topic: War & Conflict

What role can art play in a world marked by conflict and uncertainty? This topic reflects on the impact of war, chaos and crisis — not only on society at large, but also on the personal lives and practices of artists. It explores how conflict shapes culture, identity, and artistic expression, and asks whether art can offer new ways of seeing, understanding, or even transforming the world around us. How to navigate — and respond to — a complex and often confronting reality by actively questioning our own role as makers, thinkers and human in turbulent times.

Podcasts Radio ArtEZ

What can be the role of art in a world of conflict? In 2023, a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, writer Lisa Weeda, in collaboration with Radio ArtEZ, published the series Art At War in which various artists talk about the role of art in wartime.
Wat kan de rol van kunst zijn in een wereld vol conflict? In 2023, een jaar na de inval van Rusland in Oekraïne publiceerde schrijver Lisa Weeda in samenwerking met Radio ArtEZ, de serie Art At War waarin verschillende makers spreken over de rol van kunst in oorlogstijd.

podcast – 17 apr. 2023

Art at War | Episode 1: Anastasia Taylor-Lind

by writer Lisa Weeda

Anastasia Taylor-Lind is an English/Swedish photojournalist who works for leading editorial publications all over the world on issues relating to women, population and war.

podcast – 17 apr. 2023

Art at War | Episode 2: Mariia Ponomarova

by writer Lisa Weeda

Mariia Ponomarova is a Ukrainian film director, producer and artistic researcher based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

podcast – 17 apr. 2023

Art at War | Episode 3: Bakr Al Jaber

by writer Lisa Weeda

Bakr Al Jaber is a Syrian poet, currently residing in The Hague. His work explores the relationship between universal beauty, war and the duality of existence.

podcast – 17 apr. 2023

Art at War | Episode 4: Mina Etemad

by writer Lisa Weeda

Mina Etemad is journalist en podcastmaker en houdt zich bezig met thema’s als migratie en dierenrechten, en verdiept zich graag in allerlei vormen van kunst en cultuur.

One-day event Chaos&Conflict, blogs and videos

In 2016, ArtEZ Studium Generale organised an one-day event about the meaning of conflict and war in relation to art and art making with various guests reflecting on the personal consequences for people in general and artists in particular. This one-day event is part of a series that ArtEZ Studium Generale programmed between 2011 and 2018. Registration of the lectures of Chaos&Conflict and blogs, can be found below. The whole programme can be found in the agenda item at the bottom of this topic.

video – 12 feb. 2016

Wake-Up Call van Bright O. Richards

Lecture performance door theatermaker en verbinder Bright O. Richards (New Dutch Connections) over zijn vlucht voor oorlog in Liberia naar Nederland en hoe dat zijn carrière heeft bepaald. Met medewerking van Oleg Fateev, muzikant.

video – 12 feb. 2016

Openingslezing Klaas van Egmond

Buitengewoon hoogleraar Geowetenschappen Klaas van Egmond vertelt waarom de huidige beschaving wordt gekenmerkt door crisissituaties. Hoe kan een nieuwe ‘kwaliteit van leven’ onze beschaving weer menselijk en waardig maken? En vooral, wat kan de kunstenaar in dit opzicht betekenen?

video – 12 feb. 2016

Hector Aristizábal: Imagining Peace

Lecture by Hector Aristizábal (director, actor, playwright, and psychologist) about war as a collapse of imagination and the power of imagination in creating another world. After his flee from his home country Colombia because of violence and conflict, Aristizábal started working with refugees and in areas of conflict all around the world as a psychotherapist using theatre a.o. involving techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed, developed by Augusto Boal.

video – 12 feb. 2016

Jonas Staal: Art, Conflict and the New World

Lecture by Jonas Staal (artist and researcher) about his role as founder of the artistic and political organization New World Summit, with which he builds parliaments for stateless and blacklisted political organizations from all over the world.

video – 12 feb. 2016

Johannes Kronenberg bij ArtEZ Studium Generale

ArtEZ alumnus Johannes Kronenberg roept in zijn bijdrage op je positie als (beeldend) kunstenaar en mens te bepalen ten opzichte van choas en conflict: hoe kan ik ‘meer’ doen dan verbeelden, zonder de wezenlijke kernwaarden van de kunsten te verliezen? Hij kijkt daarbij oa kritisch naar de Piramide van Maslow.

video – 12 feb. 2016

Jeyanthy Siva

Trust vs Distrust Paradigm and the consequences for how we see, think and behave

Lecture by trainer, mediator, and coach Jeyanthy Siva who works with change makers all over the world. To answer the question what you do when the world is in conflict and burning, we should look at what motivates human behaviour in the first place. As opposed to the dominant conceptual framework of ‘the distrust paradigm’, she introduces the ‘trust paradigm’ and compassionate approaches instead.

video – 12 feb. 2016

Issa Touma, interview door Yaël Vinckx

Issa Touma (photographer and gallerist from Aleppo, Syria) does not want to leave the war zone that his country and city is now. With his video 9 Days from my window in Aleppo and a series portraits of women We have not lost yet he testifies about the dramatic changes his country is goes through.

Essays, blogs & interviews

As part of the one-day event Chaos&Conflict, students wrote blogs on the topic.
Als onderdeel van het eendags evenement Chaos&Conflict, schreven studenten blogs over het onderwerp.

blog Eline van Wieren – 10 feb. 2016

Aan verschillende zijden van dezelfde kant

Eline van Wieren schreef deze tekst. Studenten Creative Writing schreven in aanloop naar ons festival Chaos & Conflict (twee-) wekelijks een tekst, waaronder een viertal gedichten over de aanslagen in Parijs. Eline droeg tijdens het festival ook een eerder geschreven column voor.