Performing Arts as a Weapon for Informal Cultural Diplomacy? Belgian Unity Advocacy on Stage

In the past, performing arts have already been seen as political tools, especially prior to the existence of the mass media. In more and more politically divided Belgium, some performing artists have recently decided to express their political opinions. They want to militate against the political division between the two main cultural communities in the country: the Flemish speaking and the French speaking ones. Some of them use music: a choir of 600 young children, half Flemish and half French speaking, singing music by Francophone and Flemish composers together; twenty young children, half Flemish and half French speaking, singing “It’s our boat” together and in both languages… Others use physical theatre: bodies becoming symbols of each community can play ‘couples’ games (fighting, touching, leaving, reconciliating). All these performances use promotional materials linked to different country symbols: the colors of the flag, a famous monument (atomium), or the geographical borders. This paper tries to understand the use of political symbols in these particular performances. Do the artists want to act politically or only artistically? Which position do they intend to take up in the public sphere? What impacts do they wish to have? What means do they try to use to achieve their goals? Some of these questions we’ll try to investigate. The empirical material consists of semi-directive interviews with the artists. It will be extremely challenging to measure the political impacts of these performances, it is facing very strong methodological challenges and it will be almost impossible to provide definitive answers. We will only be able to describe and analyze the politicians’ reactions in public.