Reflection fig. 3: Otherness

Confrontations with "otherness" — in project settings and in working relations — raise recurrent questions: How do we perceive other, and what does our perceptions tell us about ourselves? How do we handle our discomfort and fear of facing the other? How to deal with exoticism and stereotypes? How can we relate to the other given that our communication possibilities? How to distinguish misunderstanding from not-understanding? What is the potential of confusion and not-understanding, and how might we access it? (How) Can we become (the) other?

These practical questions are linked to much more complex and challenging issues about our privileges and responsibilities as actors in a globalized capitalist (art-)world and as inheritors of a colonial past. How did colonialism shape our perception of the "other," and how do we deal with it? How can we act responsibly within contexts which have been shaped by hegemonic power-structures? What are the liberating potentials — and where are the ethical limits of art in this regard?
Within the frame of an interactive multimedia-workshop/ lecture performance, Willimann/Arai share some of their experiences, reflections and questions by presenting material and by applying working methods which they have developed through their research projects.