a political activist engaged in women’s rights.

*The event is organized by the independent international NGO Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT), through collaborations within the global arts rights justice sector, and with Safemuse graciously supporting as its mentoring organization in the start-up period. SH|FT is supported by The Swedish Arts Council under the Programme for Artistic Freedom funded by Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and The Freedom Talks are sponsored by the Swedish Institute.