State of the ART(ist), a collaboration between Ars Electronica and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focuses on artists who face threats to their existence, whether in the form of political persecution, social circumstances or environmental disasters. In the panel discussion How will we fight for our ‘existence’? will explore how artists articulate the scope and conditions of our existence through their work.
Our existence is continuously challenged by external factors such as war, environmental crises, and social conflicts. However, through the lens of art, we strive to reaffirm and reposition our reality. The discursive program as part of the ‘State of the ART(ist)’ initiative delves into how artists serve as a resistance movement during moments of crisis, reflecting not only their resilience but also the state of our collective selves.
This panel will explore how artists articulate the scope and conditions of our existence through their work. It will address key questions: What should we fight against, and what should we protect in times of war and social conflicts?
Art, in its unique way, is both an indirect and direct expression of our existence and a means to confront challenges. The diversity and ubiquity of artistic expression highlight where the dynamism of our lives begins and reveal aspects of our existence that we may have forgotten.
Language: EN
Bios
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Photo: BMEIAChristoph Thun-Hohenstein
AT
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is Director General for International Cultural Relations at the Austrian Foreign Ministry. He was Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum New York from 1999 to 2007. From 2007 to 2011, he served as Director of Departure, Vienna’s Agency for Creative Industries. From 2011 to 2021, he was General Director of the MAK–Austrian Museum of Applied Arts. He directed the Vienna Biennale for Change from 2014 until 2022. Most recently, he initiated the Vienna Climate Biennale.
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Kamya Ramachandran
IN
Kamya Ramachandran is the Founder-Director of BeFantastic, an innovative collaboration platform that pioneered Bangalore’s TechArt Festival series, most recently titled FutureFantastic. Kamya orchestrates pioneering experiments in transdisciplinary pedagogy focusing on digital culture. As a trained architect, researcher and design educator, with a career spanning geographies of UK, USA, India and Singapore, she convenes diverse collaborative communities through creative practice.
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Photo: Thomas RaggamMaryam Sehhat
IR
Maryam Sehhat was born in Iran, studied painting at University of Art and Architecture in Tehran and immigrated to Austria in 2017. From 2006 until now she had many solo and group exhibitions with her paintings in Iran and Austria. In her paintings she tries to show the physical and mental relation between humans and other creatures in a metaphoric way. In her imagination there is a world parallel to ours in which it doesn’t matter whether you are a human, an animal, or a combination thereof.
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Photo: Nico BackstromNina Bulgakova
UA
Nina Bulgakova is a choreographer and dancer based in Finland. She is also a co-founder of the Ethno Contemporary Ballet—a dance company originally from Kharkiv (UA)—as well as a choreographer, producer, artistic director and dancer. Her previous works with the Ethno Contemporary Ballet as choreographer and performer include 4308 (2023), Fertility (2020), ORGANization (2020), and Say It Quieter If You Can (2018).
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Photo: Pradeep GuhaRafiul Alom Rahman
IN
Rafiul Alom Rahman is the Founder-Director of The Queer Muslim Project. He brings a decade of experience in LGBTQIA+ rights organizing, arts management, and digital advocacy. Rafiul is a 2023 UN Minority Fellow, a 2022 CCP Fellow, a 2020 SI Leader Lab Fellow, and a 2018 Acumen Fellow. In 2020, he was recognized as a “Global Innovator” by the Human Rights Campaign for “pioneering an approach to countering extremism that utilizes alternative narratives around faith, sexuality, and gender expression.”
Credits
State of the ART(ist) is a collaboration between Ars Electronica and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
