The Dynamics of Culture in Plural Society

Cultural heritage, culture of remembrance and future perspectives

Hans-Joachim Ruile

Hans-Joachim Ruile, the former managing director of Kulturhaus Kresslesmühle, a cultural centre
in Augsburg, explains how culture can serve as a means of participation and as a democratic force
in the peaceful shaping of diversity, and gives examples.

»All cultures are involved in one another; none is single and pure, all are hybrid, heterogeneous,
extraordinarily differentiated and unmonolithic.« (Edward Said)

The processes of individualization, migration and globalization are leading to an unprecedented

pluralization of our societies. Given the fragmentation of urban societies, we must develop cultural
policies that foster understanding and dialogue in a reality characterized by diversity. Intercultural
competence is a fundamental prerequisite for living together in a plural society, and cultural
education, the culture of remembrance and artistic education have an important bridging function in
efforts to develop this competence. Diversity is becoming a dominant feature in the field of culture,
in publicly subsidized institutions as well as in the creative industries. The ideological leitmotif of a
so-called cultural homogeneity of nation states or regions is fading fast. Cosmopolitan attitudes,
multiform lifestyles, post-national identities, European and transnational perspectives are gaining
importance in the cultural scenes and institutions, in the production and reception of culture in
Germany, as elsewhere. However, we need to preserve cultural legacies and foster the various
cultures of remembrance as necessary preconditions for living together as equals in our cities, which
have been transformed by migration. In this context, the development of new and complex future
perspectives of cultural education, from the preservation of traditions to contemporary art, plays a
central role. Arts and culture education is a prime area where we have to try out transcultural and
transnational approaches, while at the same time preserving cultural identities and different
artistic/cultural traditions. In doing so, we have to use a postmodern »not only, but also« approach,
taking into account the jumble of juxtaposed differences and contradictions, with their potential for
eventually getting along, and accepting heterogeneity. This implies that cultural policies have to
develop a new direction and new approaches when it comes to preservation of traditions, culture of
remembrance, intercultural opening of cultural institutions and international cultural exchange. In
this context, cultural education can help people deal competently and creatively with cultural
heterogeneity, teaching mutual respect in the fragmented city. If we recognize the processual nature
and the transformation of cultures in the context of migration and globalization and at the same time
accept tradition and remembrance, we will be able to use multiple perspectives of experience and
teaching in cultural education and avoid ethnicizing and culturalist tendencies. All this is already
happening in europe on a day-to-day basis – our education and culture institutions only need
acknowledge it. The »Festival der 1000 Töne – Friedensstadt Augsburg« (»Festival of 1000 Sounds –
Augsburg, City of Peace«) is one example of living urban diversity, describing itself as »a platform
for artistic projects and cultural policy perspectives in a multi-cultural city«. The festival has won the
cultural centre Kulturhaus Kresslesmühle an award as one of »365 places in the land of ideas«. The
award is presented jointly by the initiative »Deutschland – land der Ideen« (»Germany – country of
ideas«) and Deutsche Bank to award-winners who engage in creative work, realize their ideas
successfully and promote innovation. The festival programme focuses on issues of culture politics
and on artistic, socio-cultural and theoretical/academic questions relating to diversity in the urban
society. In doing so, the festival provides a fresh interpretation of the core tenet of the Peace of
Augsburg, »parity and participation«, giving audiences an opportunity to share in a hands-on
experience of the diversity of modern-day Augsburg and offering discourses for reflection at the
same time. As an artistic platform that brings together municipal cultural institutions and a network
of civil society cultural initiatives with and without migration background, the »Festival of 1000
Sounds« is searching for perspectives and conceptions of art and culture in the multi-cultural city of
today and tomorrow. It gives a strong voice to the »new« and irreversible plurality in Augsburg and
adds strong symbolic emphasis to the call for intercultural dialogue, socio-political inclusion and
acceptance of difference. At the same time, the festival offers a civil society platform where different
groups and actors can present their cultural projects and artistic endeavours and share in political
participation. mixing folk, classical and world music concerts, theatre and cabaret performances,
youth culture, dance, literature readings, workshops and meetings, the programme ensures a broad
range of high-quality events that relate global trends to their local manifestations, sustaining and
thriving on the tension between culture of remembrance and intercultural exchange, between
preservation of tradition and transcultural practice, between elite and popular culture, and between
the »dominant middleclass culture« and the »celebration of multiculturality«. The intercultural dance
theatre project »Rap For Peace«, which was initiated in 2006 by Kulturhaus Kresslesmühle, is an
impressive example of this approach: The ballet ensemble of Theater Augsburg and the city’s youth
organization work together with young people from Augsburg’s street art scene to create dance
theatre performances which are staged at the Theater Augsburg. The highly successful performances
incorporate breakdance, rap and graffiti on an equal footing with the body language of the ballet. In
line with a modern, urban understanding of culture, the festival is meant to act as a mediator between
the manifold cultural and social realities. Recognizing, taking up and promoting local artistic and
socio-cultural potential, it provides an alliance of cultural, social and educational policies within the
wider framework of Augsburg’s integration and peace policy concepts. The city’s cultural
institutions play an essential role in this endeavour. Since 2009, the Augsburg Philharmonic orchestra
has participated in the festival, performing a symphonic concert on a specific intercultural them every
year. In doing so, the orchestra aims to try out new artistic forms, reaching out to the changed
audiences of the future and opening itself to intercultural approaches. The complex reorientation of
conventional cultural institutions through collaborative projects with artists from other cultures and
different artistic backgrounds, milieus and scenes thus becomes a creative and playful process. At the
centre is a dynamic understanding of culture which focuses not only on musical traditions, folklore,
and ethnic and cultural specifics, but is also engaged in documenting change in cultures and in the
arts. Contemporary urban diversity is reflected in the crossover music styles that are popular in big
urban agglomerations, youth »subcultures« and their cacophonic dialogue with institutionalized
»elite culture«. One of the projects engaged in this field is » MEHR MUSIK!« (»MORE MUSIC!«),
whose main focus is on New music. For several years now, it has provided highly independent
interand transcultural contributions under its motto »The sound of the city«, confronting the manifold
»sounds« of the hetero - geneous urban space in a variety of ways. Another series is
»Zukunft(s)musik« (»Future music«), which deals with the challenges of globalized and
multicultural societies in the context of contemporary music at the international level. Moreover, jazz
musicians from Augsburg get together every year with musicians from other cultures or music scenes
for crossover projects. In 2011, Walter Bittner’s Zakedy music cooperated with Darioush Shirvani
and Seref Dalyanoglu, and the university Band performed with hip-hoppers and rappers from
Augsburg. The complex cultural achievements of the modern-day city, which are often relegated to
niche status, are thus publicized and enlisted in the service of »civilizing the many differences«, in
keeping with the tradition of Augsburg as a city of peace grounded on parity and participation.
Against the background of a »new« public spirit, the centrifugal forces of the segmented city are
compensated by social acceptance and cultural inclusion, and resources that may point the way
forward are recognized. As a complement and, above all, an alternative to conventional conceptions
of integration, culture thus serves as a means of participation and as a democratic force in the
peaceful shaping of diversity.

----------------------

Hans-Joachim Ruile studied educational theory, psychology and sociology at the Ludwig-
Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. Between 1977 and 2013 he was managing director of
the cultural centre Kulturhaus Kresslesmühle in Augsburg and responsible for the organization of
cultural events, including an open-air festival in the historic city centre of Augsburg (Augsburger
Altstadtfest), the theatre festival La Piazza, the Festival of 1000 Sounds – Augsburg, City of Peace
(»Festival der 1000 Töne – Friedensstadt Augsburg«) and the Augsburg Intercultural Academy.
Extensive activities as a jury member and lecturer in Germany and abroad. www.kresslesmuehle.de