Vertrouwen (GIF)

Culture is the foundation of society. Everything is culture: how we give meaning to our lives, how we treat each other, how we engage in politics, how we trade, how we treat the environment. Therefore, culture should be freely shared and made by everyone. After all, culture is originally a collective good. It occupies a third space between market and government that we call 'commons'. Pascal Gielen (University of Antwerp) wrote the book Vertrouwen (Trust in English) about those commons. 

For decades, this common ground is being occupied by market players looking to make a profit out of it, or governments looking to make political capital out of it. As a result, culture loses its social dynamism and its ability to give meaning to the lives of new generations, or to generate meaning again and again in exchanges with other cultures. 

In Vertrouwen, Gielen argues for a politics of trust that lets people autonomously develop and manage their own culture. Because if culture no longer has a common ground, people are prevented from making sense of themselves and the world.  

On 17 April, CAMPO organises an evening around these cultural 'commons' and how to build that trust. After a presentation of the book by Gielen and a response to it by Philsan Osman (author, activist & community builder), moderator Lara Staal (house artist NTGent & curator) will engage in a conversation with Leontien Allemeersch (Kunstenplatform PLAN B, de Koer), Amani El Haddad (Gents Kunstenoverleg, Palestine café Ghent), Dirk Holemans (Denktank Oikos) and Frederik Sioen (Vooruit). 

In Dutch
Duration: 2 hours
Free entrance, reservation needed

In the context of Ghent International Festival (GIF), the biennial city festival of CAMPO, KOPERGIETERY, NTGent, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, S.M.A.K., VIERNULVIER, Gouvernement & Kunsthal Gent. Meer info: www.gif.gent