IFICAN Seminar 8th April 2011

Faith can be variably interpreted as the ultimate engagement with creation, or as a dogmatic constraint. How does contemporary art respond and should it make a productive contribution amidst such tension?

The Difference Exchange investigation into inter-faith artists' narratives continued with a robust debate at Arts Council England on 8th April, 2011. The event offered a critical space in which people of different, or no, religious faith shared ideas and responses arising from the IFICAN artists’ placements.

"This idea of the sublime came through in the artists’ presentations at the seminar; and also, that longing for, or removing oneself, that immense power in absolute stillness. If we consider boundaries and territories, those are things that exclude, but they are also borders and meeting places. Sometimes the borders are far more complicated and in those meeting places new kinds of creativity emerge."
Chetan Bhatt, Professor of Sociology at London School of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at LSE

We'd be delighted if you would like to add your comments or continue the discussion here!

Energetic discussion brought a wide range of issues into consideration. A warm thank you to all participants!

A recollection sketch following on from the IFICAN seminar discussion: ideas and themes surfacing, touching on the work central to the project, then connecting with wider, or more personal perspectives - from John Hartley.