Get The Trolls Out! is organising an exhibition of artworks exploring the theme of 'Diversity & Religion' in collaboration with the University of Westminster Diversity and Inclusion Research Community.
The Get the Trolls Out! project has been monitoring media in seven European countries, noticing an increasingly concerning distribution of antisemitic and anti-Muslim visual and video media. Our planned exhibition is an attempt to counter this hateful content by promoting human rights narratives about ‘Diversity & Religion’ in Europe. The exhibition and launch event are being organised in partnership with the Diversity & Inclusion Research Community at the University of Westminster (UK). The artworks will be displayed at the Regent Street university campus in London.
The Open Call
We had an amazing response to our open call for artworks and videos addressing the theme of ‘Diversity & Religion’. We received 146 visual artworks and 29 videos from across our seven project countries. Artists and video makers from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland and the UK were eligible to apply. Submissions by artists from a minority background, with or without professional experience, were strongly encouraged. Submitted artwork may have been produced specifically for our open call or may have been previously produced and published elsewhere. These submissions have been judged by our expert jury panel in the fields of art and counter hate speech. A total of 25 visual artworks have been selected, to be featured on our website gallery, promoted on our social media, displayed in the exhibition, and included in the exhibition catalogue. A total of 5 videos have been selected, featured on our website gallery, promoted on our social media and screened at the launch event at the University of Westminster. Visual artists will receive a fee of £150 per selected piece and video makers will receive a fee of £350 per selected piece.
The Jury Panel
Diana Ali is a visual artist, international curator, lecturer, mentor and workshop leader. She has been practicing for over 20 years and has exhibited nationally and internationally. She is a trustee at Nottingham Women's Centre and has appeared as a professional mentor on BBC's Big Painting Challenge, BB4's Life Drawing Live, Channel 4's Drawers Off and has written and presented Inside Museums on BB4.
Diana I. Popescu (Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, University of London) focuses on public history and the reception of violent histories. She explores aspects related to the ethics and the aesthetics of representing genocide, and histories of discrimination and persecution in visual culture and contemporary art.
Giulia Dessi is a project manager at the Media Diversity Institute where she currently coordinates the project Get the Trolls Out! countering anti-religious hate in European media. Giulia is also a researcher, trainer and freelance journalist, specialising in hate speech, discrimination and freedom of expression. She is a puppeteer trained at the Curious School of Puppetry and Brighton Puppetry School in the UK.
Dr Nitasha Kaul (PhD, MSc, BA Hons) is a multidisciplinary academic, novelist, poet, artist, and economist. She is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. Over the last two decades, she has published on themes concerning international relations, democracy, political economy, technology/AI, identity, rise of right-wing nationalism, feminist and postcolonial critiques, small states, Bhutan, India and Kashmir. She is the author of over 140 publications.
