B arbara’s exhibition will profile the verbal narratives of students at Stellenbosch University and some staff members through story and music. Transforming university institutions into vibrant communities for social cohesion and building connectedness between people, is an important challenge not only in South Africa, but globally. Stellenbosch University was once the intellectual home for the architects of apartheid. Yet, during the 21st century, and since 2007, Stellenbosch University has emerged as a hub for courageous social architects – pioneers who have been committed to institutional transformation.
This proposal is for an exhibition, to be hosted initially at Stellenbosch University. Designed to be portable, it will then travel to other universities and institutions both in South Africa and abroad. It seeks to contribute to a new kind of listening and inquiry, offering students, faculty, members of university communities and the broader society, an opportunity to enter the inner worlds of others with greater understanding and compassion. We live at a time when finding viable and engaging approaches to heal the many divides within institutions and societies globally are sorely needed. As Yo Yo Ma, the famous cellist has said – “Music is a short hand way to get to know each other”.
The glue resulting from our common humanity and mutual recognition is what we need to craft, to reimagine a viable future. Wounds that still hurt can be owned and shared and be transformed.
As a mirror of life music is profoundly accurate and the potential for the truth it offers in sowing the seeds for transformation is relevant to our society. Our collective journey depends on whether we can co-evolve within organisations and in society at large. An evolving culture within organisations and within societies requires critical and creative impulses of renewal from within and without. Music can become one of those positive impulses. This exhibition helps to enliven and reactivate meaning, opening reservoirs of shared understanding that music and engagement with the other can give on all levels — the individual, the, organisation community and society.
The combination of music, deep and appreciative listening offers us a participatory humanism that resonates with the ever- present need to enlarge and enrich the reconciliatory ‘we’ spaces in our universities, in our communities and in our country. This exhibition lays the ground for people to listen to each other, to enter another’s world and to build the bridges of reconciliation and mutual understanding still needed in our country and our world.
Donate to this project
To donate online by credit card, please donate via the Omega Point Institute. Please also send an e-mail to [email protected] to specify that the donation is for Barbara Nussbaum’s audio exhibition.
To donate by phone, please call the Omega Point Institute’s office at +1805 962 7773.
Donations by cheque can be mailed to the Omega Point Institute, Attn: Accounting, 2020 Alameda Padre Serra #135, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, USA.
Thank you for your support!
