THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
STUK arts centre Leuven
The title and theme of this eleventh edition of Artefact is The Social
Contract. This term has been used in political and philosophical
theories since the 17th century, but still emerges regularly today, in
interviews with politicians, political party programs, debates, ... Even
the early adopters of the social contract theory, such as John Locke,
Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, used and interpreted the concept
in different ways. The classical interpretation concerns the relation
between the individual as a citizen and a political entity, in which the
individual sacrifices part of his freedom and power in order for the state
to offer for instance safety and social and economic security. But what is
the position of the social contract in our current times of crisis in a
globalized world?
One of the festival’s main questions is whether we can renegotiate or
reform those ‘contracts’. Can we cancel them, rewrite them? The programme
focuses on different forms of resistance and imagination. With exhibitions,
performances, debates and meetings with international artists, we look for
the position and alternatives for The Social Contract in our
contemporary information and network society.
Artefact is initiated by provincie Vlaams-Brabant and STUK arts centre