ARTAFRICAThrough ‘Foreign Exchange’ I learnt that African time and Indian time are similar temporalities.
I learnt that Belgian volunteer cooks can also make a good vegan curry. I learnt that many other
artists were happy to sacrifice professional expectations such as fees or a white cube space in order
to share a real dialogue with activists. In this spirit of collaboration, we found magic. The evening
ended on a high note, with everybody dancing to Latin American music in a huge circle in the middle
of the venue, uniting under the core value of empathy and the magnitude of an event like COP21.
“Suddenly the Global South didn’t seem so foreign any more,” said Raj.
Paris made me reflect on home, crisis and the complexities lived by millions of fellow South Africans.
I realised South Africans grapple with faith every day. There is a certain thrill to living here, a reason
to be alive in a country with real problems. There is a sense that one may be needed, that one
could make a difference. This enthusiasm for taking action appears dead in comfortably complacent
Western Europe. Nobody believes in the illusion of democracy anymore. Nobody has any faith in the
power of a single vote. It is a hope that, since the 90s, has died all over the world in the face of global
economic challenges and neoliberal government policies. South Africans got caught somewhere in
the middle, in our initial euphoria, post the eve of democracy.
In his fascinating talk ‘How to make a catastrophe out of a disaster’ at Bétonsalon, Paris Diderot
University’s art project space, the wild-haired philosopher Timothy Morton tells us that “Falling is
slapstick. Tragedy is trying hard not to be funny. Actually, that’s hilarious.” Morton dares the audience
to confront its own confusion, to dare to be dumb. This is philosophy telling us to trust rather than
being right. “Play is accurate to the truth of existing as slightly broken.” I ask him if his interest in
Buddhism is more than academic and find out that he meditates regularly, following a particular
tradition. He tells me he likes people who know what they believe, because we all believe things and
its best to know what they are and get on with it.
CREATING A CLIMATE OF FAITH IN PARIS / KAI LOSSGOTT 5/6
FEATURE / COP21 PARIS“If you are not already fully part of
the solution, are you not in fact part
of the problem?”