On 22^nd May 2019, representatives of institutions for culture and arts in Dresden and its surroundings were invited to the final workshop of the KupoS project. The project was carried out at the ZfI from 1^st June 2018 until 31^st May 2019 under the leadership of Prof Heike Greschke. It evaluated the role and the (changing) self-image of cultural institutions, as well as the limits of social positionings and their effects on the social cohesion within the society of Dresden. Based on the question, which resonances PEGIDA created in the Dresden landscape of culture and arts, the project examined the operating modes and logics of polarisation as engines and markers of social transformations. Another question was, to what extent institutions for culture and arts are able to and responsible for the mediation between antagonistic positions.
The KupoS-Team presented four theses about polarisation and the role of arts and culture, which were developed based on the results of the projects, and which were to be discussed by actors of the local landscape of culture and arts. The workshop’s aim was to open up a perspective on the institutional artistic and cultural (mediation) practice, which shows abstract and general structures and processes. In doing so, the results of the project were not presented as better but as reflected knowledge. The deliberately provocative theses “Polarisation is worthwhile”, “Polarisation motivates”, “Polarisation politicises and polarises”, and “Polarisation unifies through separation” were presented and explained by the project members Leandro Raszkewicz, Viktoria Rösch, Lukas Schmitz, and Moutaz Zafer. After this, the about 30 participants had the possibility to discuss these theses. The results were presented and discussed together. This discussion was documented by Anja Maria Eisen via graphic recording.
This visual protocol conveys a good impression of this emotional discussion. There was disagreement concerning the question, for whom and in which respect polarisation is worthwhile, or to what extent the short-term economic success in attention because of publicly resolved controversies, or the clear positioning could also harm the organiser in the medium term. The participants agreed in the assumption that the mission of mediation of arts and culture includes the creation of possibilities to acquire and practice tolerance for ambivalence. Furthermore, the theses allowed it to think about new forms of mediation, which are able to alleviate dynamics of polarisation by drawing attention to differences and inconsistencies within alleged poles, and by placing topics, which emphasise partial commonalities between positions that are perceived as antagonistic and thus can create possibilities for cooperation.
Further details on the results of the project and the workshop can soon be found in the final report of the project.