I am in India, in a small village, where an ashram has been built for women and girls to learn about their right to be educated.
As with all the houses in the village, the ashram is made out of clay. Slogans are painted onto the walls to help boost the revolutionary spirit of the place.
“Lack of knowledge is the cause of fear,” You can kill the body but never the spirit,” Work is worship.”
The ashram also serves as ground zero for a group of poor farmers attempting to seize land from the wealthy, large landowners who live in the cities. The farmers have successfully seized 20,000 acres.
The man in charge of this struggle was educated in Deli, and his philosophy of land ownership is derived not from Marx, but rather from the true democracy established by tribal systems-particularly the Iroquois constitution, which historically is the document on which America’s constitution is based.
Continue reading →
[flashvideo filename=”https://so-on.annemariemaes.net/SO-ON/films/skype-interviews/african-engineers-new.flv” height=262 width=448 image=”https://so-on.annemariemaes.net/SO-ON/films/skype-interviews/african-engineers03.jpg” /]
Women from several African and Asian countries in a training/workshop in India learning about photovoltaic solar energy.
streaming movie — 02:30 // free art license CIK.
Politics of Change was a gathering in Brussels during a 3-day workshop arranged by so-on and hosted by okno, both cultural organizations composed of several members engaged in different aspects of the artistic creation.
The call, made by the filmmaker and activist Annemie Maes, had different goals. One of them was to reflect on topics as gender and activism in the cultural field, another was the sharing of common technical tools to be used for sharing and spreading the word. Continue reading →
Sinds september 2008 organiseert Globe Aroma kooksessies met de bewoners van het Klein Kasteeltje. Tijdens deze workshops vertelden dezen over de sociale en culturele gebruiken die met hun specifieke kook- en eetprocessen verbonden zijn.
Op 18/19 en 20 december werd het concept publiek opengesteld op de binnenkoer van het Klein Kasteeltje.
Daarvoor werd samen met de kunstenaars van Time Circus een multifunctionele tafel ontworpen, die enerzijds dienst doet als keuken, en anderzijds de gasten kan herbergen.
Je bent niet alleen wat je eet, maar ook wanneer, hoe en met wie je eet!
http://globearoma.be
[flashvideo filename=https://so-on.annemariemaes.net/SO-ON/films/skype-interviews/jasna-text.flv height=262 width=448 image=https://so-on.annemariemaes.net/SO-ON/films/skype-interviews/jasna-text.jpg /]
skype-interview with Jasna Dimitrovska, as part of the Politics of Change project.
streaming movie — 11:07 // free art license CIK.
Hi, my name is Jasna. I studied World literature in Skopje. I’m Macedonian, In my free time I’m a street artists and an activist.
I like to think of myself as an engaged artist, that’s why I choose the street as my exhibiting space.
I think art and technology and activism are all interconnected, so I like to realize my goals with whatever tool I can use, no borders! Continue reading →
Politics of Change is a research project in which artists, theorists and activists reflect on innovative ideas, contributions and solutions which support distributed and grassroot structures. This reflection takes place through a program of free discussion and dialogue and is documented in a multimedia archive-installation.
The focus is on the role of women at the core of these communities.
Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical approaches, the aim is to imagine new and sustainable relationships between humans, their environments and (appropriate) technologies.
Continue reading →
[flashvideo filename=https://so-on.annemariemaes.net/SO-ON/films/MASA/TIN_MAHILA/sargu-448.flv width=448 height=252 image=https://so-on.annemariemaes.net/SO-ON/films/MASA/TIN_MAHILA/sargu.jpg /]
interview with Sarju Bhanwar Gopal Panwar, handicraft designer at Barefoot College, Rajasthan, India.
streaming movie — 04:30
My name is Sarju, I’m 50 years old and I work at Barefoot College since 1981. I lead the handicraft department. I never got a proper training as a designer. I learned everything myself, and now I teach other women. I get my inspiration for the designs out of our daily life. I’ve never seen any books, I work with my imagination. Continue reading →
Politics of Change is a research project in which artists, theorists and activists reflect on innovative ideas, contributions and solutions which support distributed and grassroot structures. This reflection takes place through a program of free discussion and dialogue and is documented in a multimedia archive-installation.
The focus is on the role of women at the core of these communities.
Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical approaches, Continue reading →
name: politics of change (poc), project, year start: 2007, year end: 2010, techniques: local communities, international networks, sustainable solutions
Politics of Change (PoC) is an artistic researchproject that documents the contribution of small communities to the construction of a more balanced society. POC is a collective work where artists, activists and ecologists, economists, educators and anthropologists want to initiate collaborative dialogues to research ideas and solutions which support decentralised structures, diversity and community development.
The project involves not only public discussion, but an extensive mapping and documentation of these proposals in an art context. Drawing on a wide range of artistic and theoretical fields, the aim is to imagine new and sustainable relationships between humans, their environments and technologies.
As artists, filmmakers, theorists and activists we have to enrich the public debate around sustainable living, the environment and eco-technology. We have to think about the kind of future in which
we want to live and work. What social and economic systems can we envisage beyond the regular ones? Is there anything that we can learn from existing (non-western) experiments?
to download the POC magazine, click its picture
The case study of the Barefoot College project is a good example to open the discussion.
The project builds upon Gandhi’s philosophy: ‘be yourself the change you want to see in the world’.
The highlight of the project is the solar department, where women from Asia, Africa and South America
are trained to become a solar engineer. During the 6 months training the women learn to work with appropriate technology to serve the needs and daily necessities of their communities.
