[CALLED OFF] Beyond Cancel Culture

The terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 and the bombing of Gaza have plunged not only Israel and Palestine but also international politics into a crisis. This crisis is not confined to the political sphere but is also contributing to an intensification of the polarization already observed in the cultural scene. The ongoing debate over what can be said and who is allowed to express opinions on certain topics has led to increasing intransigence among different factions and the cancellation of numerous events. Has cancel culture taken control of the art and cultural scene? In this highly polarized debate, how can methods of de-escalation be developed and channels of communication reopened? Journalist Daisuke Tsuda talks with philosopher and author Carolin Emcke, director Akira Takayama, and art theorist Yuzu Murakami about cancellations, boycotts, uncompromising statements, and the issue of discourse dominance.


Carolin Emcke
Carolin Emcke, born 1967, studied philosophy, politics, and history in London, Frankfurt am Main, and at Harvard University. From 1998 to 2006, she was an editor at Der Spiegel and worked as an international editor in many crisis regions. In 2003/04, she was a Visiting Lecturer in Political Theory at Yale University. From 2007 to 2014, she was an international reporter for Die Zeit and has been a columnist for the weekend edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung since 2014, as well as a freelance writer.
Since the 2004/2005 season, Carolin Emcke has curated and moderated the discussion series Streitraum at the Schaubühne Berlin.
Recent publications include Silent Violence – Reflecting on the RAF (2008), How We Desire (2012), Because It Can Be Said: On Testimony and Justice (2013), and Against Hate (2016). Awards (selected): Otto Brenner Prize for Critical Journalism (2010), German Reporter Award in the category of "Best Reportage" (2010), Journalist of the Year (2010), Johann Heinrich Merck Prize from the German Academy for Language and Literature for her entire body of work (2014), Lessing Prize of the Free State of Saxony (2015), Lichtenberg Poetics Chair Prize, Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (2016).

Akira Takayama
Theater director and head of the theater unit Port B. He has been producing installations, tour performances and social experiments utilizing urban spaces as a way of engaging with cities and societies across the world. In recent years, collaboration with those from other fields including visual art, tourism, literature, architecture, and urban researches has seen the scope of his practice broadening further, and he has applied his theatrical philosophy and methodology to opening up new possibilities in a variety of fields. Since 2016, he has been an associate professor at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts.

Yuzu Murakami
Born in 1991. Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Akita University of Art. Author of the book Art to Feminism ha darenomono? [Who Owns Art and Feminism?] (Kōbunsha, August 2023). She regularly writes for magazines and online media, including the series Somosomo Shashin Kyōshitsu [Actually a Photography Course] in the magazine POPEYE. Until March 2024, she worked as a research associate at the Tokyo Metropolitan Human Rights Promotion Center, where she organized exhibitions.

Daisuke Tsuda
Journalist / Media Activist. Editor-in-Chief of Politas / Politas TV Anchor. Born in 1973 in Tokyo. Graduated from the School of Social Sciences at Waseda University.
Specializes in media and journalism, technology and society, freedom of expression and online human rights violations, local issue resolution and government-run cultural projects, copyright and content business, among other topics.
His major publications include “Jōhō Sensō wo ikinuku” [Surviving the Information War] (Asahi Shinsho), “Uebu de Seiji wo ugokasu!” [Shaping Politics on the Web!] (Asahi Shinsho), “Dōin no Kakumei” [The Revolution of Mobilization] (Chuko Shinsho Rakure), “Jōhō no Kokkyûhō” [Breathing Techniques of Information] (Asahi Shuppan), Twitter-sha Kairon [Twitter Debate] (Yosensha Shinsho), among others. Since September 2011, he has been distributing the weekly paid email magazine "Media no Gemba" [Media Scene].