The art of a culture of hope

Collectively authoring hope and fear

two boys hold a placard saying Make Hope Stop Fear

2015-18.

Collaboration with Jessica Huber.

The future isn’t looking hopeful. Climate change, peak oil, mass migration, wars in the Arab world and beyond, destabilisation within Europe, financial instability, the rise of nationalism and the erosion of human rights.

It’s difficult to look into the future without fear.

J&J (Jessica and James) feel that culture can influence this narrative. They believe that people need a space for shared creativity and that during a time of fear there is little space for this. The art of a culture of hope confronts the catastrophes and misfortunes of the contemporary world. It opposes the politics and social structures of fear with the utopian idea of a ‘Culture of Hope’, and asks, “How do we deal with fear and understand its causes and effects on us?” and, “How can we create a space for potential, a space for hope?”

J&J have been developing a socially engaged creative process

The project was born in response to Switzerland’s unique form of direct democracy, where regular referendums offer the electorate a chance to vote on constitutional changes. J&J’s frame the project with a provocation, an aim to make this ‘Culture of Hope’ a new paragraph within the Swiss constitution. With this ambition at the heart of the project, J&J want to give people a sense of agency and a tool to demand their right to hope. Together with people across the world, they want to evolve a collectively authored definition of what a culture of hope can be. J&J ask ‘What do we need in the hand to fight the politics of fear?’

Team.

J&J – Jessica Huber and James Leadbitter

Design. Gabriela Rutz and Ramin Mosayebi

Artists that have shared within Tender Provocations of Hope and Fear.

Jeremy Wade, Kim Noble, Katherine Araniello Sarah Vanhee, Alina Dheere Babaletsos, Janet Hephzibah Ashton, Nikos & Luca, Tzeni Argyriou, Artemis Lampiri, Elpida Orfanidou, Kostas Tsioukas, Timo Krsten, Miriam Walter Kohn, Jess Thom/Tourettes Hero, Mondkalb, Boris Nikitin, Kate McIntosh & Caroline Lamb, Neve B, Lucie Tuma, Marie-Caroline Hominal, Lucie Hutson, Noemi Lakmaier, Fai Baba & Domi Chansorn, Long Tall Jefferson, My Friend Peter, Station 17, Milian Otto.

Venues