RESEARCH CONTEXT

Migration, globalisation and the increasing interconnectedness that accompany them have transformed societies worldwide, making them more multicultural and multilingual, both offline and online. These rapid and often unexpected changes have brought many social, cultural and economic differences to the forefront. In turn, this has fuelled nationalism, prejudice, and fear of the Other, reinforcing simplistic, black-and-white views of migrants and migration.

As Herbert Marcuse argues one of the key ways to get through to people, challenge their assumptions, and offer them alternative views of reality is through art. He observes that works of art―which he broadly defines as literature, music and visual arts―have the power to evoke deep emotions in large audiences, not just a select group of intellectuals. Therefore, art can offer people a new perspective on the established norms and stereotypical narratives. Marcuse sees this potential as a form of liberation: he believes that art can free people from the narrow, limiting views imposed by the mass media and culture industries. Viewed through this lens, migration art―including migration literature, theatre, film, music, dance, visual and digital arts, architecture, and many other creative forms―functions as an important counterweight to the mainstream narratives.

But art not only provides a more complex depiction of reality; it can also have the power to shape it. Yuval Noah Harari argues that stories, including those about migration, play a central role in shaping the world we live in. He observes that humans are able to cooperate in large groups not because they have close personal ties, but because they can create and believe in stories. A story, which can take the form of a work of art (a book, play, painting, installation, etc.), functions like a hub with infinite connection points, which allows a great number of people to “plug in” without ever meeting. In this way, 1.4 billion Catholics are connected through the Bible, 1.4 billion Chinese citizens through stories of nationalism, and 8 billion of participants in global trade through narratives of currencies, corporations and brands. Harari argues that all large-scale human relations are shaped by stories and the very identities of these groups are story-based. After all, there are no objective criteria who qualifies as American, British, Iraqi, Irish, German, Polish or migrant: all these identities are constructed from national, religious and cultural myths and are continually challenged and revised.

If migration art can both expand our understanding of reality and shape it, then it has the potential to become a powerful tool for building better-functioning multicultural societies. With this in mind, we ask questions such as: How does migration art deepen our understanding of migration and migrants? In what ways can it influence the attitudes of host societies toward newcomers? How might it contribute to creating shared stories that help to forge relationships between migrants and host communities? And, finally, how can it support the creation of better-functioning multicultural societies?