What can art achieve in regions affected by war? How do artists work to preserve human dignity, create new opportunities for encounters and promote peaceful conflict resolution? The Swiss foundation artasfoundation has been initiating and organizing art projects in conflict regions since 2012. In doing so, it is repeatedly confronted with fundamental questions. These questions will be put up for discussion in the «Art in Conflict» discussion series.

Each event takes the form of a table discussion with a specific topic. The initial impetus for the exchange is provided by invited experts who work with art initiatives of various disciplines in conflict regions or have published on the subject. This will take the form of either a short presentation or a text that is sent out in advance. Interested visitors are welcome to listen to the discussions or to join in. 

Specific Programme October 16

The Living Room project is a meeting space for displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh, local participants, and international artists. At the heart of the initiative is the belief that art has the potential to create democratic and grassroots-oriented approaches to collective and individual healing after experiencing violence. Various communities work together in different social and artistic formats to encourage those who have lost their homes and to support artists in engaging with creative and conflict-sensitive approaches to shaping a peaceful future.

In the current edition of Art in Conflict, we present the artasfoundation project Living Room and explore questions of community building in a fragile context. How does the exchange with local cultural organisations take shape in the effort for transparent and mutual interaction? How can artists be encouraged to engage with issues related to the conflict through socially transformative art initiatives? And what insights can be gained from this for projects in the field of art and peacebuilding when working with communities?

Shoghakat Mlke-Galstyan is responsible for networking and project management at artasfoundation with a focus on Armenia. She is an actress, dancer, arts manager, co-director of the MIHR Theater, and a lecturer at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography.

Rana Yazaji is co-director of artasfoundation. She is conducting research at the Zurich University of the Arts as part of the SNF project Contemporary Art, Popular Culture, and Peacebuilding in Eastern Europe and serves as a consultant and trainer in socially engaged art practices, focusing on building agile institutional structures for organisations working with distressed communities.

Subscribe to the current program of the «Art in Conflict» discussion series via this link. 

The event will be hybrid. Spontaneous participation on site is always possible and participation via Zoom is also possible with prior registration. An event once a semester takes place at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK.

Free entry

Accessability

Participation via Zoom is generally possible with prior registration: info@artasfoundation.ch. For individual events, registered participants will receive preparatory texts by e-mail.