Category Archives: European cooperation projects 2017
Borderline Offensive: laughing in the face of fear
Project Leader: TILLT AB (SVB) SE
Creative industry Kosice, SK
House of Humour and Satire BG
Stichting Keunstwurk NL
Symbiosis GR
Udruge centar za mirovne studije HR
Centar za kulturnu dekontaminaciju RS
Maximum Grant Awarded: 480.453,00 €
Borderline Offensive engages European (EU) and Middle Eastern (ME) artists in exploring questions of migration and community cohesion in contemporary Europe, through the medium of humour aesthetics and laughter as a mechanism for intercultural socialization and collective identity-building. Partners in 7 European cities: Gothenburg (SE), Belgrade (RS), Leeuwarden (NL), Gabrovo/Plovdiv (BG), Kosice (SK), Zagreb (HR) and Thessaloniki (GR) + 5 ME associate partners: Beirut (LB), Istanbul (TR), Ramallah (PS), Syria (SY), Jordan/Tandem Shaml (JO) + supporting partners Funny Cities Network (Leicester Comedy Festival/UK).
The migrant and its “crisis” are our key political subjects, embodying the contrasts between Western values and those arriving from MENA (Middle East and North Africa region) and holding a mirror to Europe, forcing a discussion by European and neighboring communities on what Europe is, what it should be, and how we define ourselves and our actions. A European community for transnational cooperation and knowledge exchange on humour aesthetics and intercultural dialogue is established (2017). Transnational artistic residencies with local, EU and ME artists employ humour and participatory processes between non-European migrants and European residents, in the co-creation of artworks (2018).
The resulting artworks and creators embark in a transnational tour connected to ECOCs, international artistic events, comedy festivals and ECOCs – replicating participatory and intercultural dialogue practices in each country (2019). The artworks, performances, knowledge are deconstructed to approach new European challenges, and the model is shared via capacity-building, publication and conference. Redefining Europe, new and old European citizens engage in a process of development through community dynamics that do not see the excluded as a threat, but takes difference as a shared substance of the European community. Two people laughing at the same joke, both are reassure that they share a common humanity.
Reading Balkans
Project Leader: Zalozba Goga, Zavod za zaloznisko in umetnisko dejavnost SI
Association Krokodil RS
Društvo za izdavanje, promet i uslugi Goten Group Dooel Skopje, MK
Maximum Grant Awarded: 200.000,00 €
The cooperation project Reading Balkans (South and East reaches West – digital platform for promotion of writers in post-conflict societies) aims to link various partners active in the field of literature promotion and dissemination. The aim is to create new capacities employing a new business model with the Literary Agent for literatures of Southeast, Southern and Eastern Europe, and strengthen the transnational mobility through the network of writers-in-residence programs.
The literary agent will be selected and trained in the course of the project, and his/her long-term mission will be to establish a new literary agency dealing with translation rights for literatures written in less used languages. Using the joint digital platform, which will be another outcome of the project, the partners and the agent will present the region of Southeast Europe as a region of extraordinary literary creativity.
The project will thus build new capacities in Europe’s South and East, and will present the best literary voices of these regions to facilitate their translations to major European languages. The project will also aid writers to professionalize and internationalize their careers through their increased visibility and mobility. The focus of the project will be on writers who in their works warn of the perils of nationalism and intolerance. Through a network of residencies and visit to festivals, the project will offer a platform to writers coming from different (post)conflict regions of Europe to exchange and share with the general audience their views on the consequences of these two phenomena.
In view of the recent rise of the right-wing populism and neo-fascist movements throughout Europe, the cooperation partners believe that especially these literary voices from Southeast Europe need to be heard in other crisis regions of Europe, such as Cyprus and Ukraine, and read in major European languages.
Young Theatre
Project Leader: Pionirski dom – Center za kulturo mladih SI
Children’s Cultural Center Belgrade RS
Elckie Centrum Kultury PL
Opera Comica Pentru Copii RO
Maximum Grant Awarded: 200.000,00 €
The goal of the project “Young Theatre” is to address the trend of low and steadily decreasing popularity of theatre among European audiences, especially the young, by exploiting the audience building potential of improvisational theatre.
The project will accomplish this by developing an innovative Art Education/Audience Development program in the field of theatre and deliver it across five Culture Program countries to key target groups involved with introducing theatre to the young: (1) theatre professionals and (2) pedagogues (schools), in the process creating an international Young Theatre Network, dedicated to children’s improvisational theatre and young audience development in the field of theatre arts.
The project focuses on at-risk countries of Southern and Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Croatia, and Slovakia), where Eurobarometer research shows that audience interest in theatre is the lowest and steadily decreasing. Project partners include Pionirski dom – Youth Culture Center (Slovenia), Elk Theatre (Poland), The State Comic Opera for Children (Romania), Children’s Culture Center Belgrade (Serbia) and N.I. Theatre for Children and Youth (Macedonia). Project Associate Partners include KRILA Creative Laboratory for Contemporary Theatre (Croatia) and Thalia Theatre (Slovakia).
Five project partners and two Associate partners from 7 different European countries will produce results that include: (1) first group of Improvisational theatre instructors in target countries (20 persons), (2) training for 75 theatre professionals and 150 pedagogues in five target countries who will (3) directly engage in improvisational theatre production with approximately 1000 children, produce 125 improv formats, publicly present 25 of these improv formats to a combined audience of 5000 visitors at 5 Impro Days, and (4) presentation of the new audience developing tool to target audiences around Europe at 3 international theatre audience conferences.
MAPS – Mapping and Archiving Public Spaces
Project Leader: Kulturno umetnisko drustvo Mota Muzej tranzitornih umetnosti SI
Artos Cultural Foundation Idryma CY
House of Humour and Satire BG
Communication point RS
T-O Green Europe CZ
W24 Programm GmbH AT
Maximum Grant Awarded: 195.000,18 €
MAPS – Mapping and Archiving Public Spaces project aims to identify, map and archive public spaces, architecture and monuments which are part of our cultural heritage, but are not yet identified as such. Through oral histories, creative digital tools and active audience participation, MAPS develops a methodology of redefining the role of public spaces, and an approach of rethinking monuments as places, which carry significant symbolic power for the inhabitants, the immediate users of those public spaces. MAPS finds creative ways to present cultural heritage and builds a geo-location based participatory online platform and mobile app, which informs public on the importance of cultural heritage and allows users to co-create its content.
The basis for the platform is a map-based archive, consisting of (art) historical and architectural data and photos of the location, which present its history and current state. Selected locations include video documentaries, interviews with the community and field recordings, and VR models of the sites. With digitization of cultural heritage and participatory models MAPS democratizes the process of preserving cultural heritage and develops audiences through their direct involvement in the project. MAPS promotes transnational mobility through researchers, who travel to locations, artists, who stay in residencies to develop site-specific interventions and creative technologists, who engage in training and development of tools. All the achievements are presented on symposia and promoted through a vast network of offline and online channels.
By researching, collecting, mapping and archiving the forgotten, decaying and otherwise overlooked gems of architecture, monuments and public spaces, we are making an important contribution in sustaining and reviving the European heritage. Through reuse, repurpose and revitalization of public spaces and monuments, MAPS connects the missing dots and adds to the mosaic of European memory and identity.
