Panel discussion
„Art and creativity. Artists under pressure“
We invite you to a panel discussion shortly after International Women’s Day, on March 14, 2026, at 5 p.m. at the Ludwig Museum, Koblenz.
Cost: € 6 plus reduced museum admission.
Saturday, March 14, 2026, 5–7 p.m.
No registration required.
In many countries, art and creativity are under immense pressure or are outright banned – women, in particular, are denied artistic work and public visibility. Examples like Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran demonstrate how cultural heritage is destroyed, artistic freedom is restricted, and the lives of artists are threatened. These cases, however, only illustrate a part of a far larger, complex spectrum of violence, oppression, and sometimes invisible terror in autocratic and dictatorial states. We want to reflect together on what it means for a society when art and creativity are pushed out of everyday life or even criminalized.
This concerns the profound consequences of such exclusion – particularly the loss of cultural identity and the question of how this can even be understood. At the same time, the focus is on artists who, despite repression, find ways to continue their work, and on the unique forms of expression of their “language,” which functions beyond conventional means of communication and yet can still be understood. In this context, tensions between authoritarian power and feminism are also explored, as well as the responsibility of freer countries to create greater visibility for oppressed and persecuted people.
The following will be participating in the discussion:
Parastou Forouhar (German-Iranian artist and activist),
Jaleh Tavassoli (Iranian artist, activist and scholarship recipient at the Ebernburg Artists’ Station), and
Dr. Schoole Mostafawy (German-Iranian art historian and head of the art and cultural history department at the Baden State Museum, specializing in “Global Art History”).
Moderated by: Prof. Dr. Beate Reifenscheid, Director, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz.
