The Austrian Cultural Forum has been opened in Accra to deepen cultural collaboration between Ghana and Austria.
The Forum is designed to showcase Austria and Ghana, the wonderful facets of both countries, and demonstrate the impact of cultural cooperation. It is Austria’s second Cultural Forum in Sub-Saharan Africa and is meant to serve as a platform for learning, research, and understanding the shared Austrian-Ghanaian culture.
Opening the Forum, Austria’s Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs, Mr Sepp Schellhorn, said the Forum in Accra presents not only Austria to Ghana but also fosters common spaces together.
“Austria does not come here with a single story. And we do not assume Ghana has but a single one either. Cultural diplomacy begins where simplification ends,” Mr Schellhorn added.
He said Austria and Ghana might be geographically distant, but they share something essential — “the belief that culture is the rock of our self-confidence.”
For Austria, Mr Schellhorn emphasized, culture is not an addition to diplomacy; it is part and parcel of it — one of its core pillars. He said Austrians define themselves through culture and that culture even holds a place in Austria’s national anthem.
“Wherever I speak at home or abroad, I repeat the following: culture may indeed be the last space where disagreement remains civil. In spite of extremes, in spite of turmoil around us. Where politics and words fail, art and culture fill the space,” the Austrian Secretary of State said.
Mr Schellhorn added that the Forum should not be understood as a stage, but as a platform for dialogue between tradition and innovation, a platform for exchange, and a platform where Austrian and Ghanaian artists and researchers meet as collaborators.
He said Austria would support residencies, deepen academic exchange, facilitate joint exhibitions and research, and connect Austrian institutions, including the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the World Museum Vienna, and the Künstlerhaus, with partners across Ghana.
Countless stories of exchange were already being written, Mr Schellhorn said, adding that El Anatsui, a Ghanaian artist, had a work at the Vienna State Opera that forms the “Iron Curtain,” the safety curtain between stage and audience. Made of thousands of linked metal fragments and recycled bottle caps, Mr Schellhorn said Anatsui’s work creates a surface that recalls textile.
From afar, the Austrian Secretary of State said Anatsui’s work resembled a tapestry, but up close, it reveals layers of history, trade, and movement.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative, Mr Yussif Issakah Jajah, said the Austria Cultural Forum would serve as a bridge between continents, between cultures, and between people united by creativity, innovation, and shared humanity.
He said culture was the soul of a nation, tells the story of a people, preserves heritage, and shapes identity. The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts noted that Austria, with its illustrious legacy in classical music, visual arts, architecture, and intellectual thought, has long demonstrated how culture can define global excellence.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
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