Postmodernism: Good or Bad?
featuring Esmé Partridge, Rachel Ara and Mariusz Cieślik
Esmé Lily Katherine Partridge
is a writer and postgraduate student in the philosophy of religion at the University of Cambridge. She specialises in Islamic thought; the confrontation between tradition and modernity; and digital forms of spirituality. She wrote her BA dissertation on Gen-Z witchcraft and its relationship to postmodernism, graduating with a First from SOAS, University of London. She has since contributed to such publications as Renovatio (The Journal of Zaytuna College), Temenos Academy Review, ArabLit Quarterly, Muslim Institute, Traversing Tradition, Athwart Magazine, Genealogies of Modernity, Theos Think Tank, The Royal Society of Arts, UnHerd and The Critic.
Esmé also works as a consultant at the intersection of religion and politics, having worked on a number of interfaith and Freedom of Religion or Belief initiatives. She is also on the secretariat of a parliamentary group on Christianity in the Middle East. Her work has been featured by Church Times, The Irish Catholic, and The Week, among others.
Rachel Ara
is a conceptual and data artist who explores the relationships between gender, technology and systems of power. She graduated with a Fine Art degree from Goldsmiths College, London, where she won the prestigious Burston award. As a multi-disciplinary artist, she has a diverse skillset acquired from working 25 years in the tech industry to being a trained cabinet maker and combines them to make unique and often surprising installations and sculptures. The works are nonconformist with a socio-political edge that often incorporates humour and irony with feminist concerns.
In 2016 she won the Aesthetica Art Prize 2016 for This Much I’m Worth, the self-evaluating artwork. Pulling on her experiences as a computer system designer, the digital sculpture draws on data and complex algorithms to calculate its own value in real-time. In 2018 she was featured on the cover of the FT Wealth for her monumental version of the sculpture “This Much I’m Worth” which she engineered and built incorporating over 80 pieces of neon and a homemade animation system made from recycled materials. She only works with female fabricators.
In 2017 Ara was made Artist in Residence at the V&A Museum in London responding to their data. She has also shown at the Whitechapel Gallery, Barbican Centre, Humber Street Gallery, V&A London, MMCA Seoul, and the MAK Vienna at the Vienna Biennale. In 2020 she was featured in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow and 50 Women Sculptors.
In 2019 Ara was de-platformed from a University Lecture for LIKING a gender Critical tweet. This resulted in a lot of unwanted publicity with the consequence of having to have security on Open Studios, losing commissions, and no longer being invited to lecture or show work. Since then she has moved out of London and is rebuilding her career this year winning the CCA Summer Prize, and TPFF Film Award.
Mariusz Cieślik
is a writer, screenwriter, director, and journalist currently working with “Rzeczpospolita” daily newspaper. In the past, he worked with Trójka, TVP Kultura, “Wprost”, “Newsweek” and others. He published four books: a collection of short stories “Śmieszni kochankowie” [Funny Lovers] (2004), a novel “Święto wniebowzięcia” [The Feast of Assumption] (2005), “Jak zostałem premierem” [How I Became Prime Minister] (2012, with Robert Górski) and the biography “Jaruzelski. Życie paradoksalne” [Jaruzelski Paradoxical life] (2015, with Paweł Kowal). As a playwright, he collaborates with Polish Radio Theatre (plays: “W imię ojca i syna” [In the Name of Father and Son], “Siedemnasty” [The Seventeenth] and “Zupełny Bareja” [Total Bareja]. As a screenwriter, he wrote soaps and enterntianment for TVP, TVN and Polsat. The latter will soon host the premiere of the comedy “Teściowie” [The In-Laws], which co-authored with Krzysztof Jaroszyński. As a director, he made his debut with the documentary “Wszystkie role Stanisława Barei” [All Parts of Stanisław Bareja]. In 2023, the first feature biography of Bruno Schulz, for which he wrote the script, will go into production.
Manick Govinda
independent writer, artists mentor, lecturer, curator and arts consultant. He has written for The Critic, Index on Censorship, Arts Professional, Open Democracy and Spiked. He is the co-curator, alongside Agnieszka Kolek, of Culture Tensions, a new series of public discussions and conversations at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art. Manick describes himself as an Eclecticist, open to different ideas and thoughts, open to unresolved contradictions. He was cancelled in 2019 by many English arts institutions for his gender critical comments and humour on social media and for his vocal criticism against the European Union.
Agnieszka Kolek
artist, curator and co-founder of the Passion for Freedom Art Festival in London. Through supporting artists forbidden to exhibit their art, she exposes the silence of many and challenges the comfortable position of those who inhibit “safe spaces”. Agnieszka survived the terror attack in Copenhagen in 2015. She continued the meeting on art and blasphemy after the attack by saying: “They not only want to kill us. They want us to stop talking, so we should continue.”
