19.04.2023-22.04.2023
Vetenskapsfestivalen at Nordstan and the Maritime Museum, Gothenburg

Contributors:
CGM MYOP Network (Bilal Almobarak, Marta Segura Hudson, Catherine Gillo Nilsson, Sally Windsor, Tintin Wulia), Kaya Barry, Amy Boulton, Bart Klem, Onkar Kular, Natalie Novik, Aram Han Sifuentes, Andrea Spehar.

Workshop facilitators:
Chireen Aboamir, Shani Anuradha, Marwa Ben Ghoul, Diego Decont, Clara Agathe Ditzel, Fatima Gul Jahan, Meron Habtemariam, Neda Hadinejad, Huyang He, Daniela Kaiser, Veronica Kecki, Terhi Krafft, Xiaona Lu, Chiara Mocellini, Rebecca Mohr, Anna Moret, Fatemeh Nasri, Michael Amoako Obuobi, Patrick Shakarchi, Gladys Sinkala, Ellenor Snäll, David Spraggs, Patricia La Torre, Amina Warsame, Oskar Wikström, Maren Wolf, Xiya Zhang.

Partners:
University of Gothenburg: HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, Centre on Global Migration, Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, Department of Education and Special Education, and Support Group Network.

This article is prepared by Geovanna Bravomalo, Özgün Dilek, and Tintin Wulia. Texts describing workshops and talks are prepared by Amy Boulton, Natalie Novik, Aram Han Sifuentes, and Tintin Wulia, with inputs from other contributors and Vetenskapsfestivalen.

Photographer: Per Larsson.

The research project Thingstigate had its soft launch, 19-22 April 2023, as part of Vetenskapsfestivalen 2023 in Gothenburg. During the four-day event, Thingstigate held three public workshops that approached aesthetic objects as mediums to explore the topics of resistance, the public sphere, and migration as a global issue. Alongside the workshops, three public talks and one roundtable touched upon the impact of aesthetic objects in public places, in relation to citizenship and statelessness, borders, the politics of resistance, collective perspectives and the public sphere.


WORKSHOPS – Nordstan Workshop Arena

Assembling Commons
Public workshop by Natalie Novik (2023)

Wed, 19 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET
Thu, 20 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET
Fri, 21 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET

Assembling Commons (Natalie Novik, 2023). Photographer: Per Larsson

Join us and explore ‘the commons.’ Together, we assemble objects to build an evolving sculptural map. Perhaps that’s how ‘the public’ looks, feels, and sounds like when it is materialized? Play with textures and surfaces, experiment with transparency and layering, activate your imagination. We ask how you, as an individual, relate to the abstract ‘public sphere,’ and how your own presence is reflected in it. You answer through collaging and material mapmaking, embodying notions of the personal and the collective.

Assembling Commons (Natalie Novik, 2023). Photographer: Per Larsson.

Protest Banner Lending Library
Public workshop by Aram Han Sifuentes (2016-ongoing)

Wed, 19 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET
Thu, 20 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET
Fri, 21 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET

Protest Banner Lending Library (Aram Han Sifuentes, 2016-ongoing). Photographer: Per Larsson.

Come learn how to make protest banners in easy steps! These fabric banners are reusable, and do not require sewing. Come on your own or with your group, bring a slogan with you. You can either make your own banner, which will take up to two hours, or help out with collective banners. You can bring your banners home, or donate it to a collection that’s accessible for anyone to borrow and reuse. So, this workshop also becomes a place where we come together in solidarity through making. And making is, in and of itself, a form of resistance.

Protest Banner Lending Library (Aram Han Sifuentes, 2016-ongoing). Photographer: Per Larsson.

Make Your Own Passport
Public workshop initiated in 2014 by Tintin Wulia. In collaboration with CGM MYOP Network (Bilal Almobarak, Marta Segura Hudson, Catherine Gillo Nilsson, Sally Windsor, Tintin Wulia), 2023.

Thu, 20 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET
Fri, 21 Apr 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET
Sat, 22 Apr, 2023, 13:00-17:00 CET

Make Your Own Passport, with CGM MYOP Network (Bilal Almobarak, Marta Segura Hudson, Catherine Gillo Nilsson, Sally Windsor, Tintin Wulia), 2023. Photographer: Per Larsson.

What if you suddenly become a citizen of another country, or even stateless? In this workshop, there are more than 140 passports from around the world to choose from, but your citizenship status depends on a lucky draw. Once your status is decided, facilitators will guide you to make your own ‘passport’, or ‘travel document’. You can then simultaneously engage in conversations with other participants around global issues like citizenship, statelessness, migration, the borders, and others. The ‘passport’ you make in the workshop will be yours to bring home, as a reminder of these conversations.

Make Your Own Passport, with CGM MYOP Network (Bilal Almobarak, Marta Segura Hudson, Catherine Gillo Nilsson, Sally Windsor, Tintin Wulia), 2023. Photographer: Per Larsson.

PUBLIC TALKS – Nordstan Stage

What Can Protest Banners Do?
Speakers: Aram Han Sifuentes and Sally Windsor

Thu, 20 Apr 2023, 10:15 CET


How does making protest banners create change? In a world full of oppression and social injustice, what can protest banners do? The Protest Banner Lending Library started in Chicago, USA in 2016. The project includes free public banner making workshops teaching people how to make their own protest banners. As these fabric banners are reusable, they can also be maintained in a collection that is accessible for anyone to borrow and reuse. We will discuss the impact and potential of protest banners, examining their role in creating change and bringing people together, both in the making, and their shared use afterwards. The talk was in English.

Photographer: Per Larsson.

Why is your passport an aesthetic object?
Speakers: Catherine Gillo Nilsson, Marta Hudson and Sally Windsor

Fri, 21 Apr 2023, 10:30 CET


What does a passport make you think, feel, and do? Have you ever thought about the feelings and memories your passport evokes? The “Make Your Own Passport” workshop series (since 2014) provides opportunities to make ‘passports’ together with others in various public spaces around the world. What happens to the ‘passport’ once brought home? What memory does this ‘passport’ trigger? How does that compare with a real passport? This talk will explore how the passport, an aesthetic object, triggers thoughts, feelings, and conversations, and reflects on the impact of the “Make Your Own Passport” public workshop series. The talk was in English/Swedish.

Photographer: Per Larsson.

How can we sense the public sphere?
Speakers: Natalie Novik and Tintin Wulia

Sat, 22 Apr 2023, 15:40 CET


How does collaging and aesthetics objects map out the commons and the public sphere? What is the public sphere? How can we sense and map the public sphere through things? What can aesthetic objects – things that make us imagine and feel – tell us about how we form connections with others? This talk explores how we connect with others through things, and how this connection forms the public that we are part of. We talk about collaging, making together, and how aesthetic objects bring various people with different perspectives together. After all, the public sphere should belong to the public, and the public consists of so many different people. The talk will be in English.

Photographer: Per Larsson.

ROUNDTABLE – Maritime Museum, Akvariet

Aesthetic Objects and Citizenship
Contributors: Andrea Spehar (political scientist, Director of Centre on Global Migration), Onkar Kular (Professor of Design, HDK-Valand), Kaya Barry (cultural geographer, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research), Bart Klem (political geographer, Peace and Development Studies, School of Global Studies), Tintin Wulia (artist/researcher, HDK-Valand), (2023).

Sat, 22 Apr 2023, 12:00-13:15 CET


Discover how aesthetic objects connect us to citizenship in a roundtable with multi-disciplinary experts. Aesthetic objects and citizenship are related in many ways. A flag, for example, can symbolise a certain political community and make the members feel connected. A national anthem will only materialise when it is sung, but would also trigger your memory, imagination, and emotion. Yellow vests or umbrellas can immediately tell the world that a mass of protesters is united and determined. In what other ways are aesthetic objects linked with citizenship? How do they relate with the integration of new members to a certain political community, or with the imagination of an unrecognised state? How does this connection manifest in the public sphere? We will explore these questions in this cross-disciplinary roundtable. The roundtable was in English.

Photographer: Per Larsson.