In collaboration with

Session I:

Towards a People’s Culture

Towards a People’s Culture centers around the critical role of art and artists in the Maoist-oriented National Democratic Movement of the Philippines, specifically through developing an understanding of the revolutionary potential of the musical, the educational cartoon, the effigy (protest puppetry), and the “People’s Trial” as a theatrical model to publicly denounce and prosecute state terrorism.

Thinking with Filipino artists, writers, theater makers and members of cultural collectives such as the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, participants developed a model for a transnational “People’s Trial” as a proposition for the performative exploration of art’s possibility vis-a-vis the circumstances of oppression and inequality.

Teachers: Lisa Ito (member of Concerned Artists of the Philippines, Quezon City), Luis Jalandoni (chairman of National Democratic Front of the Philippines, Utrecht), Walkie Mirańa (member of Concerned Artists of the Philippines, Manila), and Jose Maria Sison (founder of Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army, Utrecht).

Coordinators: Matthijs de Bruijne (artist and union organizer, Amsterdam) and Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei (philosopher and publisher, Tirana).

The accompanying publication, New World Academy Reader #1: Towards a People’s Culture, includes contributions by: Ericson Acosta (activist and poet, Manila), Beatrice de Graaf (Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Utrecht), Alice G. Guillermo (theorist, Manila), Lisa Ito, Jose Maria Sison, and Mao Tse-tung (former Chairman of the Communist Party, Beijing).

Program

*unless otherwise noted, all programs are public

15.–17.11.2013

Instructional workshop

closed

17.11.2013, 17.00–19.00 hrs

Towards a People’s Culture

public forum with the participants, teachers, and coordinators, followed by the launch of Jose Maria Sison’s new book of collected poetry, The Guerilla is Like a Poet

BAK, Utrecht



19.–24.11.2013, 12.00–17.00 hrs

Towards a People’s Culture

exhibition with works by: Jef Carnay (artist, Manila), Communist Party of the Philippines (PH/NL), Concerned Artist of the Philippines (Manila), Rey Paz Contreras (sculptor, Manila), Brenda Fajardo (artist, Quezon City), Linangan Art and Culture Network (artists collective, NL), Romel Linatoc (singer and stage director, Quezon City), Bienvenido Lumbera (poet, critic, and dramatist, Quezon City), Edward Perez(musician, Manila), and Jose Maria Sison

BAK, Utrecht

23.11.2013, 15.00–17.00 hrs

Proposal for a Transnational People’s Trial, performance

Centraal Museum, Utrecht