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Discussion Series Art in Conflict
Gessnerallee Zurich

Wednesday, 15. October, 17.30–19.00 h CET
Stall 6, Gessnerallee 6, Zürich & Zoom
Live broadcast to the media library of the Academy of Art and Design Basel, Freilager-Platz 1, Münchenstein, 8th floor

Art in Times of Upheaval – Insights from Syria and Serbia
with Abdullah Alkafri (Ettijahat – Independent Culture) and Milan Vračar (Kulturanova), joining online

What can art achieve in regions affected by crisis? How do artists engage in fostering human connections and peaceful conflict transformation, and what are the indispensable conditions for this? The Art in Conflict series explores fundamental questions of international peacebuilding through dialogues with practitioners and scholars from diverse disciplines and backgrounds.
In the format of roundtable conversations, with two guests at a time, the series addresses specific topics in this field, drawing on both practical experiences and theoretical reflections. The discussions are moderated by the team of artasfoundation, the Swiss foundation for art in conflict regions, which has been initiating and organising art projects since 2012.

Syria and the Arab world stand at a historic crossroads, while European countries like Serbia are also undergoing profound transformations. This moment of great uncertainty may give rise to new forms of oppression and conflict, but it also presents an opportunity to build fairer and more democratic structures.
In conversation with Abdullah Alkafri and Milan Vračar, we explore the upheavals in Serbia and Syria, alongside wider dynamics in the Arab world and Eastern Europe. The focus is on the role of art and culture in societal change: How can they open spaces for dialogue, resistance, and new visions?

Spontaneous participation on site is always possible. Online participation is possible with prior registration. Free entry. The event will be held in English.

For the event on 15. October, please register here!

This event is part of a monthly series that is organised by the CAP, a joint initiative of artasfoundation and the ZHdK in cooperation with Theater Gessnerallee. Here you can subscribe to the current programme of Art in Conflict and stay up to date.

Next Dates:

Wednesday, 26. November 2025 17.30 h CET
Peacebuilding Between Stage and Research
with Diana Rojas and Chimène Costa

Wednesday, 17. December 2025 17.30 h CET
Collective Visions – Photography as Collaboration
with Sadia Marium and Tiffany Fairey

Wednesday, 14. January 2026 17.30 CET
Beyond Formal Structures – Self-Organised Cultural Initiatives
with Vigen Galstyan and Yifei Chen

Workshop: Connecting Communities & Cultures mit Chimène Costa
Art in Conflict – Practice

artasfoundation expands the Art in Conflict series with a practice-oriented format: workshops, readings, and screenings offer space for exchange, deepening, and artistic experimentation in (post-)conflict contexts. From 28.–30. November 2025, Chimène Costa will introduce dance and performance methods based on storytelling, body awareness, and community. In the workshop, we will explore her approaches, which combine dance, traditional songs, and performative exercises to make personal experiences and collective stories visible and tangible. No prior experience is required. Participation is free.

Friday, 28. November, 19.00 h
Introductory Meeting, artasfoundation office

Saturday, 29. November, 10.00 h – 17.00 h
Workshop, Maxim Theater, Zurich

Sunday, 30. November, 10.00 h – 17.00 h
Workshop, Maxim Theater, Zurich

Registration by 24. November 2025: claudia.barth@artasfoundation.ch

Registration for New CAS Further Education Course Open!

The CAS Arts and International Cooperation focuses on the potential of the arts to support processes of social transformation and peace building. It emphasises fair and sensitive international and intercultural collaboration. The programme brings together an international group of participants. These include professionals in arts practices, peace building activists, project managers from internationally operating organisations and visionary people, all from different geopolitical contexts. Through a study-trip with field visits, the participants will gain an insight into actual art projects in fragile contexts. They will reflect on these projects based on tools and concepts from current literature and conclude with a mentored diploma thesis that relates to an individual project or work context.

The CAS is a cooperation project between Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and artasfoundation in the framework of the Center for Art and Peacebuilding (CAP) since 2016.

Further information and registration

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From the current circular

It is impossible to remain the same person after experiencing conflict. This also applies to being a friend, colleague, or partner of someone enduring violence. There are major turning points in life, and recognising our interrelationships with others, despite the illusion that we are isolated and protected in our seemingly simple, conflict-free lives overwhelmed by daily concerns, is undoubtedly one of them.

It is not only individuals who learn, but so too do institutions. They learn to embrace non-linearity, often by critically engaging with uncertainty and reinventing themselves to navigate the increasing international funding and political restrictions. Institutions can also evolve, not hierarchically, as was the traditional way, but horizontally, where unlearning remains a challenging yet creative exercise.

Transformative institutional shifts toward more collaborative models, such as sociocracy, have the potential, if successful, to significantly influence the field, particularly, but not exclusively, in fragile contexts. In the art field, institutional practices have long been shaped by management rules and mechanisms. Even the language used by institutions is heavily influenced by economic, military, and political frameworks, which starkly contradict the artistic need for openness and fluidity. This contributes to the marginalisation of art practices in mediation, peacebuilding, and social transformation, among other fields. Applying the same institutional logic to art as to other disciplines inevitably fails to yield comparable results. The repeated attempt to fit artistic institutions into these frameworks has been a battle that has been lost many times, and one we will keep on losing, because it is based on a false premise: the comparison of the incomparable.

At artasfoundation, we try to sustain this openness, indeterminacy and immeasurability of artworks and their impact every day, placing greater value on connectedness and organic growth rather than on economic values.

¹artasfoundation would like to underline that its use of names and titles particularly in regards to conflict regions should not be understood as implying any form of recognition or non-recognition by the foundation or as having any other political connotation whatsoever.

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