They were, those people, a kind of solution

Priorities

- Transnational mobility

- Audience development

- Capacity building: Training and education

Project description

The current refugee crisis has brought about xenophobic demonstrations and attacks on asylum-seeker shelters, fuelled by years of shift in public opinion that called for unified cultures and nations, but it also instigated impressive displays of solidarity and compassion. The project starts from the position that focus on border controls as solution turns a blind eye to the fact that in itself Europe is traversed by fundamental conflicts and that immigrants are often used as scapegoats for economic crisis and declining living standards in Europe. It also looks into different waves of migrations to Europe as played out in the historical phenomenon of Gastarbeiters (guest-workers).

Project objective

The goal of the project was to contribute to better public understanding of inclusion of minorities and underrepresented groups, against the conservative hegemonic discourse of cultural identity and representation, to promote values of solidarity and social inclusion through artistic agency and to articulate critical, resistant, and  constructive possibilities of artistic production.

Gained experience

Throughout this project we have researched socially engaged artistic practices and models of knowledge and activism that are connected with the questions of contemporary and historical migrations and migrant work. We have also collaborated with different, local and international, artistic actors in the interrelated area of contemporary art, activism, theory and citizen’s solidarity. We have enlarged the circle of our audience and deepened the understanding of contemporary art as a place for a dialogue and questioning of relevant social questions.