Oct 2

Oct 2 PA-RT CULTURAL EXCHANGE

Photo by Michael Bassett

PA-RT has recently been approved to produce Praxis, a cultural exchange, multimedia art event at the river walk by the Juche Tower in Pyongyang, North Korea. This apolitical occasion will hopefully inspire future collaborative action to aid relations between The United States and North Korea.

Please support by visiting the PA-RT North Korea Kickstarter page. We strongly believe that your support of this project will inspire future collective action and ignite opposition to the status quo. I interviewed Nash from PA-RT to discuss some of the details on the project and future plans.

How did this idea come about? PA-RT got involved in this project through my dear friend, Ramsey Aburdeene, who met Michael Basset a Citizen Diplomat, Cultural Diplomat, and North Korea liaison in Washington DC . They contacted me regarding a trip, a custom tour, to North Korea and I immediately asked to connect with something more than just a trip of a lifetime into the unknown. In other words I wanted PA-RT to collaborate with the people and artists of North Korea so as to try to bridge countries that seem the most unbridgeable at the moment. Once I met Michael in person I was excited to connect immediately and see that our mission and goals were in line. and here I am finally hoping to realize my attempt in connecting political art and communication with music that will ultimately result in a post modern online short video that will generate interest and have the viral impact to make a difference.

What other countries do you plan to collaborate with in the future? I think it would be most interesting to collaborate with all these " fabricated enemies" of ours such as Cuba, Iran, and Syria. Eventually we'd like to connect with all cultures but I think its an interesting start to get our point across " what unites us is deeper than what separates us".

What do you guys need to make this happen?

There are 6 of us going, myself and the creative team that constitutes of two videographers/editors/directors, our visual animation and graphics designer, and two DJ/Producers. We want to raise $20,000 since we have a ton of equipment, admin costs, visas, and insurance expenses, I do want to highlight here that we are completely volunteering all our efforts. Check out our kickstarter page for more info. Unfortunately we can't afford to execute this project and make it happen ourselves so we are hoping to raise donations from anyone interested in our message and vision.

Why is it important to be able to execute events such as this one? I truly believe that this project is a cultural stepping stone to something much greater and to further collaborations impacting society,culture, politics and the arts. No matter how insignificant your individual effort seems sometimes , they add up in matter, as in the relics of our past actions, which then constitute a possibility, or an impossibility, of a practical rearrangement of things in our societies.