Edu-Art 2025: Common Ground

Description

Edu-Art 2025: Common Ground - workshop series on the relationship between art and conflict, facilitated by Shoghakat Galstyan [AM], Yulia Kostereva [UA] and Bojan Dordev [RS] - open call

Register here

We are inviting students, emerging artists and all those interested in art and its role in peace and trust building, as well as in the interaction between artistic, social and political processes, and in the psychological approach in art, to participate in a new module offered within the Edu-Art education through art program, facilitated by Shoghakat Galstyan - choreographer and cultural manager (Armenia), Yulia Kostereva - artist and curator (Ukraine) and Bojan Dordev - theatre maker (Serbia).

Three workshops lasting 3 hours each will be held over 3 days. During the workshops, participants will benefit from the guidance of coordinators, who will provide information and facilitate participatory collective work experiences that promote:

- understanding art as a tool in strengthening the idea of ​​collectivity

- exploring personal and collective boundaries through movement

- building confidence in one's own ability to make a change, that is, acknowledging the sense of agency

- developing negotiation and communication skills, and activating empathy in an artistic exercise

- creative methods of psychological recovery after traumatic episodes caused by social conflicts and / or war

Workshops schedule:

• Thursday, July 17, 2025 / 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
• Friday, July 18, 2025 / 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  
• Saturday, July 19, 2025 / 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Participants will receive the necessary materials to create joint works, which will be presented at a public event organized subsequently.

Participants are encouraged to adopt a proactive attitude throughout the sessions. We aim to ensure a relaxed and open atmosphere for discussions, debates and new ideas by creating a verbal and sensory dialogue. The sessions will include coffee and snacks breaks, and the opportunity to chat with the facilitators and participants in a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment.

The workshop series will set the stage for the series of Common Ground presentations and discussions that will follow in the second part of the day and will contribute to the development of the theme Cultural wars in times of polarization - a cycle of conferences and meetings held throughout 2023-2025, in the framework of the research project Contemporary art, popular culture, and peacebuilding in Eastern Europe. The project aims to understand the role that art and culture play in three different social and political conflicts (in Poland, Armenia and the Republic of Moldova).

Presentations and discussions with the participation of facilitators and local guests will expand the understanding of their artistic practice and how it relates to the theme of conflicts in their countries of origin (Armenia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine). In this section of the program, guests will talk about the role of artists and cultural workers in preventing, lessening, mitigating and working with the consequences of conflicts in society.

Shoghakat Galstyan [AM] – Yerevan-based choreographer, performer, and cultural manager whose work bridges contemporary performing arts, research, and social engagement. She is the founder and soloist of MIHR Theatre, manager of Tiezerk Band, and lecturer at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography.

Yulia Kostereva [UA] – artist, curator, and organizer. She graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture, Kyiv (2001). Her practice concerns both visual arts and art of interaction. In 1999, with the artist Yuriy Kruchak, she launched the interdisciplinary platform Open Place.

Bojan Dordev [RS] - theatre maker, educated in theatre directing and art theory in Belgrade and Amsterdam. He is both interested in contemporary playwrights as well as working on interdisciplinary research projects. His research deals with issues of artistic and cultural heritage of socialism in Yugoslavia and elsewhere, capitalist economy and finding artistic and theatrical public formats for Marxist thought.

Participation fee
Participation in the program is free of charge, because we believe that access to education should be provided to all who wish to participate, regardless of their economic or social status. Participants are asked to cover their own additional costs related to their participation.

Registration procedure
Participants are requested to register for the workshop by filling out this form. The deadline for registration is July 12, 2025 (inclusively). Registered participants will receive the detailed program of activities by email. In case of any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at the following email address: info@oberliht.org

This activity is organized by Oberliht Association in partnership with ZHdK, in the framework of Edu-Art program, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova and Switzerland and is hosted by Zpace, Art studio, 3rd Space studio and Coworking / media partners: #diez, youth.md, fest.md, agora.md and platzforma.md / technical support: CSCI of RM. The content of this project does not necessarily reflect the views of the donors.