International visitors: Udi Aloni (ISR), Ronit Malaton (ISR) and Firas Roby (PSE)

From April 29th until May 1st, 30 artists from Israel, Palestine, the Netherlands, and Flanders come together in De Balie for What’s Art Got to Do with It?, a three-day cultural conference -with debates, film, dance, theatre, and literature– about art in the context of the conflict, and the complex relations between (the) art (scene), government, and public. An in-depth debate about art, in which art itself plays a major role.

DutchCulture is contributing to this conference by inviting three artists: film maker Udi Aloni from Israel, writer Ronit Malaton from Israel and theatre maker Firas Roby from Palestine. Their work will be presented and they will discuss the role and responsibility of artists in relation to the conflict in Israel/Palestine. What is the power of art in a heavily politicized context? And what does engaged or political art mean when it is (financially) dependent on the government or the system it aims to criticize?

What’s Art Got to Do with It? is organized by De Balie, Dancing on the Edge and Een Ander Joods Geluid.