Shared care in visual arts: from personal needs to collective responsibility
How do you align your own needs with those of others? How do you make clear agreements within working relationships? How do you create a clear structure that enables sustainable collaborations? And how do we not only take better care of ourselves, but also of each other?
NICC and Flanders Arts Institute are organising a programme of three sessions in which we question what healthy collaboration in the visual arts can mean. We explore how working relationships can be designed in a clear, equal and caring way – focusing on clear agreements, shared responsibilities, mutual respect and access to support.
Themes such as reciprocal care, guarding boundaries, preventing transgressive behaviour and the right to a safe working environment are central. Existing tools from the field will be shared and supplemented with insights and experiences from practice.
Shared care in visual arts
On Tuesday 17 June, we will meet for the first time in NW Aalst to reflect on the basic needs for sustainable development and caring collaboration. We will discuss how we experience barriers and foster collaborations to create more caring, inclusive and safe working environments.
We provide a brave space for reflection, conversation and knowledge sharing, addressing both individual and collective needs. This track aims to contribute to greater transparency, shared care and strengthening competences so that artists and art workers feel better supported in their practice.
- In the morning, we will enter into conversation with Florence Cheval (Intersections of Care), Magali Elali (The Constant Now's POC POC MANIFESTO) and Geert Driessen (project coordinator and trustee at Z33), moderated by Martha Claeys (philosopher and writer).
- In the afternoon, we will work with practical techniques and tools that help artists and art workers better recognise, name and communicate their own needs. Inspired by insights from the 'disability justice' movement, in this workshop we will explore how collective care can receive more attention within the visual arts field.
For who?
For artists, (independent) art workers and staff of visual arts organisations.
Programme session 1
09.30am – Welcome
10am – Introduction by NICC and Flanders Arts Institute
10.30am – Moderated panel discussion
12pm – Open conversation
1pm – Lunch break
2pm – Workshop
4pm – Feedback and discussion on the next steps of the trajectory
4.30pm – Drink and visit to the expo of NW Aalst
Practical
Tuesday 17 June, from 9.30am to 4.30pm at NW Aalst.
The plenary session will be in English, the workshop in both Dutch and English.
Register now
Register via the button at the top right. Deadline: 10 June.
More information
Do you need more information about this session, or do you have questions about the trajectory? Contact our colleague Lissa.
Image: Laurie Charles, Hands, 2019 Handen / Mains
Series of 5 painted cotton fabrics, 200 cm diameter
Installation view, Intersections of Care, Wiels, Brussels, 2020
