Lonnie Van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan

Mobilities Visiting Speakers:

Lonnie Van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan, April 21st, 12:30-2pm

MacAlister Hall, Suite 4020 (CoAS Dean’s Conference Room)

Film-makers to speak at Drexel, followed by a Film Screening at 7pm at the Ibrahim Theatre, International House

Migration: Artistic Formations – Lonnie Van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan

Migration plays a significant role in the development of numerous modern artistic ideas and representations. This series examines the changing movements that transplant artists from one culture to another, intensifying migratory distinctions, and sharpening the conception of the creative role of displacement and estrangement within modern art.

Lonnie Van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan in person. Introduced by Professor Mimi Sheller, Director, Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, Drexel University.

Monument of Sugar: How to Use Artistic Means to Elude Trade Barriers

dir. Lonnie van Brummelen in collaboration with Siebren de Haan, The Netherlands, 2007, 16mm, 63 mins, color, silent

Monument of Sugar: How to Use Artistic Means to Elude Trade Barriers explores subsidized economy, the globalized sugar market, and how artistic practice can disrupt and reverse economic policies. Upon the discovery of anti-competitive policies set by the European Union to protect its native sugar production, and the detrimental impact of this on other countries, van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan staged an intervention. Their goal was to work around EU restrictions on sugar importation by turning European sugar dumped into Nigeria into sculptures, and returning it as an artistic product: a Monument of Sugar.

Grossraum (Borders of Europe)

dir. Lonnie van Brummelen in collaboration with Siebren de Haan, The Netherlands, 2004-2005, 35mm, 35 mins, color, silent

Grossraum is a “triptych” filmed along three sensitive crossing points on the European Union border: Hrebenne, a border post between Ukraine and Poland; the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in Morocco; and the green zone which splits Cyprus in two. By directing our gaze to the demarcations of the geopolitical “greater area” or “Grossraum” of the European Union, van Brummelen reveals the paradox of a zone of freedom whose development is dependent on the strength and policing of its borders.

For more info contact:

Mimi Sheller

Center for Mobilities Research and Policy

Drexel University

mimi.sheller@drexel.edu

 

Robert E. Cargni

Program Curator, Film

Ibrahim Theater @ International House

Jamaica for Sale

Jamaica for Sale – Philadelphia Premiere: May 6th, 2010, 6pm

Jamaica for Sale: A Documentary About Tourism and Unsustainable Development

Produced & Directed by Esther Figueroa

THURSDAY, MAY 6th, 2010

6-8:30 pm

Ruth Auditorium, Nesbitt Hall (33rd & Market St.), Drexel University

Jamaica for Sale (84mins) is a powerful documentary about the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism and unsustainable development in Jamaica. The film will be followed by a discussion with Producer/Director Esther Figueroa and Prof. Mimi Sheller

Winner of the Audience Award at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival, the Bronze Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival, and the Rising Star Award at the Canada Film Festival

Though the Caribbean receives about five percent of the global tourist trade, it is the region most economically dependent on tourism. Heavily promoted since 1891 as the way to modernization and prosperity, tourism has tragically failed in its promises, as Jamaica is one of the most indebted countries in the world and the third poorest country in the Caribbean. Lively, hard hitting, with powerful voices, arresting visuals and iconic music, Jamaica For Sale documents the environmental, economic, social and cultural impacts of unsustainable tourism development. Filled with wit and penetrating observations from the street wise to highly acclaimed academics, Jamaica For Sale engages with a cross section of Jamaicans: workers, small hoteliers, fishermen, community members, and environmentalists. As Jamaica is irreversibly transformed by massive hotel and luxury condominium development, Jamaica For Sale both documents this transformation and is trying to turn the tide. It is a cautionary tale not just for Jamaica, but all islands in the Caribbean, and all places around the world dependent on tourism or participating in unsustainable development practices.

Hosted by the Center for Mobilities Research & Policy, Africana Studies and Women’s Studies, this event is free and open to the public.

For more information please contact: Mimi Sheller at mimi.sheller@drexel.edu

Poto Mitan Film Screening

 

 

 

 

FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION
Thursday, 3rd December, 6:30-9pm
Stratton Hall 113, Drexel University
Told through the compelling lives of five courageous Haitian women
workers, Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy
demonstrates how globalization’s threads intertwine with everyday
people’s lives, ultimately giving the global economy a human face.
Weaving Haiti’s story within her own, each woman’s personal narrative
explains particular aspects of the country’s contemporary crisis: inhumane
working/living conditions, violence, poverty, lack of education and health
care, all triggered by neoliberal globalization. And while Poto Mitan offers
in-depth understanding of Haiti, its focus on women’s subjugation, worker
exploitation, poverty, and resistance demonstrates these are global
struggles. Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat eloquently narrates the film.

Discussion to follow with anthropologist Mark Schuller (CUNY), co-director
of the film, and sociologist Dr. Mimi Sheller, expert on Haitian history and
director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, Drexel University.
Co-sponsored by Africana Studies, Women’s Studies, and the mCenter
College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University