* * * * * * * * * * * * * * Five
European non-profit art organizations have teamed up to learn from each
other and find new ways to open up to audiences with limited access to
institutionalized culture. Initiated by La Escocesa (Barcelona, Spain),
OFF-Biennale Budapest (Hungary), < rotor > (Graz, Austria), Shtatëmbëdhjetë
/ Foundation 17 (Pristina, Kosovo), and tranzit.cz / Biennale Matter of
Art (Prague, Czech Republic), the project Art Space Unlimited builds upon
the individual artistic and educational efforts of these institutions,
providing space for local communities to gain resilience through participation
in politically engaged exhibition programming and residencies.
The art spaces involved will build shared knowledge and organize public
events centered around the mediation of art. The project will help these
institutions to become spaces relevant for an audience with limited access
to institutionalized contemporary art and develop strategies which will
be relevant across Europe. The project will culminate in a book that will
be made available to cultural organizers and curators in six languages. *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * Participating
institutions
Shtatëmbëdhjetë was registered as a foundation
in 2018, and it engages in activities throughout all of the regions of
Kosovo. The foundation aims to empower people of all genders to participate
and contribute to communities and public life through culture, education,
and activism. Shtatëmbëdhjetë’s primary programs
encompass Arts & Education, Cultural Activism, and Space, organized
within three distinct spaces. Galeria 17, with its four annual exhibitions
and continuous programs such as May Classes and Pop-up Art Week, utilizes
art as a catalyst to address crucial themes throughout the year. Rezidenca
17 provides residential opportunities for writers, researchers, scientists,
and other professionals. Beyond offering a space for individual work,
Rezidenca 17 actively organizes community events and capacity-building
programs, fostering collaboration and skill development among its diverse
community. Project Space 17 operates as a co-working space during the
day and transforms into a cultural hub in the evening, hosting diverse
events such as artist talks, music performances, workshops, masterclasses,
poetry nights, and feminist discussions.
OFF-Biennale Budapest started ten years ago as a grassroots
initiative providing a platform for progressive, critical culture in order
to strengthen the local independent art scene. Since 2014, OFF-Biennale
has been organizing regular art events in a biennial format based on wide-ranging
collaboration between local stakeholders and international partners. Through
its manifold activities, OFF-Biennale aims to contribute to the public
discourse by introducing urgent social, political and ecological issues
with the intention of enhancing the culture of democracy by means of art.
OFF-Biennale is currently in the preparation phase of its next edition,
which will take place in May–June 2025. The central idea behind
the upcoming biennale is to reclaim notions that have been hijacked by
the populist right-wing discourse, such as security, safety, or peace.
Instead of top-down concepts that proclaim autocracy, closed borders,
and xenophobia, OFF-Biennale presents critical theories and social practices
through art that offer other models based on trust, sharing, and solidarity.
With a concentrated presence in Budapest, the biennale will comprise projects
involving Romani people, children, and the LGBTQAI+ community as well
as many local partners of the cultural scene. Parallel to the program
anchored locally, OFF will collaborate on international projects with
partners in Europe and beyond, helping the Hungarian scene expand by bringing
its artists, curators, and content onto the international stage as well
as facilitating an exchange of ideas between the two contexts.
The program of < rotor > Centre for Contemporary Art
focuses on artistic works that explicitly deal with the social, political,
ecological, and economic questions of the present day. It produces and
presents mainly visual art, provides essential content for discussion,
and mediates contemporary art to a broad public. Promoting cooperation
and networked action are essential elements of the < rotor > philosophy.
This concerns networking efforts within the art field but also means acting
beyond the boundaries of art. The search for satisfactory methods of collaboration
and possibilities of participation in artistic processes for the public
in general or for specific target audiences is another main focus. For
< rotor >, the public space is an important setting to make art
happen. Leaving the boundaries of the art space actively brings people
into contact with art and thus expands the audience. Since it was founded
in 1999, < rotor > has maintained a dense network of organizations
and artists in many European countries and beyond. Particularly strong
ties have existed from the outset with Central and Southeastern Europe.
Biennale Matter of Art is a project of the initiative for contemporary
art tranzit.cz, which was founded in 2002 as part of the Central
European network tranzit.org. The first edition of the biennale was held
in 2020 in Prague, and it has since become established as a space for
voices and perspectives that are scarce in the dominant culture. As part
of its various projects, tranzit.cz has been involved in a long-term project
with the art group Laundry Collective, whose members are women who have
experienced homelessness. It has also supported artist and radical social
worker Barbora Bažantová in her work with the Romani youth
in a large Romani settlement in the village of Janov in northern Czech
Republic. The upcoming edition of the Biennale Matter of Art will take
place in Prague from June 14 to September 29, 2024. Curated by Katalin
Erdodi and Aleksei Borisionok, the exhibition will explore the topics
of social change in rural areas and the history and futures of worker
resistance, highlighting forgotten stories of social unrest and underrepresented
micro-histories of sociopolitical transformation in Central and Eastern
Europe and elsewhere.
La Escocesa is an artist-led contemporary visual arts
organization and residency space managed collectively through the artists’
association Associació d’Idees EMA. La Escocesa focuses on
supporting artists and cultural agents, offering workspaces and resources
for the development of their projects. It provides studios and workshops
for over 30 resident artists, alongside a free public program of events,
open calls, and training opportunities. As a space inhabited by the artistic
community, La Escocesa is active not only in the production and creation
of works but also in the common generation of knowledge, networks of care,
and new ways of building and practicing cultural institutions. The associative
nature of the center enables the active participation of the artists,
generating a horizontal collective structure through which the center
is managed. As a feminist institution, the values of La Escocesa ??arise
from an intersectional, emancipatory, cooperative, and inclusive position,
which advocates for sustainability, experimentation, collaboration, and
the development of community artistic projects
The project is co-funded by the European
Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s)
only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the
EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held
responsible for them.
