In the lecture series ‘Vision’ of the master DAS Creative Producing, Raul Balai and Orwa Nyrabia will give a lecture about their work on Sunday, April 10 at 11.00h-13.00h. In this April lecture we will focus on art and inclusion. Why is the term inclusion a contested term? And where do the worlds of fine arts and documentary film meet? Raul Balai a.k.a. el bastardo is fascinated by the way our exploitative state of mind frames the shape of the world. His work is about providing insight into power structures: how they resonate in the way the story of history is told and reproduced, and how they lead to the society we have today. He uses a number of different styles, genres, to expose and explore what remains at stake within the history of diversities. Not only as an artist or curator, but also in his practice as an exhibition maker and designer. Balai is an artist who cannot be relegated to one style, one genre, one anything. His work is not characterized by a specific shape or material. He is looking at each topic and story and finds appropriate form. He is constantly refining his visual and conceptual vocabulary that emerges through points of intersection between painting, installations, sculptures, graffiti, graphic design, illustration, video and photography. In recent years Balai has exhibited at The Rembrandt Museum - Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Countour Biennale - Mechelen, Belgium / The Amsterdam Museum - Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Biennale Dak’Art - Senegal / M HKA - Antwerpen, Belgium / Galleri Image- Aarhus, Denmark / Galerie 23 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands a.o.
In the coming period his work is on view at; KunstRai - Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Facade 2022 - Middelburg, The Netherlands / The Black Archives - Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Documenta 15 - Kassel, Germany.
Orwa Nyrabia is the Artistic Director of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s leading documentary film and new media festival. Before IDFA, Orwa co-founded Syria’s first independent film festival, DOX BOX, with Diana El Jeiroudi, and was a producer with credits that include Republic of Silence (Diana El Jeiroudi, Venice 2021), Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi, Venice 2020), Silvered Water (Ossama Mohammad and W. Bedirxan, Cannes 2014), Return to Homs (Talal Derki, IDFA 2013) and Dolls, A Woman from Damascus (Diana El Jeiroudi, IDFA 2007) a.o.
His work was recognized by awards such as the George Polk Award, the HRW Courage in Filmmaking Award, and the Katrin Cartlidge Award, a.o. An actor by training (Gate of the Sun, Yousri Nassrallah, Cannes 2004), he started his film career as 1st AD of Ossama Mohammad (Sacrifices, Cannes 2002) and worked as a journalist at
the same time until he co-founded his first company in Damascus 2002, then followed up as he moved to Cairo and then to Berlin where he co-founded No Nation Films in 2014.
This lecture is in collaboration with Adyen. The company Adyen was founded in 2006, in the city center of Amsterdam, by a group of Dutch entrepreneurs. Adyen is a payments platform that processes for leading companies around the world. Currently, the organization has more than 2000 employees and 27 offices around the world. In 2021,Adyen opened additional office space at the Rokin, in the same city center where the companies’ journey began. To engage with, and give back to, the city of Amsterdam, the company opens up its offices for Amsterdammers in collaboration with the Academy of Theatre and Dance. Within its education, the academy explores the ways in which art can contribute to shaping the world, based on a firm belief that art can set people and realities in motion and has, for some time, wished to present themselves outside the university walls. Therefore we developed programs in a collaboration of the Master Creative Producing, Dance Teacher study program and 5 O'clock class specifically for Adyens building to shape idiosyncratic encounters with people in the city.
Location: Adyen office @ Rokin 49 Want to join? Please send an email before Thursday April 7th to dascreativeproducing@ahk.nl
