Give Us Back Our Voice!

The programme “Give Us Back Our Voice!”, hosted by the SPIELART Festival in Munich, presented artistic works from Eastern Asian countries which have taken alternative approaches to addressing the political realities and narratives in their respective societies. The project focused on the colonial past of selected nations, the official memory of the Korean War, current concepts for the future and political issues of our times, such as the resurgence of rightist movements, methods for dealing with censorship and self-censorship, and the investigation of one’s traditions.
“Give Us Back Our Voice!” wished to sharpen our view of how our understanding of history and politics is culturally conditioned, as well as stimulate dialogue between Western and inner-Asian participants on democratic concepts and alternatives. In theatre projects, lecture performances, installations, films and a discussion programme, East Asian artists had presented their perspective on the political disposition of their countries. A central aspect examined whether the democratic deficits in Asia are due to a particular historical heritage, or whether their current political problems are symptomatic of parallel developments elsewhere in the world. In the spirit of transcultural dialogue, the curatorial team responsible for developing the programme included members of both the Asian network “Scene/Asia” and the artistic directors of the SPIELART Festival.

Artistic director: Sophie Becker, Tilmann Broszat
Participants: Chiaki Soma (JP), Kyoko Iwaki (JP), You Mi (JP), Mark Teh (MY), Tsuyoshi Ozawa (JP), Hansol Yoon (KR), Ho Rui An (SG) and others