ÖPR Exchange Programme
Project name: Artist’s residence – a place for exchange.
The exchange project is implemented on the basis of three networks of sites – art residences:
– PAS Fürstenwalde;
– RIA Keburia;
– PAS St. Petersburg;
and includes the participation of artists and cultural figures from different countries: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Germany.
The overall goal of the “Artist’s Residence” project is to increase the number of self-organized art spaces in different countries and strengthen the links between them.
Project objectives:
- to design a communication environment for people of art;
- create a single network of curators, artists and musicians, which will ensure regular contact within art communities and cultural exchange between the regions of Germany, Russia and Georgia;
- provide an opportunity to implement projects in the concept of “up-cycling” in the common creative space of the residence.
Cooperation between cultural figures makes it possible to develop and see in practice a method for designing creative residences in abandoned and remote areas from the centers, which implies a qualitative change in the infrastructure of selected places.
Art residences are becoming drivers for the development of remote areas, attracting more citizens through the created cultural initiatives, forming the cultural stability of the regions and increasing the availability of resources for creative clusters.
Results:
During the five months of development of the residences with the support of the “Expanding cooperation with civil society in the Eastern partnership countries and Russia” program, cultural and art workers, together with the local community of curators and artists, created 20 art / design projects.
It is valuable that in almost all implemented projects the concept of “up-cycling” used was reflected in serious topics affecting issues of national identity, civil liberties, territorial studies and other topical issues of civil society.
A survey of exchange program participants shows that at least 70 percent of them believe that their knowledge of the planning, development and operation of art residences has increased significantly and they can apply this knowledge independently in their home country. Also, artists and curators plan to stay in touch with other project participants and seek further cooperation.
Despite the changing global situation in the world, which makes it difficult to travel between partner countries and new aspects of cultural policy, we hope that the developed concept will inspire and motivate artists to further develop art residences and international cultural projects.
The developed method in the future should become the basis for the following creative endeavors. The project is planned to be continued and actively developed in the next two years.