Projects-We-Like on freeDimensional

Show on African homosexuality shut down after fundamentalist attack

Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Senegal exhibition, part of the Dak’Art Biennale, closed due to pressure from extremist Islamic groups.

By: Anny Shaw

The Senegalese government has shut down one of the first exhibitions in Africa to focus on homosexuality on the continent. The move comes several weeks after an attack on the Dakar gallery by Muslim fundamentalists, says the French-Algerian artist Kader Attia. “Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness” opened at Raw Material Company on 11 May, but a day later, the non-profit art centre was vandalised and the building damaged, according to Attia, whose video about the lives of transsexuals in Algiers and Mumbai was included in the show. No one was hurt in the attack.

Theatrum Mundi launches “Designing for Free Speech” challenge

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Theatrum Mundi, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects, New York, has launched a “Designing for Free Speech” challenge. The challenge asks architects, designers, activists, artists — and anyone interested in imagining new spaces in the city for free expression — to identify public spaces in New York City and propose re-designs that transform them into places that activate the rights enshrined in the First Amendment.

Applicants will propose architectural or performative designs (temporary or permanent) that transform spaces in New York City into places for public “demonstration.” This challenge is about re-imagining and idealizing existing spaces that have the potential for animating the public, especially spaces that are not traditionally considered in this frame. Submissions will be accepted through March 31, 2014.

'The campaign "free Pussy Riot" is over'

Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Statement by the Anonymous members of Pussy Riot: Garadja, Fara, Shaiba, Cat, Seraphima and Schumacher

We, the anonymous members of Pussy Riot, would like to say many thanks to all the people who have supported us, those who demanded the release of our members, those who sympathised with us and sympathised with our ideology. We are very grateful to all of you; we deeply appreciate and respect everyone who has contributed to the Pussy Riot campaign.

Art and Activism on the World Stage @ Adelphi University

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Levermore Global Scholars Program is partnering with freeDimensional to bring guest speaker Ademola Bello, an international artist, to campus.

Thursday, December 5, 2:00–3:00 p.m

Location: Campbell Lounge, Room 1

About the Artist:

Ademola Bello is a Nigerian playwright, journalist, and novelist who has used his plays and dramatic writing to give a voice to oppressed communities and speak truth to power around the world. He will share his international journey, experiences, and struggles to use the arts as a tool for social change.

Projects We Like: SITUATIONAL JUNTA @ Bowery Poetry Club - October 21, 2013

Sun, 20 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Emcee: Negin Farsad Main Dish: Alex White Mazzarella & Artefacting With: Caron Atlas, Stephanie Gooel, Brian Halloran, Niki Singleton, Lawman Lynch, Chloe Bass, Dave Ruder, Abigail Levine and Wen-shaun Yang

Location: Bowery Poetry Time: 6-8pm $10

{Each evening begins with a happy hour from 6pm to 7pm, and a live radio broadcast from 7-8pm.}

ABOUT THE SERIES

Dates: Mondays, Oct 21, Nov 18, Dec 16

The United States Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) and the Associação Espaço Cultural Lanchonete (aka Lanchonete) are taking over Bowery Poetry for a series of evening encounters and exchanges, one part happy hour and the other part radio talk show… shaken, stirred, and served straight up on the airwaves! For three evenings this Fall, Situational Junta poses a simple question: If artists are empowered to innovate on a large enough scale to interrupt the status quo, what would that look like?

Presentation: The Right to Freedom of Artistic Expression & Creation

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Arts/Rights/Justice Working Group presents UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights Report on The Right to Freedom of Artistic Expression & Creation - October 2 - Brussels

The presentation of the UN Report, “The Right to Freedom of Artistic Expression and Creation” at the European Parliament in Brussels on 2nd October 2013, from 11:30-14:30 in the Paul Henri Spaak Building, Room P5B001. Presenting the report will be its author, Mme Farida Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights.

Women’s survival strategies in Chechnya: from self-care to caring for each other

Wed, 11 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Luiza encounters regular violence and intimidation in her work helping women survivors of state-sponsored violence. Living under the Chechen regime, activist women need a combination of self and community care.

by Keely Tongate

Luiza has seen many attempts to silence Chechen human rights activists.

There was the car with tell-tale tinted windows and no number plates that tried to run over her sister, after she gave a speech attacking Chechnya’s poor human rights record. The constant emergency trips to neighboring republics with her children, having faced by threats from gangs on the government payroll. The drive-by paintball shootings. These were thugs trying to keep activists in check, part of a wider effort to enforce women’s compliance with a strict Islamic dress code.

Call for Entries: CENSURADOS Film Festival - Lima, Peru

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

“The story that is behind a censored film can help us to understand better our society”

CENSURADOS Film Festival will take place in Lima (Peru) on December 2013 with the aim to give voice to those fiction, documentary and animation films that have been censored in different countries for political, religious, sexual or environmental reasons, among others. The Festival wants to open a new space for directors and producers that their films have been prohibited and wants to know and talk about the story that is behind each censure. Since the beginning of cinema many films and scenes have been prohibited by different social, religious and political groups. Yet in 1894 we can find the first images censored in United States (“Carmencita”) that were prohibited by two local politicians because the scene shown the underskirt of the dancer. Others films such Clockwork Orange and The Great Dictator were also censored in the past and nowadays are some of the greatest films of cinema’s history. These are only some examples of how the censure has been very close to the history of the cinema and the documentary films.

Forced to Flee: Exiled Voices and Visions for Justice - 11 June 2013

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Forced to Flee: Exiled Voices and Visions of Justice

Tuesday, June 11 @ 12PM PST / 3PM EST

Greetings!

We are pleased to announce our upcoming conference call Forced to Flee: Exiled Voices and Visions for Justice, which we are presenting in collaboration with Arts & Democracy Project.

Emotions conveyed and evoked by art and culture can open hearts and minds, heal and transform, build community across difference, and promote peace, equality and justice, advancing positive social change. In Forced to Flee, we will hear refugee artists, artists forced into exile, cultural organizers and their allies talk about how they are using the power of art and culture to amplify the voices and visions of those forced to flee their countries of origin.

2013 ART for HEALTH Benefit - May 24, 6:30-9:30PM @ Project Reach NYC

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Save the Date: Friday, May 24 6:30-9:30PM

Join us at Project Reach in Chinatown, New York City for an art exhibit, silent auction and performance to fund a mobile clinic this summer in rural villages in Cameroon.

Since 2009, the partnership between the U.S. charity organization Bush Medicine Partnership (Drexel University) and Hope International For Tikar People – a Cameroonian community based organization – have served more than 8000 people in the isolated communities in the rain forest of Cameroon.

'Winter of Discontent' screening @ 2013 Alwan Film Festival

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Winter of Discontent screening @ 2013 Alwan Film Festival Thursday May 2, 6:30 PM - Anthology Film Archives

Co-presented by freeDimensional

Ibrahim El-Batout, Egypt, 2012, 94 mins

Set against the momentous backdrop of the mass protests of Cairo’s Tahrir Square that began on January 25, 2011, this film takes us on a compellingly raw and moving journey into the lives of an activist, a journalist, and a state security officer. Winter of Discontent poetically explores the anguish of a victim of state terror in 2009, presaging and intertwining with the pivotal events in 2011 that changed the face of Egypt. As the stories of the characters unfold, we are propelled headlong into the heady, often surreal atmosphere of terror and uncertainty that characterized the last days of Mubarak’s rule.

ARTRAKER AWARD 2013: Call for Submissions

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

DEADLINE: 1 May 2013

submissions@artraker.org

The Artraker Fund awards art that makes a direct positive change in countries that have experienced social upheaval and violent conflict. The Fund was created in 2012 by International Conflict and Security (INCAS) Consulting Ltd.

The prize of GBP2500 is awarded to the winning submission in London on International Peace Day (21 September) each year.

An international panel of judges from both the art and peace-building disciplines assesses submissions for the Artraker Award. They look for experimentation and engagement, audacity, change and capacity to inspire.

Belarus Free Theatre, Taking up the death penalty in ‘Trash Cuisine’

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Help Belarus Free Theatre tour an important piece of theatre, Trash Cuisine!

Click here to donate a few Pounds Sterling!

Trash Cuisine is a dynamic, affecting and innovative piece of theatre devised and developed from first degree research collected in Asia, Africa, U.S. and Europe by Belarus Free Theatre with the support of Amnesty International.

Hugely well received at its premiere in Stadsshouwberg, Amsterdam on 5 October 2012, supported by the European Cultural Foundation, Trash Cuisine explores issues behind imprisonment and torture with particular focus on the death penalty to create a challenging and nerve shredding performance.

A political refugee returns to his small village in West Africa to build a community radio station that educates and inspires

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Radio Taboo is a development project and documentary film about Issa Nyaphaga, a political journalist in exile returning to his small village in West Africa to build a community radio station to educate his community about subjects that are often too taboo to talk about. Issa was a journalist in Cameroon in the 1990s where he was jailed and tortured for his political cartoons. He is now heading back to his village in Cameroon to build a community radio station to educate villagers about Public health, environmental issues, women’s issues and rights of gay and HIV infected people. Nditam, his village, has no running water, no electricity, no schools or hospitals and no public news service. The film follows his struggle to raise funds, get the materials, gather manpower, build the station, train citizen journalists and make the station work for the betterment of his community. It will be an adventure to travel with Issa as he fights against all odds to create this amazing project. The radio station will run on renewable energy and will feature citizen journalists reporting on local issues to 1 million people in the remote rainforest of Cameroon.

Zunar in protest of draconian Malaysian printing act

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Zunar’s Press Release, 2nd January 2013

My latest cartoon book,“Lawak & Lawan” to protest Malaysian draconian printing act

My latest cartoon book, Lawak & Lawan (Fun & Fight) is produced to protest the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA). Among cited in this Act under section, 11 (2) requires the name of the printer to be printed in each publication. Failure to comply can be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding RM5000 ( about USD1800) or both.

Dispatch: Mazen Maarouf on 'All that is banned is desired"

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

“All that is banned is desired”,

When art turns into a reflexive power, to get banned!

-1-

In the Norwegian capital sleeps on the shoulder of water Oslo opera house. It is a peaceful structure breathing below a changeable weather that displays simply the “unexpected”, the “percussive” and the “unrest”. The weather of Oslo resembles a state of instability. Political in the first sense and in a country somewhere, thousands of miles away from Oslo city. The “unexpected”, the “percussive” and the “unrest” are three vertices, each of particular dimension, that induce a temptation into the artist/writer/activist to move within and try to come up with a result. Yes, if these three vertices got joined together in a triangle, nothing can fit inside better than a chart of “politics of nowadays”. That may sort an elementary exercise in geometry. Is it easy to construct a triangle when the three points are located on the page? May be. A matter again to be thought about! Not that easy in fact. You have to cling in your neck a basket of requirements! Metaphorically speaking, to be able to connect the three vertices, you have to distinguish them first. And to be distinguished, an effort has to be done as they wouldn’t be located so clearly. And the medium that hosts them should be already existing, but either translucent, either turbid or dirty. However, you need also to track the “why” behind their location as well! Is that too complicated? The simplest way then, sounds to go backwards. If you know that the paper (the medium) we are talking about is nothing but the country, any country under political and military conflict, ethnic struggle, civil war, revolution, or any other kind of tension, then you can find your way to the “why” and you can understand how it means “translucent, turbid or dirty”. You will end up most probably pointing your finger to each of the vertices: the “unexpected”, the “percussive” and the “unstable”.

MUSIC, TOLERANCE & DEFIANCE - October 19, 6:30 PM

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

MUSIC, TOLERANCE & DEFIANCE: An evening with Shahin Najafi & Mohsen Namjoo

Shahin Najafi and Mohsen Namjoo are among the leading Iranian musical artists working today.

Najafi is visiting the U.S. for the first time since the fatwa and death threats against him in May 2012 resulting from the release of his satirical rap, “Naghi.” His speaking tour includes Berkeley, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orlando. In 2009, Namjoo was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for insulting religious sanctities by singing some Quranic verses to music in a private recording, which was later released without his authorization.

Host an Occupier Now !

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

fD Board members Martin Rosengaard and Todd Lester have partnered with the S17 Support Group to set up a hosting system in New York city for Occupy Wall Street’s one-year anniversary weekend: Host an Occupier.

The Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street is upon us. Organizing work is nearly complete as cities across the country and the world prepare to celebrate the progress of our first year in the fight for economic justice. A “Festival des Indignées” is being planned in Paris. An “Open Knowledge Festival” kicks off in Helsinki, Finland.

Urgent Call to Action: Free Zakaria Zubeidi !

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

On the 9th of September Zakaria Zubeidi announced that he will embark on a death fast, a complete food and fluid strike, in response to the continuous postponement of his release from Palestinian Authority prison. This effectively means that unless the Palestinian Authority releases Zakaria he will most probably not make it through the week.

Zubeidi, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre and former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, has been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for close to four months. No charges have been made against him, no evidence presented and throughout his imprisonment his rights have been severely violated, as described by among others Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/27/israelpalestinian-authority-theater-group-hit-both-sides).

As fighting rages, four political satirists find themselves swept up in the debates that divide Syria's revolutionaries.

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Witness:

In November 2011, as armed conflict raged in Syria, a young acting troupe called Masasit Mati launched a ground-breaking, finger-puppet show: Top Goon: Diaries of a Little Dictator, which mocks the Syrian regime in ways never seen in public before.

Living in exile, the four actors in Masasit Mati broadcast their show online, attracting a growing audience and positive reviews around the world.

But Top Goon’s success puts the actors themselves in danger and the widening split in Syria between those who favour a peaceful resolution and those prepared to use armed force mirrors that within the troupe itself.

Statement by Malaysian Political Cartoonist, Zunar: "MALAYSIA BANS CARTOONS DURING THE ELECTION, BUT I WILL DEFY THE RULING!"

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

STATEMENT:

I would like to refer to the ruling made by the Election Commission of Malaysia which bans the use of cartoons in the campaigns for the up-coming General Election. (General election’s date in Malaysia can only be decided by the Prime Minister, but must be called before the current term ends in March 2013).

The banning of cartoons during the election is comical and ludicrous. This is because cartooning is a legally-practiced medium in Malaysia and therefore the Commission does not have the right to forbid its use. Moreover, this is contradicting to the freedom of expression as provided to all citizens in Malaysian Constitution.

1ST BREAK OUT : Exhibition by Kyaw Thu - 25-27 May - New York City

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

First Breakout – Artistic Expressions from the Heart – Exhibition by Kyaw Thu

“I have been denied all rights to artistic creation in Myanmar since September 2007, when I offered alms and water to monks walking in peaceful protest and reciting prayers of love during the Saffron Revolution, all the way to my current visit to the United States. I would like to call it the first breakout, the first artistic expressions from the heart, to be able to publicly exhibit the heartfelt works I have painted during my visit to America.” - Kyaw Thu (film actor, director, producer, painter, undertaker)

freeDimensional @ the ICORN General Assembly - Stockholm, Sweden. 9-11 May 2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

fD Director, Sidd Joag joins more than 100 delegates, guest writers and observers from as many as 32 different countries heading to Stockholm Wednesday 9-Friday 11 May, to take part in the 2012 International Cities Of Refuge Network General Assembly. Established as an independent, international organisation since 2010, more than 30 ICORN member cities from all over Europe and beyond will be represented when it all breaks loose at Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

Art For Health @ Project Reach NYC - 31 March 2012

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Art for Health is a charity event that is hosted every spring to support innovative medical projects in Cameroon, Africa. Through art exhibitions, performance, live music, body painting, as well as slam and spoken word poetry, the artist’s creative energy is channeled towards supporting health projects for indigenous communities in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as towards promoting the message of social justice and free expression for people world-wide.

Since 2009, Hope International for Tikar People, founded by Cameroonian native and activist Issa Nyaphaga and the Bush Medicine Partnership, founded by students from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia have been working together to improve the quality of life in the Tikar villages in Eastern Cameroon as well as other marginalized communities with no access to medical care. Thus far, the partnership has served the urgent health needs of over 8,000 people in the isolated tribal communities of Cameroon.

Chaw Ei Thein featured in NYFA's Immigrant Artist Project Newsletter

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Chaw Ei Thein (2011 Mentee Alum, Burma), is a painter and performance artist whose work stems from her contrasting experiences of growing up in a politically oppressive Burma and then shifting to a very different landscape in the United States. Chaw Ei’s emotionally charged work of addressing these conflicts in her native country has earned her critical acclaim, awards, and residencies in the U.S. and abroad. However, it has also forced her to live in political exile in which returning to her native country could mean reprisal from the Burmese government. Between her experiences in the U.S. and her desire to return home, Chaw Ei balances multiple tensions in her work. She shares how she deals with her experience and how she has found her Mentorship with Alexandra Pacula in the NYFA Mentoring Program helpful to her artistic career and personal pursuits. The Mentoring Program collaborated with freeDimensional to pair Chaw Ei with her Mentor.

Press alert: Music Freedom Day - Saturday 3 March

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Press alert: Music Freedom Day - a global manifestation for freedom of expression for musicians on Saturday 3 March

In 48 hours, on this Saturday, the annual Music Freedom Day is marked with events, seminars, exhibitions, film shows, radio programmes and news paper articles on freedom of expression for musicians and composers all over the world.

List and programmes of events Events are currently being prepared in 19 countries: Activities on Music Freedom Day 2012

Jenin Freedom Theatre Director Zakaria Zubeidi back on Israel's wanted list

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Zakaria Zbeidi, the former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin who was pardoned by Israel two years ago, has been added to Israel’s wanted list again.

In recent days, Palestinian security services informed Zbeidi that upon Israel’s request, he must remain in the Palestinian Authority’s detention facilities during all hours of the day and night, otherwise Israel will arrest him.

Zbeidi confirmed the report to Haaretz, yet cheap oakley said he did not know why the pardon was rescinded. Last week, Palestinian security forces arrested one of Zbeidi’s brothers, along with one of the workers at Jenin’s Freedom Theater, which Zbeidi directs.

fD @ Artsfex - Copenhagen Summit on Artistic Freedom of Expression, 9-11 December

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

fD joins the Artsfex summit in Copenhagen on 9-11 December 2011 along with several prominent national and international artists’ networks, and freedom of expression organisations. The summit is organised by Freemuse and Danish PEN, and funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture. Participants will present http://www.raybani.com/ recent examples of censorship of the arts, and discuss the effects of censorship and repression of artists. Featured presenters include founding members of the Belarus Free Theatre, currently living in exile.

Border Statements & the Regional Triage Team Model

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Border Statements is a community arts initiative and artist residency in Ruili City, Yunnan province, on the China-Burma (Myanmar) border, which uses arts and cultural programs to counteract the adverse effects of the Golden Triangle drug trade, human trafficking and HIV/AIDS on ethnic http://www.raybani.com/ minority youth. Launched in 2007 by Zero Capital Arts, the project relies on a network of international and local artists, educators, volunteers, and businesses to provide artists, culture-bearers, community members, students and youth with opportunities to collaborate and develop strategies for cultural preservation.

{MANAGUA, NICARAGUA} EspIRA / La Espora art space holds community forum

Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Arts Collaboratory and the Triangle Arts Trust invited fD founder, Todd Lester for a Knowledge & Skills Sharing Residency at one of the few artist residency programs in Central America, Espira / La Espora. One of the outcomes is a community forum on Friday, May 27, 2011.

fD Staff goes to School {for Creative Activism}

Sat, 21 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

fD Management Coordinator, Dana Penrod participated in the NYC edition of The School for Creative Activism (SCA). SCA is a participatory workshop infusing community organizing and civic engagement with culture and creativity. Working directly with organizers and community actors, the SCA leverages the strengths of grassroots activism and the attention grabbing and complex messaging of art through a curriculum designed to:

Teach cultural tactics and creative strategies employed effectively by organizers in the past.
Recognize and draw upon the cultural resources and creative cheap oakley sunglasses talents residing within individuals, organizations, and communities in the present.
Collectively run scenarios and plan campaigns that utilize culture and creativity.
Build a network of organizers and artists using a model of creative organizing more effective in our media-saturated, spectacle-savvy world

World Press Freedom Day (May 3) & the 'Exile' International cartoon exposition

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3rd), La Maison des journalistes in Paris hosts the ‘Exile’ International cartoon exposition. ‘Exile’ is the brainchild of La Maison des journalistes resident, fD partner, and renowned Iranian cartoonist, Kianoush Ramezani. The international expo, will take place on May 3rd 2011, and bring together a hundred cartoons by some of the most talented cartoonists in the world. A touring exhibition will start in the building of La Maison des journalistes in Paris and will then move to Ray Ban outlet several cities in France and Europe. The main goal of the expo is to attract the media and public attention to the critical work performed by La Maison des journalistes, in helping exiled journalists who were forced to leave their home countries to escape persecution. La Maison des journalistes provides them with a housing solution and helps them through the many difficulties they face at the time of their arrival in France. Posters, postcards and a catalog of all the ‘Exile’ cartoons will be created and sold to support La Maison Des Journalistes.

LIMA, PERU: Presentation of Spanish-language guide for Art Spaces Hosting Activism

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

From March 22-27, 2011, freeDimensional director, Todd Lester was invited to present the publication Art Spaces Hosting Activism & Strengthening Community Engagement - a Tactical Notebook made in collaboration with New Tactics in Human Rights - at two venues in Lima, Peru. This was the second meeting of Residencias en Red [iberoamérica]. R_en_R [i] was founded in November 2008 at a meeting organized by the Cultural Center of Spain in Sao Paulo. The initiative supports the creation of a network intended to strengthen the organizational capacities of residency programs and to generate a space for dialogue between art spaces at the regional level, as well as promoting artist Gafas Ray Ban outlet mobility. There were over 20 artist residency programs in attendance at the encounter, which gave freeDimensional a wonderful opportunity to share its model of Creative Safe Haven more broadly in the region.

Taalifkat Tudunya Workshop at Gorée Institute

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Taalifkat Tudunya, which translates from Woloff as “writers in the world,” is a ten-day writing and arts workshop for writers and artists hosted in collaboration between the Pirogue Collective and the Gorée Institute on Gorée Island, Senegal. The next edition is January 5 – January 15, 2011. Four workshops in poetry, prose, visual arts and texts will be led by world renowned writers and visual artists and will be complemented by African academics and/or local creative practitioners. Participants stay in one of the Institute’s tranquil residences on http://www.magliettedacalcioit.com Gorée Island. In addition to joint public readings and exchanges with local associations of women, artists, writers and activists, the framework engages themes such as Translation, African languages, African thought systems, Mixed Media-the interaction between visual arts and literature, poetry and prose writing. freeDimensional respects the holistic work of the Gorée Institute, thoughtfully merging issues of civil society with the potential of culture and creativity for social change. We look forward to finding ways to support and collaborate the Institute, Pirogue Collective and future editions of Taalifkat Tudunya. Also on Gorée Island is the Atelier Moustafa Dimé, a member of freeDimensional’s Emerging Art Space Support Initiative (EASSI), which recently hosted a Gambian journalist when he was forced to flee Banjul due to a backlash from his writing about that country’s government.

A project we like: The Impossible Music Sessions

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

freeDimensional is now five years old. Whereas we have a particular way that we actualize art and social justice by hosting activists and culture workers-in-distress in the surplus (vacant) apartments of artist residencies, we often see amazing projects that inspire us, innovate and show new approaches to advocating freedom of thought and expression. The Impossible Music Sessions is just such an initiative! Here’s a clip about Session #3, a tribute to Lapiro de Mbanga, which happened on 16 November 2010 in Brooklyn, New York. Lapiro is Ray Ban outlet currently in prison in Cameroon on trumped up charges because he challenged the president in one of his songs; if you are interested in helping Lapiro keep his spirits up, look here. As you can see we have a new section where we feature projects we like such as The Impossible Music Sessions. We’ll feature a new one each quarter.