Vrijdagavonden: Engagement Shares: The Power Of Boundaries

• The bar is open from 19:00
• Program starts at 20:00
• Entrance: Pay What You Can

Through a lecture and an open conversation, ENGAGEMENT ARTS shares tools to safely name, describe and respond to complex situations of transgressive behavior.

How do we indicate our boundaries when working within a professional reality that celebrates unclear boundaries? What is the difference between conflict and abuse? Is consent the ultimate solution?

During this evening ENGAGEMENT invites to open the conversation around the relationship between transgression and art. We will identify specific risk factors of the field together, share strategies and tools to foster inclusivity and awareness, and question how we can talk about artistic freedom without losing sight of personal boundaries.

The programme will begin with a lecture and continue with an open discussion. The lecture will consist of an explanation of the origins of ENGAGEMENT, framing sexism as a system, and identifying transgressive behavior/sector-specific abuse of power as a symptom of it. We will introduce the "flag system". The flag system was developed by Sensoa and adapted for the cultural sector in collaboration with them by oKo and Social Fund Performing Arts with the involvement of IDEWE, ENGAGEMENT and other partners.

The evening provides a context that helps assess risk and facilitates an open conversation about why something is or is not considered transgressive. We do not shy away from our intuition, but we look for a way to approach situations more objectively and analytically to arrive at a shared moral framework within the work context.

ENGAGEMENT is an artist-led organization that aims to address sexual transgression, sexism and abuse of power in the Belgian arts field.

This autumn, we will present a programme around one or more artists, a collective or organisation for 10 weeks during the Friday Evenings. We offer local partners a platform. And we put artists with whom Kunsthal Gent currently collaborates in the spotlight. Every Friday evening is different: from performance, artist talk and book presentation to conversation, dinner or film screening.