ABOUT

CIVIC MEDIA LAB wants to breakthrough negative trends by promoting a trans-regional civil society network between EU, Ukraine and Russia, making unconventional dialogue and organise long term trans-regional collaborations between people working in civil society from the countries in the Eastern Partnership and Russia.

trans-disciplinary approach

: bridges various cultures, art disciplines, scenes
: a low-threshold  "Do-it-yourself" format
: learn there to understand activities as a creative force
: long term, a network of participants in the countries shall be built up
: run by DS-X.org | depart, in cooperation with Kultura Medialna NGO, Dnipro, Ukraine and supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

 


DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Set in front of an unresolved territorial conflict and the friction built up from varying historical narratives of the countries in the Eastern Partnership and Russia, there is an increasing loss of trust among the participants in civil society and a diminishing preparedness to make dialogues and to outline a perceptible collaboration. Trans-regional civil society networks of the kinds that existed in the past are currently hardly there at all. Therefore, the imagery of ‘’the other’’ above all else becomes stamped by national(-ist) discourse. The sense of self and the sense of the foreigner are becoming differentiated more strongly with increasingly deepening prejudice. The obvious weakness of critical voices in Russia in current social and political developments strengthens the process of keeping people apart. The aim of the CIVIC MEDIA LAB is to breakthrough these negative trends by making unconventional dialogue and long term trans-regional collaborations between people working in civil society from the countries in the Eastern Partnership.

Alternative perspectives, and perspectives from outside, as well as involvement in a trans-regional networks make possible the promotion of dialogue and understanding through civil society multipliers, as well as a knowledge- and experience-transfer though a ‘’best practises’’ method. With these possibilities a civil society engagement in the entire region will be delivered with sustainable clout, preventing new conflicts and dispelling friction. In the CIVIC MEDIA LAB, the participants should abandon old ways of thinking by approaching media and artistic practises and interventions that you are not used to: the CIVIC MEDIA LAB stands as an experiment with media and digital forms with common experience in the foreground in order to turn away from traditional presentations of ‘’the other’’. Participants can activate the borderless freedoms of the digital realm and harness them for an engagement with real space and time.

As the body running the project, DS-X.org | depart has established the conception of the CIVIC MEDIA LAB through many years of experience in unique international exhibitions, festivals and events: they commit themselves in their work to both the cultural valuation of interdisciplinary media projects and art production as such, to the valuation and production in whose meanings, regarding forms of expression, they can connect themselves to other cultural practises. With the CIVIC MEDIA LAB a creative platform for self-reflection and for learning at a global level is realised, a platform on which those taking part are urged to discover what is new, to inquire and question each other, to inspire and to challenge. The trans-disciplinary approach builds active bridges between various backgrounds and cultures, art disciplines, scenes and genres. The participants learn there to understand their activities as a creative force that - in terms of their long term dialogues with artists, producers, critics and audiences or publication - contribute in a constructive manner to dialogue and communication overall.

The format was prepared as a low-threshold ’’Do-it-yourself’’ format. The participants should become able to implement their new experiences and experimental methods within their individual specific locations and contexts. After this implementation participants will come together to present and reflect on their results and to analyse with hindsight their success factors, portability and the possible potential for approaches to intercultural dialogue. These results, as well as reports on different experiences, will be collected together in an online portal which shall be freely accessible to other civil society organisations. This media directed project is highly effective in multiplying itself. Digital formats have many possibilities as means of distribution. In this way, the public visibility of this project and its partners is assured within further arrangements like the Info-events of the Project and the public presentations and involvement in the already established event Konstrukcija.

CIVIC MEDIA LAB can be thought of as a pilot project. It should be build up further from the experiences of its first years progress in 2017. Long term, a Network of participants in the countries of the East-European Partnership and Russia should be built up as well as a ‘’best practise’’ principle for an online portal.

Civic Media Lab was initiated in 2016 by cultural managers Cornelia Reichel, Barbara Bernsmeier, Kathrin Oerters & Clemens A. Schöll, and Thomas Dumke.



Curatorial statement

Civic Media Lab 2017

2nd edition “Free speech! Free action!”

June 3 - 11, 2017, various locations, Dnipro, Ukraine

as a part of ‘Construction’ festival

 

Participating artists: Lena Chen, Ania Shapiro & Sabia Khan (DE), Olexander Ieltsyn (UA), Mika Motskobili (GE), Mykola Ridnyi (UA), Shvemy Sewing Cooperative/ Mariia Lukianova & Antonina Melnyk & Anna Tereshkina(RU/UA), Olia Sosnovskaya (BY), Andreas Ullrich (DE) & Arman Tadevosyan (AM), Anastasia Vepreva & Roman Osminkin (RU).

 

Curators: Maria Veits and Stephan Franck

Organizers: DS-X.org | depart and Kultura Medialna

 

Civic Media Lab is an ongoing project initiated in 2016 as a vibrant transregional network of artists, curators, researchers and activists from EU and former USSR countries for stimulating long-term collaborations.

Having started in 2016 in Dnipro and Dresden as a discursive and interactive platform for international dialogue and exchange, by its second year Civic Media Lab has transformed into a residency-based program for emerging artists from the countries of the European partnership, Germany and Russia who reflect upon urgent sociopolitical issues and processes and use various mediums to outreach and engage different audiences in the public realm.

In 2017, the 2nd edition of CML entitled “Free speech! Free action!” took place only in Dnipro, Ukraine as a part of the Festival of audio-, video, media and performance art ‘Construction’. Eight artists and collectives from eight countries selected on the basis of an open call were invited to conduct residencies in Dnipro and either create new works or adapt their existing projects for the local context.

The theme and title of the second edition of the Civic Media Lab proposed by curators Maria Veits and Stephan Franck were inspired by the global and local sociopolitical processes as well as their reflection and representation in the media. Civic Media Lab initiated an interactive discursive public platform free of censorship where artists and audiences can speak out and use alternative artistic methods for discussing political contexts and the contradictions they create. Invited artists demonstrated various ways of resisting propaganda, ‘alternative facts’ by unveiling manipulative media narratives and creating their own discourse based on communication with local audiences and active citizens. They also proposed different strategies of opposing informational pressure and staying connected despite political estrangement between certain countries. The results of the artistic research conducted during the residencies were presented in different formats ranging from sound installations to performances based on analysis of the local and global news. While working together participants from different countries also learned about each other’s artistic and activist approaches and introduced to audiences in Dnipro different ways of how citizens, artists and activists can respond to ongoing political transformations using art as a medium and means of connecting with other people.

Olia Sosnovskaya in her site-specific performance Not Yet, Not Yet. Again and Again, focused on the history and the present context of the Ilyich cultural center. Huge building, which used to be one of the biggest cultural centers in Eastern Europe affiliated with a large industrial factory, has been abandoned for several years by now and is slowly decaying because its maintenance is very expensive for the city. Having gathered a group of semi professional or young dancers, Olia created a performative narrative around the building, which was based on their personal stories and emotional memories about the center, which history sums up the communistic past of Ukraine and the process of decommnuzation that it is going through right now.

Complicated relations between Ukraine and Russia also became a point of departure for other works - Anastasia Vepreva and Roman Osminkin created a tumblr blog But in Fact (https://butinfact.tumblr.com/) analyzing Russian and Ukrainian news about each other and tried to figure algorithms used by newsmakers. Their satirical analysis of the information and propaganda war that official Russian and Ukrainian media have gotten involved after the Crimea annexation in 2014 was presented in the format of scientific research and the final presentation of their ‘findings’, which referred to increased propaganda pressure in educational institutions and recent history rewriting in the both countries. The question of disputable territories of lands with unclear status was also central in the series of digital prints by Mykola Ridniy Remain Unclear, who drew a correlation between global media interest to a conflict zone and the time for which it has been having an undefined status. The prints depicting blurred outlines of territories in question convey a metaphor of their obscure position on the global map and decreased attention of the media to the people living at thee territories. Many artists worked with the very context of Dnipro - Mika Motskobili scanned the sound landscape of Dnipro and combined recorded noises in one soundtrack that was placed in the Literary museum of Dnipro, which rough and bare brick and concrete walls resonated with the two plexiglass panels that the artists used to diversify audience’s experience of merging into the sound. Visual city scanning was the approach undertaken by the artist Oleksander Yeltsin who in his short videos paid attention to details that often get unnoticed by passers by and exaggerated them through creating a non-linear and plotless narrative. The videos were screened in a shopping moll alongside commercials and ads playing in the loop on tv screens on sale thus criticizing the basic principles of the consumerist society and also referring to Nam Jun Pike famous work ‘Electronic Super Highway’. Tactics of defending and promoting the freedom of speech along with engaging local residents into discussions and actions were presented in the projects that were mostly results of collective approach. Lena Chen and Sabia Khan with the help of Ania Shapiro created a platform for discussion on gender, sexuality, LGBTQ-related that they presented in a form of peaceful space for art and contemplation entitled the Piece Temple. Built on principles of buddhism, the Temple became a venue for artwork exchange, performances and meetings where activists and performers from Dnipro and other Ukrainian cities had a chance to speak about human rights and learn about each other’s work and initiatives. Another project that concentrated on feminism and rights of the discriminated social groups was the Sew and Communicate by Shvemy Sewing Cooperative. Their developed their residency through the series of workshops where participants learned how to apply typically ‘female’ skills (sewing, working with textiles and fabrics) to the process of producing banners with slogans, quotes and stencils that represented materialized political statements. Shvemy did a profound research of local female communities and made banners together with the residents of the local gender club and refugees who moved to Dnipro from Donetsk and Lugansk, the territories of the military conflict. The banners were placed in different public places including a playground, a park and a city administration building with the idea to draw attention to the current state of female rights in Ukraine. The idea to use city walls as a space for anticapitalist statements and manifestos was initial for the project by Andreas Ullrich and Arman Tadevosyan who wanted to wrap unfinished/abandoned buildings into camouflage-looking vinyl tape. However, in the course of their residency they had to leave this concept and also turn to a series of workshops for young street artists, activists and art students, who learned how to work with vinyl and use the urban environment for politically-charged speech and action.

The second edition of Civic Media Lab allowed for multilayered and multisided analysis of the processes that currently take place in Dnipro but can also be observed in other cities and countries - relations between the past and the present, ideological battles, struggle over public spaces and rapidly changing media discourse are the issues that are relevant for the most societies at the moment. The project will be developing further and is likely to expand its geography to other countries and cities and engage more international artists and activists who are interested in discovering new contexts and apply their practice to them.

Links to CML 2017 projects

Lena Chen, Ania Shapira and Sabia Khan: The Peace Temple
Shvemy Sewing Collective: Mobile activist sewing workshop
Mykola Ridniy: Remain unclear
Oleksander Yeltsin
Andreas Ullrich and Arman Tadevosyan: Dazzle
Olia Sosnovskaya: Not yet, not yet. Again and again
Anastasia Vepreva + Roman Osminkin: But in fact
Mika Motskobili: Vicinity Point



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ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Lena Chen, Ania Shapiro and Sabia Khan

The Peace Temple

Gallery                                                                          

Lena Chen, Ania Shapiro and Sabia Khan, who work on this project collectively and contribute to it their knowledge and expertise in both arts, social science and activism will present their ongoing initiative ‘The Peace Temple’. This is a pop-up participatory art installation consisting of a shrine built from sustainably and locally sourced materials, donations, discards, and found objects and created together with local residents who are willing to join the project and donate personal objects and stories. The project has toured different places and cities and in every location it tries to capture the local context and reflect upon past and current urgent matters that span from human rights to ideological complexities. The Temple is an inclusive project and also serves as a platform for public discussions, talks and performances of local artists, curators, activists, researchers and other people who would like to share their thoughts and actions on sociopolitical burning issues.

In Dnipro, Lena, Ania and Sabia have decided to concentrate on gender issues and build up the public program on lectures, performances and talks about sexuality,  feminism,  and LGBTQ rights in the Ukrainian society today. Being highly sensitive topics these themes deserve more action and discussion that they currently receives so the project will contribute to the gender discourse in Ukraine and will engage more people into the conversation. Among its public events ‘The Peace Temple’ will host a talk by the Dnipro gender club trainer Marina Gerz entitled ‘Feminism: Yesterday's Rebellion or Today's Trend?’, “Chat", a play on bullying and LGBT youth, presented by Gender Z and a conversation with journalist, activist and initiator of the Facebook flashmob "#яНеБоюсьСказати (#ImNotAfraidToSayIt) Nastya Melnichenko about sexual violence and resistance to it.

Sabia Khan is a French-British performance artist and curator who has organized collective projects at the Kunsthaus Tacheles and in the Berlin underground art scene. She was president of the Art Pro Tacheles, an organization of sculptor artists formerly associated with the Tacheles.

Lena Chen is an artist and activist based in Berlin. Lena curates participatory art projects to promote civic engagement, empowerment, and self-expression for those overlooked by mainstream media and the traditional political process. Her work explores topics such as identity, sexuality, gender, and trauma through performance, text, and curatorial projects. Named a Progressive Women’s Voices fellow at the Women’s Media Center and a “new feminist leader” by More Magazine, Lena has been invited to speak on women's identity and sexuality at conferences and universities such as SXSW, Yale, Brown, Stanford, and Oxford. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, Marie Claire, Der Spiegel, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and MTV. She graduated from Harvard University in 2010 with a B.A. in sociology.

Ania Shapiro is a civil society specialist and activist focused on Ukraine. Currently, she serves as the Executive Manager of the Initiative Mittel- und Osteuropa e.V., a Berlin-based NGO network promoting civic capacity building among youth initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe.  She holds an M.A. in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Regional Studies from Harvard University.

www.facebook.com/thetempleofpeace

 

ACTIONS

Monday, June 5th

6pm
»Chat«
by & with Gender Z
a play on LGBT bullying in schools
venue: Module
Sichovyh Striltsiv 5
Facebook event page

 

Tuesday, June 6th

5pm
Talk by Lena Chen&Sabia Khan. Встреча с Леной Чен&Cабией Кхан
Module Club    Sichovyh Striltsiv 5
Facebook event page
Free Entry

Founders of the project PEACE PROCESS Lena Chen and Sabia Khan will speak about its main goals and adaptation of the project for Dnipro, where it will serve as a platform for free spуech and public discussions and will be called the Peace Temple.  THE PEACE TEMPLE is a traveling public art installation and event series that engages local communities in envisioning alternatives to war and violence, by turning art into a democratic tool for political education and civic action (www.facebook.com/thetempleofpeace).  The project has toured different places and cities and in every location it tries to capture the local context and reflect upon past and current urgent matters that span from human rights to ideological complexities.  In Dnipro, Lena, Sabia and Ania Shapiro, who co-curates the project in Ukraine, have decided to concentrate on gender issues and build up the public program on lectures, performances and talks about sexuality, feminism, and LGBTQ rights in the Ukrainian society today. Being highly sensitive topics these themes deserve more action and discussion that they currently receives so the project will contribute to the gender discourse in Ukraine and will engage more people into the conversation. Among its public events ‘The Peace Temple’ will host a talk by the Dnipro gender club trainer Marina Gerz entitled ‘Feminism: Yesterday's Rebellion or Today's Trend?’, “Chat", a play on bullying and LGBT youth, presented by Gender Z and a conversation with journalist, activist and initiator of the Facebook flashmob "#яНеБоюсьСказати (#ImNotAfraidToSayIt) Nastya Melnichenko about sexual violence and resistance to it.    
 

Thursday, June 8th

6pm
Unbreakable
Sabia Khan & Lady Gaby
Documentary screening on Art House Tacheles followed by satellite performance with Lady Gaby in Berlin and live performance with Sabia Khan in Dnipro
Module Club   Sichovyh Striltsiv 5

 

Sunday - June 11th

6pm - 12 midnight

The Peace Temple Closing ▼ Open Jam Session & SoundLab For Peace
Artist Talk
Venue: Module       
Січових Стрільців 5, Dnipro, 49000
Last chance to see The Peace Temple before it leaves Dnipro! Join us on our final night at Construction festival 2017.
Facebook event page

Last chance to see The Peace Temple before it leaves Dnipro! Join us on our final night at Construction festival 2017.  The Peace Process Sound Lab is a nomadic experience, where international underground musicians and artists experiment and gather live recordings for peace. We aim to connect different communities and maximize the potential for activists and musicians to inspire and support one another. We invite you to come join us on the final day of the CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017 and help us further the spirit of our interdisciplinary art project  18:00-00:00 The Peace Process, Closing  The Peace Temple will be open to the public in Dnipro for the final time. Experience the installation which has been transformed from an industrial storeroom into a sacred space. Share your intentions, do a personal ritual, and take action for peace.  18:00-19:00 Screening of "Der Freund" (Director: Dito Tsintsadze, D/GE, 2016, 78 min)  The film tells the story of Nino, a young immigrant from Georgia, who lives with her son Luca in Berlin. Luca’s father ran off and Nino’s family back home doesn’t want to have any contact with her since the father of her son is black, and as a result, her son is, too.  Alone and far away from home with no job, a poor education and no perspectives, she looks for answers in the works of the infamous Marquise de Sade.  22:00-00:00 Sound Lab / Open Jam Session  The Sound Lab is an experiment, jam session, collaboration, and meeting point that connects artists who use sound in their work. Join us for drinks, music, and conversation.   Curated by Sabia Khan, Lena Chen, & Ania Shapiro for CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017, The Peace Process is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, and cooperatively organized by Kultura Medialna Dnipro & DS-X.org | depart.one.  #ConstructionFest #CivicMediaLab #KulturaMedialna #CivilSocietyCooperation


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ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Shvemy Sewing Collective
(Maria Lukianova & Antonina Melnyk & Anna Tereshkina)

Project: Sew & communicate

Mobile activist sewing workshop: Monday, June 5th:::   3pm - 8pm

Gallery              

In their practice Shvemy combine feminism and work with textile in different forms and formats thus turning one of the most traditional female household skills - sewing  -  into political statement and action. Clothes in their projects become a platform for free expression and can speak for themselves. They produce slogans and stencils on T-shirts, scarves, jackets and other pieces of street wear into strong and visible statements addressing gender issues, feminism, freedom of speech and current political situations in their native countries. One of the main features of their context-based projects is that they always engage with local communities and constantly produce new works as well as teach others about how to turn your garment into a political tool that can vocalize problematic issues. During their residency in Dnipro Shvemy will conduct three workshops. For the local feminist community that surrounds the gender club in Dnipro Shvemy will conduct a session on making embroidery and this workshop will be open for general public so that everyone could take part. For the people who have been displaced from the territories near Donetsk and Lugansk as a result for the military conflict in Ukraine, they will conduct a workshop about making stencils on clothes and household textile materials. In this case, the topic of stencils won’t necessary be strictly political  - the participants will be free in choosing the subjects and topics themselves. Maria, Antonina and Anna will also have a workshop for Civic Media Lab participants and the group will create banners about free speech and free action that can be placed in public  spaces as small-scale interventions. In addition Shvemy will have their own small sewing atelier, where they will be working during their stay in Dnipro and will present results of their work in the end of their residency.

The clothes manufacturing cooperative Shvemy was established in St. Petersburg in 2015 as a dissertation project by students of the School for Engaged Art. The group currently comprises Maria Lukyanova (b. 1987, Volzhsky, Russia), Anna Tereshkina (b. 1986, Omsk, Russia), Antonina Melnik (b. 1988, Kiev, Ukraine), and Olesya Panova (b. 1988, Novosibirsk, Russia). Shvemy is simultaneously an art and an activist project, built on the model of an alternative economic structure. Its members regularly hold master classes on recycling and upcycling clothes. Shvemy have shown their work in Russia, Ukraine and internationally. Their group exhibitions include Garazhe Triennial of Russian contemporary art (2017);“Textus”: embroidery, textile and feminism. Visual Culture Research Center, Kiev (2017); Female TSEKH-2016, TSEKH Exhibition Space, Minsk (2016). Amonth their personal exhibitions there are “The 9-th dream of sewing cooperative’s collective body”, Rosa’s House of culture, St.Petersburg (2016); Pakkasukko Putinia vastaan III Festival, Helsinki (2016); traveling actionist laboratory Not Peace, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev (2015–2016); MediaImpact Festival of Activist Art, Moscow (2015, 2016); and 2nd Kiev Biennial of Contemporary Art, Kiev (2015).

www.facebook.com/groups/shvemy/

 

ACTIONS

Monday, June 5th

3pm - 8pm
Shvemy Sewing Collective: Mobile activist sewing workshop:
creating banners: Field Workshop
Facebook event page

Mobile activist sewing workshop Sew & communicate

We, participants of Швейный кооператив ШВЕМЫ, often sew banners for different actions and demonstrations on current isues in St. Petersburg and Kiev. Now we are interested to spy actual topics for Dnipro in communication with locals and activists communities. Then we want to propose you to make a joint workshop during which together we can sew banner relevant to your community and your city. During this workshop we create a safe and creative space for brainstorming and hands.
This banner, in our opinion, doesn’t have to lie idle. So we offer you to think of its fate: hang it and see the reaction of the people, government and police; who removes it and when, walk around the city and stand in a single picket or sew clothes of it and make "anti-fashion show" in urban space...
We invite you to join the workshop and implement your political ideas in creative way using textiles. Subject of this workshop is feminism.
On our workshop we will explain and show how to use sewing machine and various sewing techniques, make a stencil on fabric, how to work with large forms and make applications.
You can see our past experience of creating banners in this album FB https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.545131785668626&type=3.
Workshop will be held on June, 5 at 15:00, address: Sichovih strilciv str., 5 (room NEAR the club Module)
Please bring old fabric and sewing threads, if you have ones. Let's use old and give new life to it.
Event is organized by CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017 wich is supported by the Federal Foreign Office, and cooperatively organized by Kultura Medialna Dnipro & DS-X.org | depart.one

 

Thursday, June 8th

12 noon
workshop for CML participants
Shvemy
Module Club

5pm
Shvemy action
meeting point at Module Club

 

Sunday - June 11th

 

3pm - 5pm
Free Speech! Free Action! CML 2017 final discussion
Venue: Literature museum (Музей Литературное Приднепровье)
Ave. K. Marx, 64 (пр.К.Маркса, 64, Dnipro)
Facebook event page

5pm
Shvemy
Artist Talk
Venue: Module


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ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Mykola Ridniy

Blurred shapes \ Disputed territories 
2017, in progress

Gallery          

Mykola Ridnyi works across media ranging from early collective actions in public space to the amalgam of site-specific installations, sculpture, short films and text essays which constitute the current focus of his practice. His way of reflection social and political reality draws on the contrast between fragility and resilience of individual stories and collective histories interlinked with a display in media.

In Dnipro he will present a work that he has just recently finished  - a series of digital collages about disputable territories within the countries that used to be parts of the former Soviet Union. Some of them exist in unclear political condition for decades and for some territorial conflicts and their consequence is a recent situation leading to large-scale sociopolitical transformations. When the hard military conflict transforms into relatively frozen the reports about such territories start to be rear in a world media. In a former Soviet area it happened with Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia. Recently the situation with a status of Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia and self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in Ukraine becoming more and more unclear. Blurred shapes is a visual metaphor of such political condition for the territories whose borders are in a constant move or in very fragile shape. Creation of such disputed territories is a creation of not healing geographical wounds. While the pain of such wounds became relatively calm political and social situation there start being less interesting and stay out of focus for the rest of the world.

Mykola Ridnyi was born 1985 in Kharkiv, Ukraine where he currently lives and works. He graduated in 2008 from the National Academy of design and arts in Kharkiv, where he studied in the sculpture department. Since 2005, he has been a founding member of the SOSka group, an art collective based in Kharkiv. The same year he cofounded the SOSka gallery-lab, an artist-run-space in an abandoned house in a center of Kharkiv. Under Ridnyi's lead, the gallery-lab was instrumental in the developing the artistic scene in the region before it was closed in 2012. He curated a number of international exhibitions in Ukraine, among them "After the Victory" (CCA Yermilov centre, Kharkiv, 2014), "New history" (Kharkiv museum of art, 2009) and others. Since 2016 he is a co-editor of the prostory.net.ua, online magazine for contemporary art, literature, translation and society.

His works has been shown in exhibitions including "Postponed Futures", GRAD gallery, London (2017), "Photography today: distant realities" in Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2016), “Politics of form” at GfZK – Museum for contemporary art Leipzig (2015), “A Sense of History”, Videokunstzentrum Nordsternturm in Gelsenkirchen (2016), “The School of Kyiv”, Kyiv biennial 2015, “All the World's Futures” at the 56-th Venice biennial for contemporary art (2015), "Lest the two seas meet" at Museum of modern art in Warsaw (2015), “The Ukrainians” at DAAD gallery in Berlin (2014) and others.

www.mykolaridnyi.com

 

ACTIONS

June 8-10

daily from 10am to 5pm
Vicinity Point
Audio Installation by Mika Motskobili
& REMAIN UNCLEAR
Exhibition by Mykola Ridniy
Venue: Museum Literary Dnipro
Karl Marx avenue, 64
opening June 8th, 4pm

 

Friday - June 9th 

4pm
Vicinity Point / Remain unclear
Mika Motskobili / Mykola Ridniy     
exhibition opening    
Literature museum (Literary Pridneprovye)
Yavornitskogo 64 (c. Dnipropetrovsk, Ave. K. Marx, 64)
free entry
Facebook event page

 

CML 2017 artists-in-residence Mika Motskobili and Mykola Rydniy present the results of their residencies in Dnipro.

Mika Motskobili
'Vicinity Point'
Sound Art Installation

Mika Motskobili (GE) is a versatile artist using various approaches to social and society related issues in her work. She deals with the meaning of iconic picture strategies and turns it into synaesthetic reenactments. To do so she uses basic materials as object trouvé to transform very complex and intense context into a universal and easy-to-understand language. In the current state of fragile social media platforms which tend to manipulate the public opinion, she raises the questions of data mining and the results of societies in Eastern Europe. In Dnipro she creates literally a wall of sound. Her installation “Vicinity Point” creates soundscapes and all kind of voices which were made by the city itself.
http://vdgrom.tumblr.com/
http://aporee.org/maps/work/projects.php?project=dnipro

Mykola Ridnyi
'Remain Unclear'
Series of collages

Mykola Ridnyi works across media ranging from early collective actions in public space to the amalgam of site-specific installations, sculpture, short films and text essays which constitute the current focus of his practice. His way of reflection social and political reality draws on the contrast between fragility and resilience of individual stories and collective histories interlinked with a display in media.

In Dnipro he will present a work that he has just recently finished - a series of digital collages about disputable territories within the countries that used to be parts of the former Soviet Union. Some of them exist in unclear political condition for decades and for some territorial conflicts and their consequence is a recent situation leading to large-scale sociopolitical transformations. When the hard military conflict transforms into relatively frozen the reports about such territories start to be rear in a world media. In a former Soviet area it happened with Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia. Recently the situation with a status of Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia and self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in Ukraine becoming more and more unclear. Blurred shapes is a visual metaphor of such political condition for the territories whose borders are in a constant move or in very fragile shape. Creation of such disputed territories is a creation of not healing geographical wounds. While the pain of such wounds became relatively calm political and social situation there start being less interesting and stay out of focus for the rest of the world.

 

Sunday - June 11th

3pm - 5pm
Free Speech! Free Action! CML 2017 final discussion
Venue: Literature museum (Музей Литературное Приднепровье)
Ave. K. Marx, 64 (пр.К.Маркса, 64, Dnipro)
Facebook event page


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ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Oleksander Yeltsin

Gallery          

 

ACTIONS

Saturday - June 10th

10am - 10pm
ТРЦ: медіа-інтервенція Олександра Єльцина
media intervention
Location: Comfy
ТРЦ Мост-Сіті, вул. Глінки 2
Facebook event page

ТРЦ
Медіа-інтервенція Олександра Єльцина

Шукайте на екранах в торговом зале Comfy

Илля Мартин, містянин: "Єдине місце Дніпра, де чисто та прибрано. Якщо вам треба показати місто закордонним друзям, то починайте з цього місця та не виходьте за його межі."

Проект в рамках мистецької резиденції CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017 та Construction festival 2017

 

Sunday - June 11th

3pm - 5pm
Free Speech! Free Action! CML 2017 final discussion
Venue: Literature museum (Музей Литературное Приднепровье)
Ave. K. Marx, 64 (пр.К.Маркса, 64, Dnipro)
Facebook event page


>
ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Andreas Ullrich and Arman Tadevosyan

Project: DAZZLE

Gallery                

The “Dazzle” art installation from German based artist Andreas Ullrich and Arman Tadevosyan from Armenia reflects both the constant thread within actual countless armed conflicts in the world such as the war in  East Ukraine and the propaganda which comes along as “alternatives facts” to undermine or dazzle the public opinion for economical ends. The camouflage style which is used for the large scale public art installation in Dnipro was originally invented by the artist Norman Wilkinson during WW1 which should distract, puzzle and dazzle the opponent is nowadays obsolete. However, the work of the German and Armenian artist duo highlights important keywords of the post-democratic and late-capitalism age of the 21st century. The "Dazzle" project questions the commercial advertisement and propaganda (psychological warfare) which is hardly to discern inside the process of digitalisation and the disinformation.

In Dnipro Andreas and Arman will also conduct a workshop for local street artists, activists and urban researchers who want to know more about public spaces and learn how to use a city as a  platform for an artisctic and/or activist statements and political manifestos. The workshop will include both theory and practice - in addition to merging into historical facts of development of street art and political activism participants will gain practical skills of working with vinyl tape and will create their own stickers. 

Andreas Ullrich is a Dresden based artist, artist-manager and co-founder of the C.Rockefeller Center of the Contemporary Arts Dresden. He is also Co-founder of “Theatre Impermanent” in Leipzig. He has studied media art in Leipzig and Copenhagen. Since then he had numerous national and international exhibitions both as an artist who researches on urban and cultural structures and as an multiplicator making diverse projects possible.

www.andreasullrich.com

 

Arman Tadevosyan was born in Leninakan (Gyumri), Armenia in 1983 and lives and works in Nancy, France since 2010. In 1988, when he was 5 years old, an earthquake hit Leninakan. The destruction and despair that he saw after the earthquake has been engraved in his memory. In 2008, he completed his studies at Gyumri Academy of Art in the department of visual art. Currently, he is working in a spectrum of visual arts, which includes paintings, video, photography. Arman Tadevosyan is co-founder of 5th Floor Cultural Group, which was established in 2006. This group was formed because young artists in Gyumri needed a platform that provided an outlet to express themselves outside of the restrictions that academics placed on them.

www.5thfloorculturalgroup.blogspot.fr

 

ACTIONS

June 7-10

10am - 8pm
URBAN PROPAGANDA
Andreas Ulrich and Arman Tadevosyan
Participatory Workshop
venue: house of corruption
Facebook event page

The “Dazzle” art installation from German based artist Andreas Ullrich and Arman Tadevosyan from Armenia reflects both the constant thread within actual countless armed conflicts in the world such as the war in East Ukraine and the propaganda which comes along as “alternatives facts” to undermine or dazzle the public opinion for economical ends. The camouflage style which is used for the large scale public art installation in Dnipro was originally invented by the artist Norman Wilkinson during WW1 which should distract, puzzle and dazzle the opponent is nowadays obsolete. However, the work of the German and Armenian artist duo highlights important keywords of the post-democratic and late-capitalism age of the 21st century. The "Dazzle" project questions the commercial advertisement and propaganda (psychological warfare) which is hardly to discern inside the process of digitalisation and the disinformation.

In Dnipro Andreas and Arman will also conduct a workshop for local street artists, activists and urban researchers who want to know more about public spaces and learn how to use a city as a platform for an artisctic and/or activist statements and political manifestos. The workshop will include both theory and practice - in addition to merging into historical facts of development of street art and political activism participants will gain practical skills of working with vinyl tape and will create their own stickers.

 

June 8-10

daily from 10am to 8pm
Dazzle Project / Урбан Пропаганда
Venue: SPACE HUB
просп. Олександра Поля, 2В, Dnepropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovs'Ka Oblast', Ukraine, 49000
Facebook event page

 

Saturday - June 10th

6pm - 9pm

 

Dazzle Project / Урбан Пропаганда
Andreas Ulrich and Arman Tadevosyan
Artist Talk
Venue: Space Hub
pl. Oleksandra Polya 2b

 


>
ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Olia Sosnovskaya

Not yet, not yet. Again and again

Public performance, Sunday, June 4th 2017

Gallery              

In her performances Belarusian artist Olia Sosnovska works on issues which are based on the ideas among different streams of New Materialism. In this context, matter is described not as a passive object but rather as an active agent that is part of a constellation of human and non-human protagonists. In general her work relates to special historical imprints on human bodies, especially during processes of transformation and mass culture practices. Although Olia Sosnovskaya pays a lot of attention to this discourse, she displays new forms of language as a form of political interference in heavily ideological surrounded environments like squares in Belarus and post-soviet countries. Following these topics, her performance “Not yet, not yet. Again and again” will take place in front of the former representative culture center named after Illych in Dnipro, which served both as an ideological and cultural institution with a significant local output and the Soviet Union. For a better understanding of the cultural and local imprints, Olia Sosnovskaya took great attention of research of the history of this place and also involved local citizens of different age who in turn got shaped by personal, social and political events.

“Not yet, not yet. Again and again” is a multi layered performance which combines different narratives and the collective memory of the culture center named after Illych in order to make the place visible as an active agent after the events of decommunization.

Performers:
Maria Kondratyeva, Valeriy Marchenko, Maria Simpson, Anna Shebanova

Olia Sosnovskaya (b. 1988 in Minsk, Belarus) is an artist-researcher. Works with text, performative and visual practices; develops interest in the problematics of the celebration, pleasure and political; body, dance, gender and postcolonial studies. She is a co-organizer of an annual initiative “Work Hard Play Hard” hosting a series of tours, lectures, performances, talks, workshops and parties, investigating the contemporary notions of work, leisure and technology (Minsk, Belarus). Member of artistic-research group Problem Collective.

http://oliasosnovskaya.com/

 

ACTIONS

Sunday, June 4th

3pm
Not yet, not yet. Again and again
Olia Sosnovskaya
public performance
Venue: Palace of Ilyich / Палац культури
Serhiia Nihoiana Ave, 47, Dnipropetrovsk
Facebook event page


>
ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Anastasia Vepreva + Roman Osminkin

Project: “But in fact”

Gallery            

In the current state of the digital age which is deprived of freedom by algorithms choosing news for the recipients according to your likes, interests even to your feelings, Anastasia Vepreva and Roman Osminkin like to burst this comfort bubble by reconsidering actions and matters. But how to resist, how to make your voice be heard even during the time of constant and one-sided propaganda between conflict parties like Ukraine and Russia? With a speculative research which the Russian based artists call “but in fact” they both take action “in a procedure of fact checking, which, based on materials of Russian press coming to Ukraine to conduct new its own research. During the CML residency there will be a vivid discussion about their approach of working and how to make these methods more accessible to open up ‘clean’ voices.

Anastasia Vepreva. Artist, curator from St. Petersburg, Russia. Born in Arkhangelsk in 1989. She works in various techniques with the idea of systems of oppression, artificial intelligence, Memory Studies and with the idea of death. Graduated from The school of Engaged Art by group “Chto Delat”. Has double MA from Smolny College, SPBU, St. Petersburg and Bard College, NY, USA. Participant of PLURIVERSALE III, IV The Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, The 6th Moscow Biennale, Manifesta 10, 35th Moscow International film festival. Had several personal exhibitions. Published in Art Leaks Gazette, Colta.ru, Aroundart.

http://cargocollective.com/nordwildschwein

Roman Osminkin is a Saint Petersburg based poet, performer and video artist, Ph.D student at the Russian Institute of Art History. Member of the St.Petersburg Writers Union. Author of poetry and short prose books, Comrade-Thing (Kraft, 2010), Comrade-Word (Kraft, 2012), Texts with external objectives (NLO, 2015). Not A Word About Politics! (Cicada Press, NY, 2016). He was a member of the Laboratory of Poetic Actionism, which combined video-poems (distributing the poetic word in three dimensions) and more aggressive interventions into public space. He is a, writing a dissertation on participatory art and its popular manifestations beyond the art world. He was active in the Saint Petersburg Street University movement that emerged in 2008. He frequently collaborates with Chto Delat group and other artistic collectives. He is a regular contributor to Translit, the most influential leftist journal of poetry and poetics in Russia. His musical project Tehno-Poetry performs regularly at festivals and art openings, often alongside Kirill Medvedev Arkady Kots band. Frequently published works of art criticism in various outlets, and also acts as a visiting lecturer at various institutions.

http://elmcip.net/person/roman-osminkin

 

 

ACTIONS

Friday - June 9th 

7pm
But in Fact
Anastasia Vepreva + Roman Osminkin
Performative lecture
Module club
https://butinfact.tumblr.com/

 

 


ARTISTS & PROJECTS

Mika Motskobili

Project: Vicinity Point

Sound Art Installation

Gallery    

Mika Motskobili from Georgia is a versatile artist with a very different approach towards social and society related issues in her work. She is dealing with the meaning of iconic picture strategies and turns it into synaesthetic reenactments. To do so she uses very simple materials as objet trouvé to transform very complex and intense context into a universal and easy-to-understand language. In the current state of fragile social media platforms which tend to manipulate the public opinion, she raises the questions of data mining and the results of societies in Eastern Europe. In Dnipro she creates literally a wall of sound. Her installation “vicinity point” creates soundscapes and all kind of voices which were made by the city itself. The soundtrack created by MIka is available for download and listening  here 

In late 2009 Mika Motskobili found out about the emerging Center of Contemporary Art - Tbilisi and decided to enroll. She started out as a student at 2D Art course, but soon she also routed her energies towards Sound Art classes. In 2012 she participated in a Polish-Georgian design workshop where they had to design an item from manufacturing waste based on interviews that were conducted with factory workers [FSO in Warsaw and Paper Plus in Tbilisi]. She has been actively involved in Tbilisi Triennial: In 2012 she was an assistant to Ruth Castro and René Francisco as well as creating her own sound installation. In the 2nd Tbilisi Triennial she released a sound piece on tape as part of Oor’s project at Gallery Nectar: Oor Tape Edition #2. She has collaborated with few video artists on multiple occasions.

vdgrom.tumblr.com/

 

Sound published here

 

 

ACTIONS

 

June 8-10

daily from 10am to 5pm
Vicinity Point
Audio Installation by Mika Motskobili
& REMAIN UNCLEAR
Exhibition by Mykola Ridniy
Venue: Museum Literary Dnipro
Karl Marx avenue, 64
opening June 8th, 4pm

 

Friday - June 9th 

4pm
Vicinity Point / Remain unclear
Mika Motskobili / Mykola Ridniy     
exhibition opening    
Literature museum (Literary Pridneprovye)
Yavornitskogo 64 (c. Dnipropetrovsk, Ave. K. Marx, 64)
Facebook event page

 

Sunday - June 11th

3pm - 5pm
Free Speech! Free Action! CML 2017 final discussion
Venue: Literature museum (Музей Литературное Приднепровье)
Ave. K. Marx, 64 (пр.К.Маркса, 64, Dnipro)
Facebook event page


Dates 2017

activity 1 - preparation phase - March 27th -

[ April 3rd - 23rd 2017 ]

- CML 2017 »Free Speech! Free Action!« Call for Proposals

[ April 30th 2017 ]

- final information for participation of Civic Media Lab Residency 2017

[ May 2nd to June 2nd (or until June 11th) ]

- Civic Media Lab Residency 2017 »Free Speech! Free Action!«
in Dnipro

[ June 3rd to 11th 2017 ]

- Civic Media Lab 2017 »Free Speech! Free Action!«
during Construction Festival in Dnipro.
See full CML schedule here.



SCHEDULE

Dnipro 2017

Sunday, June 4th

3pm
Not yet, not yet. Again and again
Olia Sosnovskaya
public performance
Venue: Palace of Ilyich / Палац культури
Serhiia Nihoiana Ave, 47, Dnipropetrovsk
Facebook event page

8pm                       
CML Meet & Greet
Party/Barbeque
Venue: Module Club
Sichovyh Striltsiv 5

 

Monday, June 5th

3pm - 8pm
Shvemy Sewing Collective: Mobile activist sewing workshop:
creating banners: Field Workshop
Facebook event page

6pm
»Chat«
by & with Gender Z
a play on LGBT bullying in schools
venue: Module
Sichovyh Striltsiv 5
Facebook event page

 

Tuesday, June 6th

5pm
Lena Chen & Sabia Khan    
Artist Talk
Module Club    Sichovyh Striltsiv 5
Facebook event page

6:30pm
Feminism: Yesterday's Rebellion or Today's Trend?   
Marina Gerz  moderated by: Olga Polyakova
Lecture
Module Club    Sichovyh Striltsiv 5
Facebook event page

 

June 7-11

6pm 30
Off the Wall no.4
Дніпропетровський художній музей
Facebook event page

 

Wednesday, June 7th

8pm - 11pm
Clean Error records party
Venue: Module

 

June 7-10

10am - 8pm
URBAN PROPAGANDA
Andreas Ulrich and Arman Tadevosyan
Participatory Workshop
venue: house of corruption
Facebook event page

 

Thursday, June 8th

12 noon
workshop for CML participants
Shvemy
Module Club

5pm
Shvemy action
meeting point at Module Club

6pm
Unbreakable
Sabia Khan & Lady Gaby
Documentary screening on Art House Tacheles followed by satellite performance with Lady Gaby in Berlin and live performance with Sabia Khan in Dnipro
Module Club

 

June 8-10

daily from 10am to 5pm
Vicinity Point
Audio Installation by Mika Motskobili
& REMAIN UNCLEAR
Exhibition by Mykola Ridniy
Venue: Museum Literary Dnipro
Karl Marx avenue, 64
opening June 8th, 4pm

June 8-10

daily from 10am to 8pm
Dazzle Project / Урбан Пропаганда
Venue: SPACE HUB
просп. Олександра Поля, 2В, Dnepropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovs'Ka Oblast', Ukraine, 49000
Facebook event page

 

Friday - June 9th 

2pm
#‎яНеБоюсьСказати / #ImNotAfraidToSayIt:
Speaking Up Against Sexual Violence
Nastya Melnichenko
After witnessing a man blaming a rape victim for her assault, she wrote a passionate Facebook post urging others to speak out against violence. The hashtag quickly turned into a viral social media campaign as thousands in Ukraine, Russia, and other countries told stories about sexual harassment, abuse, and violence. Now her focus is on turning the discussion toward the topic of violence prevention. Melnichenko, who is also the head of Studena, a human rights organization, has recently written a book to educate youth on how to talk about and inform others about abuse.
Facebook event page

4pm
Vicinity Point / Remain unclear
Mika Motskobili / Mykola Ridniy     
exhibition opening    
Literature museum (Literary Pridneprovye)
Yavornitskogo 64 (c. Dnipropetrovsk, Ave. K. Marx, 64)
Facebook event page

7pm
But in Fact
Anastasia Vepreva + Roman Osminkin
Performative lecture
Module club
https://butinfact.tumblr.com/

10pm - 6am
Electromadness party /  Module

 

Saturday - June 10th

10am - 10pm
ТРЦ: медіа-інтервенція Олександра Єльцина
media intervention
Location: Comfy
ТРЦ Мост-Сіті, вул. Глінки 2
Facebook event page
 

2pm
"Promka": war photography in Eastern Ukraine
Oleksandr Kromplias
Lecture
Module Club
In 2014, the war photographer Oleksandr Kromplias took part in military conflicts in eastern Ukraine. He documented the severe conditions and the destruction of the city, but the main theme of his photos is the everyday life of Ukrainian soldiers and the inhumane circumstances under which they guard their homeland. “Promka” is a photo album about the defenders of the industrial zone of Avdiika. This exhibition was presented in Kyiv and abroad with great interest and attention.

5pm
Відкрита дискусія OPEN/CLOSED
Художній комбінат

6pm - 9pm
Dazzle Project / Урбан Пропаганда
Andreas Ulrich and Arman Tadevosyan
Artist Talk
Venue: Space Hub
pl. Oleksandra Polya 2b

6pm - 9pm 30
Performances For Peace ▼ "Unbreakable" Documentary Screening
Venue: Module
Січових Стрільців 5, Dnipro, 49000
Facebook event page

10pm - 6am
Теплохід / Фестиваль Конструкція
party

 

Sunday - June 11th

3pm - 5pm
Free Speech! Free Action! CML 2017 final discussion
Venue: Literature museum (Музей Литературное Приднепровье)
Ave. K. Marx, 64 (пр.К.Маркса, 64, Dnipro)
Facebook event page

5pm
Shvemy
Artist Talk
Venue: Module

6pm - 12 midnight
The Peace Temple Closing ▼ Open Jam Session & SoundLab For Peace
Artist Talk
Venue: Module
Січових Стрільців 5, Dnipro, 49000
Last chance to see The Peace Temple before it leaves Dnipro! Join us on our final night at Construction festival 2017.
Facebook event page

9pm
FORMA vs Metropolis 
AV concert
Venue: Сцена : Stage


 



CML 2017 “Free Speech! Free Action!”
is co-curated by
Maria Veits and Stephan Frank

Maria Veits is an independent curator and researcher, cofounder of the Creative Association of Curators TOK. TOK conducts multidisciplinary research-based projects dealing with concept and use of public space, urban communities, social practice, media and collaborations between arts and social sector. Maria currently works on an exhibition ‘Dreamland Never Found’ for Jerusalem Biennial and continuation of the project ‘Propaganda News Machine’ that will take place in summer in Helsinki 2017 and other projects dealing with current sociopolitical processes. She contributed to the CML 2016 as invited curator and speaker. Lives and works in St Petersburg and Tel Aviv.

Stephan Franck is a Dresden based curator and creative consultant. He has worked since 2008 in the field of curating, publishing and consulting. He is co-founder of the Galerie Stephanie Kelly in Dresden and has contributed to CYNETART 2015 as artist director and curator. In 2016 he has organised the exhibition “potnia theron. the animal in art and science” in cooperation with University of Technology in Dresden. He also contributed last year in Civic Media Lab as both as an expert and curator.

Civic Media Lab was Initiated in 2016 by cultural managers Cornelia Reichel, Barbara Bernsmeier, Kathrin Oerters & Clemens A. Schöll, and Thomas Dumke.

Partners:

DS-X.org | depart UG, Germany & Kultura Medialna NGO, Dnipro, Ukraine

Thomas Dumke has worked internationally since 2004, as a freelance Cultural Administrator in the field of New Media Art and for various cultural organisations. He was the director of CYNETART at Festspielhaus Hellerau in Dresden from 2006-2014 and co-funder of the I.C.A.S. Network. Currently working for spectraNEO, HUMATIC, and within the SHAPE Platform – Sound Heterogeneous Art and Performance in Europe, DAVE Festival, Civic Media Lab (in cooperation with Kultura Medialna Dnipro), and dgtl fmnsm (together with Konstanze Schütze & Ulla Heinrich). He is involved voluntarily with the Department of Film and Media in the Office of Culture and Monument Conservation of the Saxon Capital Dresden. In 2016 he founded his own platform DS-X.org | depart.

Kultura Medialna is a team of musicians, artists, designers, architects, curators and cultural managers passionate about media arts, technology and urban development. Working in Dnipro, Ukraine, since 2013. Fundamental goals of its local and international projects are promotion of audio-visual, multimedia and experimental art, international cultural cooperation, support and education of young contemporary artists, facilitation of social innovations and development of creative practice in public space.

 
further links:
[ http://constructionfest.com ]
[ http://kulturamedialna.org ]
[ http://depart.one ]

Aims of the
CIVIC MEDIA LAB

• New perspectives:

international exchange, dialogue and understanding between participants in the progressive political realm concerning common project work.

• Capacity Building:

the promotion of creative handling of artistic and media formats and their utilisation for intercultural dialogue and understanding.

• To lift up our voices:

the ability of the participants in civil society to present their engagement across regions and to record the impulse for social debate.

• To manage new domains:

trans-media and trans-national formats for new forms of engagement and participation.

• To take down the borders between networks:

to consolidate longterm the networking of participating multipliers, building up a sustainable infrastructure for independent further development for the CIVIC MEDIA LAB especially in giving impulses to new experimental, critical and media based projects.

• To have a multiplying effect on the Internet:

those who can’t take part themselves will be able to reach other participants in civil society through the online-portal.

There are two weeklong workshops planned in the Ukraine and in Germany in which participants in civil society can meet each other to exchange knowledge and experience, and to work together with German and ÖP facilitators and artists on a common network and media project for Place und Online, which will be extensively documented.



OPEN CALL FOR ARTIST PROPOSALS

Civic Media Lab 2017

2nd edition “Free speech! Free action!”

Dnipro, Ukraine, June 3-11, 2017

 

 

Application deadline: April 23, 2017

 

 

ОТКРЫТЫЙ КОНКУРС (по русски)

 

Big thanks to all applicants of the Call for Artists – CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017. We are happy to see your proposals - we've got over 60 of them! Your interest and activities are amazing! Now the jury is processing them and preparing them for selection.

CML will announce the selection results on
Sunday, May 30 2017.

 

 

Kultura Medialna announces an open call for artists for participation in the second edition of the project Civic Media Lab “Free speech! Free action!” that will take place in June 2017 in Dnipro, Ukraine. The project offers selected participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine a residency opportunity for conducting artistic research and creating new works and projects. All works will be presented at the annual international festival of audiovisual art and new media in urban space “Construction” conducted by Kultura Medialna in June 2017.

Civic Media Lab is an ongoing project initiated in 2016 as a vibrant transregional network of artists, curators, researchers and activists from EU and former USSR countries for creating unconventional dialogue and stimulating long-term collaborations between art and culture professionals interested in contributing to the civil society in the countries of the Eastern Partnership and Eastern Europe.

The theme of the second edition of Civic Media Lab is freedom of media and expression in transforming societies. In the era of information wars, ‘alternative facts’, expansion of multiple propagandistic discourses and increase of censorship in the arts at the global level, we want to gather artistic practices and stimulate artistic projects that deal with freedom of speech and expression on many levels and help connecting artists from different countries despite the political tensions between and within them. The project “Free speech! Free action!” represents an alternative broadcasting channel and a space for reflection upon current sociopolitical issues important for all the participants - from equal human rights to freedom of press, from the role of art in a society in transition to resistance against the challenging of democratic regimes. “Free speech! Free action!” serves as an expanding platform for communication, exchange and cutting-edge artistic, activist and curatorial practices dealing with the subject of free media and information in the public realm including the virtual space. Dnipro, the largest city near the zone of the military conflict in Ukraine, was chosen as a location for the project deliberately. By inviting artists to work closely with the city’s local context we encourage connections between different people that we believe should remain in touch despite the political contradictions and manipulative media narratives.

Civic Media Lab invites artists working with different medium (video, media, sound) and formats (interactive installations, public performances) to submit their proposals. Eight selected participants will be invited to work on the realization of their projects in Dnipro, Ukraine during short-term residencies (up to 10 days) in May and June 2017. Created projects will be presented at the “Construction” festival that will take place in Dnipro from June 3 to 11, 2017. We are especially encouraging proposals exploring and testing new aesthetic and conceptual approaches in digital art and public spaces.

In addition to residencies Civic Media Lab will also organize workshops and artist talks as well as a symposium, where a wide specter of emerging artistic and curatorial practices dealing with physical and virtual public space will be discussed.

Civic Media Lab covers:

  • travel costs to Dnipro (optional two times)

  • subsistence costs (guest flat during the residency before the festival, and guest flat during the festival plus per diem)

  • residency and artist fee (approx. 550 EUR)

  • production and material costs (up to 650 EUR)

 

Participating artists are expected to:

  • Create a new piece on site in Dnipro during a 10-day residency in May or June
    (dates will be discussed with each participant separately)

  • Present your project at the CONSTRUCTION FESTIVAL
    (between June 3rd and 11th)

  • Participate in artist talks, public discussions and the final symposium

 

Eligible Countries:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine

 

To apply please send your application to: submission2017@civicmedialab.eu 

deadline: April 23, 2017

 

Application form can be downloaded here: 

OpenOffice file or rtf File or MS/Office file or pdf File

 



CML 2017 Partners

DS-X.org | depart, Germany


Kultura Medialna NGO, Dnipro, Ukraine


Kulturalna Medialna Logo


Supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

cml supporters

MEDIA & PRESS SECTION
Poster (PDF) download (3 MB)
Event Header download (1MB)
Event Cover download (1 MB)
Event Cover download (2 MB)

CML project: preview | download (16 MB)
Info: CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017, project by Olexander Yeltsyn; Video art at Comfy Store. Dnipro 2017.

CML project: preview | download (12 MB)
Info: CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017, project by Olia Sosnovskaya : Not Yet, Not Yet, Again and Again; Performance; Photo shows one of many performers. Dnipro 2017.

CML project: preview | download (8 MB)
Info: CIVIC MEDIA LAB 2017, project by artists Andreas Ullrich & Arman Tadevosyan (Dazzle Project) Photo shows the artist talk & presentation. Dnipro 2017.
CONTACT
Julia Ovcharenko, Dnipro, Ukraine
CML project management
julia@civicmedialab.eu

Thomas Dumke, Dresden, Germany
CML project management
thomas@civicmedialab.eu




Website
Sven Dämmig (Dresden)
parmon@gmail.com



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