Art in divided cities
2009/2010. presents the first independent project Abart art production has
realised in cooperation with partner organisations from Beirut and Kosovska
Mitrovica, as well as with a group of artists from Berlin. The project was
supported by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), Schuller Helfen Leben
(SHL), and Center for civil society promotion (CPCD, Sarajevo).
As the starting
point of the project, we took on board different research and theoretical
practices to analyse, rethink and interpret issues of public space, city,
border and different types of border-ness, in order to point out to the various
sociological, political and discursive practices. As a result, we issued two
publications (Art in divided cities 1 and 2)
in November 2009 and April 2010, which summarize the results of the
research process and cooperation activities we implemented with a group of
citizens- activists from divided cities.
As the second
main activity line of the project, we realized several artistic actions which
were a result of cooperation between artists and curators focusing on
deconstruction of stereotypical divisions reflected in the specific social
context. Documentary exhibition Guide to
divided cities was envisioned as a short presentation of architectural,
economic, social and artistic image of Beirut, Berlin, Kosovska Mitrovica and
Mostar focusing on places of division. The second exhibition, entitled
Interspace- I am there, there where I am
not, presented the works of BH artists: Gordana Anđelić Galić, Nela
Hasanbegović and Demis Sinančević, who were invited to rethink the different
aspects of border phenomenna and point
out to the specific elements constructing them.
Festival of Art in Divided Cities, which
was held from the 14th to the 17th of April 2010 in Mostar, presented the final
activity which Abart Art Production accomplished in the project Art in Divided Cities. The Festival was
conceptualized as a four-day-long, multi-disciplinary encounter of artists,
curators, architects, and sociologists from Beirut, Belfast, Berlin, K.
Mitrovica and Mostar.
GUIDE TO DIVIDED CITIES
The documentary exhibition Guide to divided
cities is first in the line of artistic activities that will be organized and
produced by Abart and its coworkers in the period of October 2009. - April
2010.
Guide to divided cities is a short introduction to the architectural, political, economic, cultural, social and finally the artistic image of Berlin - Beirut - Kosovska Mitrovica and Mostar, with a special focus on the spaces of division in these cities.The functioning of global multinational cities is an issue which is not an isolated phenomenna only specific for the city of Mostar, and for this reason it was particularly important to establish cooperation with organizations from Beirut, Kosovska Mitrovica and Berlin.
With this exhibition we shall try to provide an objective insight to historical and geographical facts about these cities, spaces and modes of their division, without underlining the religious and national differences which have caused and imposed it.
The main focus is to observe the phenomenna of the "border" in its totality, by taking into account the time before and after it was created, its non/existance in present time and space, while asking questions at the same time of what meaning (if any) would it have in the future.
Guide to divided cities is a short introduction to the architectural, political, economic, cultural, social and finally the artistic image of Berlin - Beirut - Kosovska Mitrovica and Mostar, with a special focus on the spaces of division in these cities.The functioning of global multinational cities is an issue which is not an isolated phenomenna only specific for the city of Mostar, and for this reason it was particularly important to establish cooperation with organizations from Beirut, Kosovska Mitrovica and Berlin.
With this exhibition we shall try to provide an objective insight to historical and geographical facts about these cities, spaces and modes of their division, without underlining the religious and national differences which have caused and imposed it.
The main focus is to observe the phenomenna of the "border" in its totality, by taking into account the time before and after it was created, its non/existance in present time and space, while asking questions at the same time of what meaning (if any) would it have in the future.
INTERSPACE - I am over there, there where I am not
INTERSPACE - I am over there, there where I am not is the second artistic action organized by Abart art production in the Youth cultural center “Abrašević” within the Art in divided cities project. This multimedia exhibition will present the artworks by three BH artists: Gordana Anđelić Galić, Nela Hasanbegović and Demis Sinančević who explore the possibilities of demystification and deconstruction of stereotypes related to divisions which function on universal as well as on private (individual) level.
The artists primarily refer to divisions which are carried within ourselves (our own Being), but are most often imposed by leading ideological and political systems. They wish to demystify the stereotypes of imposed identities, divisions and borders while subverting the default oppositions. The border, in this way, becomes the threshold that does not separate one from the other, left from the right, public from the private, private from the political, but instead creates space for interrelations.
FESTIVAL OF ART IN DIVIDED CITIES
Festival of Art in Divided Cities, which was held from the 14th to the 17th of April 2010 in Mostar, represented the final activity which Abart Art Production accomplished in the project Umjetnost u podijeljenim gradovima / Art in Divided Cities.
The Festival was conceptualized as a
four-day-long, multi-disciplinary encounter of artists, curators, architects,
and historians of art and sociology from Beirut, Belfast, Berlin, Kosovska
Mitrovica and Mostar, who had from various starting points problematized the
topic of the divided City, with a special emphasis on analysis of the
(im)possibilities of developing and implementing art strategies within the city
fabric. Festival of Art in Divided Cities was
envisioned in the form of a collage composed of lectures, discussions, art
exhibitions, performances and interventions in public space.
