Architectures of noise @ W139
Artist in Residence Stipend / group exhibition in W139 Amsterdam 2021
“What empowers people to be the heartbeat of a civil society that drives the change we need in the world?”
This is the key theme of the long-term interdisciplinary artwork “WhatDoYouFightFor?” by Lillian Rosa and Gudrun Schoppe. Following up the documentary short (R)EVOLUTION and a series of events in Berlin, they use their Artist in Residency in Amsterdam as the starting point for developing a series of film portraits with citizens worldwide who engage in action around democracy, sustainability and civil rights. The aim is to create spaces and formats that capture and trigger highly personal motives of a civic culture that drives the change they want to see in the world.
Their installation at the exhibition space of W139 is realized in cooperation with Lebanese activist Samer Makarem and focusses on the particular situation of the civil society in Beirut after almost two years of revolution and an enduring mismanagement, corruption, and inaction of the political class which lead to a gigantic economic crisis and the August 4th explosion in 2020 which destroyed large parts of the city.
From Lillian Rosa and Gudrun Schoppe in collaboration with Samer Makarem
Samer Makarem and his network are engaged in leading a civil alliance for reconstructing and building a civil state in Lebanon without corruption but with civil rights and democracy. On June 1st, 2021, they officially founded the political party Minteshreen to bring real change to the political system.
Gudrun Schoppe is a Berlin-based psychologist, activist, and organizer of cultural events; she, e.g., initiated ‘1000 GESTALTEN’, a mass art performance at the G20 summit in 2017, which went viral in leading media around the world.