Press Kit (August 30th/31st, 2012) - Goldmann Public Relations ...

NEWTOPIA: The State of Human Rights
Contemporary Arts Exhibition in Mechelen and Brussels
01.09. – 10.12.2012
Contour 2009 – The 4th Biennial for Moving Image in Mechelen, Belgium
(2009); Give(a)way: on Generosity, Giving, Sharing and Social Exchange,
the 6th Biennial E V+A: Exhibition of Visual Art, Limerick, Ireland (2006).
Other projects include Leaps of Faith: An International Arts Project for the
Green Line and the City of Nicosia, Cyprus (2005), the first international
contemporary art exhibition to take place on both sides of the divided city
and Channel Zero, for the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam
(2004). Katerina Gregos has regularly published on art and artists in
magazines, books and exhibition catalogues and is a frequent speaker in
international conferences at biennials and museums worldwide.
ABSTRACT
Gregos’ text Righting Human Rights (2012) outlines the curatorial
framework of the exhibition and provides insight into the evolving discourse
of human rights since the Universal Declaration in 1948, highlighting the
numerous and complex questions associated with the issue. The text will
elucidate how these issues are translated by the artists in the exhibition, by
means of the several thematic chapters which touch upon the basic tenets
of human rights: from civil, political, economic and social rights, down to
cultural rights, the rights of minorities and environmental questions such as
the right to sustainability, clean air, water and land. The text will also
highlight the achievements and problematics of the human rights
movement, which has gained momentum in the last 30 years, taking into
account the geo-political shifts that have taken place in the post-war era.
Particularly the questions of post-colonialism, multi-culturalism, cultural
relativism and the double standards that have come with the West’s
advocacy and implementation of ‘humanitarian’ aid, all of which have
informed the contemporary debate surrounding human rights.
STÉPHANE HESSEL (France, 1917) is a diplomat, ambassador,
concentration camp survivor, former French Resistance fighter and living
legend. He participated in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of 1948. His best-selling book Indignez-Vous! (Time for
Outrage), written in 2010, was translated into more than 20 languages. In
2011, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global
thinkers. He is a member of the French division of the International Decade
for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children
of the World and is a founding member of the Collegium International and
served as vice president. He was a member of the Commission Nationale
Consultative des Droits de l'Homme in France. In 2004, he was awarded
the North-South Prize by the Council of Europe. On 14 July 2006, Hessel
was made Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, having already been
given the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit in 1999. On the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10 th ,
2008, Hessel received the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a
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