News
Caucasus Analytical Digest
artasfoundation and its project partners commit to broadening their range of experience through the exchange of ideas on art and artistic collaboration, thereby fostering a diversity of opinions and providing new impulses to (civil) society. In the latest edition of the Caucasus Analytical Digest on Arts in Society, edited by our project manager Sandra Frimmel as a special editor, some of our longstanding partners explore the question of how artists, as well as newly founded grass root institutions, are seeking exchange with the so-called international art world by means of field reports and self-analysis without completely losing sight of the local traditions and starting conditions. It's worth a read!
Jour Fixe on 15 September 2021, 17.15 h, Swiss time
The situation for artists in Cuba is tense. Last December, several artists were arrested in Havana City after they protested the sentencing of musician Denís Solís González. More recently, demonstrators took to the streets in reaction to government policies after an economic crisis that led to shortages of food, medicine, and other basic commodities.
In the upcoming Jour Fixe, we will touch on the lived experience of artists there, having the opportunity to talk to a young Cuban visual artist. She studied at the Zurich School of Arts for a year before returning to her home country. Through a video conference, we will have the possibility to both hear about the daily life of artists in Cuba and ask questions.
The event will once more be hybrid, taking place both face to face and on Zoom. Please, feel free to join us in person whenever possible, because, on this occasion, the office will have a special Caribbean feel thanks to a series of photographs and music from Cuba... Further information
Zoom Link
15 September 2021 17.15h
Meeting-ID: 613 2214 9638
Code: 406177
artasfoundation invites you to its regular meeting Jour Fixe every 3rd Wednesday of the month to discuss ongoing projects, issues related to the foundation's work, and relevant political developments. Since Covid-19 started, we have been holding the Jour Fixe online via Zoom, offering the possibility for people to attend from further away. Depending on the participants, the discussion will take place in English or German.
If you wish to be informed about the agenda each month, please sign up on our Jour Fixe invitation list here.
Circular
From the current circular
Everything is prepared, the cold season is over and it is time to commence our projects. In the village of Tavush in Armenia, Hermine has prepared her garden. We visited her three weeks ago because we too were preparing. We were meeting partners of both a dance project that should have started long ago and an exchange project among art teachers. We asked Hermine how she sees the future, now that the war with Azerbaijan is over. ‘I can't think yet,’ she said. ‘My head is in turmoil. And the future? There is still a big emptiness for me.’
In the small town of Berd near the border of Azerbaijan, Armen Melikyan, the director of the local cultural centre, describes how the interest in art has increased ‘now in the post-war depression’. ‘Because parents want something uplifting for their children, we have more requests than usual,’ he says. The invitation to our dance project comes just at the right time. This is also the impression of Shoghakat Mlke Galstyan with whom we have already worked on several projects. We supported her art initiative for Karabakh refugees while the borders were closed due to the pandemic. Shoghakat shares our desire to deconstruct images of the enemy through art activities. But she reports how difficult things are at the moment: ‘You should see the horror images that are being spread on social media right now. All our young people see them and, then, we try to tell them that on the other side of the border, there are people like us.’
How easy it is to destroy and how much time and patience it takes to rebuild!
Here we recount the steps that we currently take to support such rebuilding.