This month Sacramento Roselló-Martínez, Sez Kristiansen and I finished writing a book chapter that will be published in a forthcoming Palgrave Macmillan book entitled, Fostering Pluralism through Solidarity Activism in Europe. Everyday Encounters with Newcomers, edited by Kim Rygiel and Feyzi Baban. In the chapter, which is written using a method called collaborative ethnography, you hear each of our voices explicitly rather than one collective voice, and each of us reflects on different aspects of IMMART’s evolution and impact.
I mention the book chapter first even though I want to write about last night’s IMMART Dinner because there are parallels. The chapter, much like our dinners, is an example of our belief at IMMART that it is important to clearly hear (and listen to) different voices and different experiences of the same or similar phenomenon. We had a title and the three of us chose to write about completely different things, but the chapter is without a doubt a beautiful cohesive whole, as was our dinner last night.
The breadth of diversity at the IMMART Dinners is always striking. Last night there were 22 of us at the table, all residents and locals of the Copenhagen area, yet with strong cultural ties to 13 different countries (Finland, Denmark, Australia, Netherlands, UK, Canada/Sri Lanka, Argentina, Greece, Spain, Brazil, Mozambique and Kenya) – in fact more if we delve into people’s heritage and cultures acquired through time spent in different countries around the world. Professional artist, hobby artist, cultural worker, architect, media expert, business person, social scientist, legal professional, human rights expert, educator, student, health practitioner were just some of the attendees’ occupations with several people overlapping two or more of these fields. The breadth of diversity extended to gender, sexual persuasions, and religious orientation.
Difference and of course a love of the arts are the elements that unite us at the IMMART Dinners, and the combination of sharing the two make for such a rich, warm, open and safe social space where those present feel at home and are able to be.
Being is not quite always as simple as it should be. Children do it so well and then all the institutions and rules associated with them corrupt their/our nature, or at least distort or interfere with our nature of being and curiosity. As an organizer, host and attendee (and this time cook also!) at the Dinner, one of my states of being I allowed myself during the evening was that of a witness: I saw curiosity being awakened or at least expressed through the questions that are asked; I noticed the ease with which people strike up conversation with one another; and I bore witness to new connections being made and I often hear about the ensuing opportunities that arise from these new encounters. A couple of attendees pointed out yesterday, how with each Dinner, the uniqueness and strengths of the environment become more apparent.
Hosted by Sune Skadegaard Thorsen (Denmark) at Global Art Gallery, the Dinner encompassed presentations by two organizations with roots in Latin America as well as music from the region too, a Caribbean inspired menu, and we were also fortunate that Sascha van Vechgel (Netherlands), the photographer of the current exhibition at the gallery, was present to introduce us to Transcending Gender; An Intimate Encounter, an exhbition about being you, beautiful and transgender in Indonesia.
The music, presented and played/sung by Fernando Gabriel Massimo was wonderful! After presenting himself as not singer or a guitar player, Fernando enchanted us with his singing and guitar playing and also drum skills. He also shared a great amount of detail about the origins of the music, and the instruments he was playing which was an additional highlight.
Claudia Adeath (Mexico) gave us a brief introduction to CkulturA, an orgnaization whose main goal is to build bridges between Latin American culture and the cultures contained within Denmark. She then went into more detail about the origins of the upcoming Festival Sonamos Latinoamerica – CPH 2019 – the difficulties with translating the name into English and Danish; how the festival came into being in Denmark, and about the movement’s foundations and worldwide celebration.
Sonamos Latino America homepage
Sonamos Latino America Copenhagen on Facebook
Sonamos Latino America Copenhagen Facebook Festival Invitation
CKultura homepage
Letícia Stallone (Brazil) spoke about 1989 Megaplex Worldwide Exhibition Aarhus, the collaborative project that M’BARAKÁ and IMMART have embarked on that will take place at The Dome in Aarhus in November 2019. The central theme of the event is the global socio-political phenomena that have arisen during the 30 years that have passed since the revolutions of 1989. Her talk focused on the first steps of the collaboration and how together we have constructed a narrative with artists from all over the world, many of whom are living, working and co-creating diverse communities in Denmark. “… aligned to The Dome’s active citizenship policy, we see the 1989 MEGAPLEX EXHIBITION as an ambitious project where we occupy this third place, taking on the alternative role as citizens building our community, refusing apathy and taking action.”
1989 Megaplex Worldwide Exhibition Aarhus webpage
1989 Megaplex Worldwide Exhibition Aarhus on Facebook
M’BARAKÁ homepage
M’BARAKÁ on Facebook
I strongly encourage you to click on the links and learn more about the events and the organizations and people behind them … and of course attend as much as you can. There is a very small charge for the festival in Copenhagen and access to the event in Aarhus is free of charge.
The next social gathering for IMMART will be the annual End of Year Drinks, as we have our hands full organizing the event in Aarhus which includes a kids comic workshop, a kids self-portrait workshop, an expert roundtable debate, as well as the exhibition which will open officially on 14 November 2019 and be live-streamed globally. We hope you will have a chance to see the exhibition in Aarhus, and if not, see you for drinks at the end of the year!
All the best
Nicol
