August 1, 2022 – December 31, 2023
Common Ground is an international project dedicated to the idea of home in the context of migration. It is the result of cooperation between three partners – the Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń, the Academy of Senses in Reykjavik and the Association of Lithuanian Artists in Vilnius. It is built as a platform for cooperation between institutions, artists and scientists in aim to exchange inspiration, knowledge and experience.
Migration has become part of our everyday life – Europe is constantly responding to the challenges related with this phenomenon. The intention of the project will be to strengthen intercultural dialogue, leading to the establishment of a COMMON GROUND between diverse cultures and communities, promoting understanding and interaction. Interdisciplinary activities will be implemented through artistic actions, and contemporary art will be used as a tool of communication and understanding.
We would like to invite artists representing various fields of art, active in many areas: painting, drawing, graphics, sculpture, visual arts, photography and video to take part in the project. This diversity will ensure the use of the full potential of contemporary art. The role of the creators will be to use individual practice to start conversation – the resulting collaboration will focus attention on the issues of relations between migrants and “hosts”. The means of expression with the use of interactive, contextual or site-specific media will lead to the creation of works of art that reflect the relationship between the parties.
Experts and researchers invited to the project will enrich the visual aspect proposed by the artists with an intellectual approach that will help the recipients understand the reasons and effects of migration. The emotional aspect will be expressed through the involvement of the audience, invited to share their views. The project will affect the way we currently perceive and feel our own identity on an individual, national and European level, it will deepen our reflection on our belonging to Europe, it will indicate what actions we can take to enable others to increase awareness and strengthen respect for cultural diversity. It will reflect the perception of “home” from different perspectives.
The Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń is the leader of this project, which will be carried out until 2023. The invited artists (six people from each country) will take part in three successive residencies, which will result in three intercultural exhibitions (one in each country).
A detailed program of the project will be published soon on our website and the recruitment of artists in the form of an open call will be announced. The project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.