CHANGING ROOM Staff Exchange

Water. Sinking Cities. is a project developed and managed by EVS volunteers (Monica Aggio and Linda Konone) at Trans Europe Halles Member Centres P60 (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) and NOASS (Riga, Latvia). Two international groups work on the project’s theme: Water as an element of the nature and water embedded in sinking cities reflection. Exchanges take place between the two countries, leading up to audiovisual art works for the final presentations in Riga and Amstelveen.

Whole exchange is divided into 3 steps:

STEP 01
From 21st to 27th June – exchange in Riga.
26th June - live audio visual performance in NOASS art space.

STEP 02
July - August – communication on the internet platform
The artists upload audio-visual materials and share ideas for the next Exchange

STEP 03
From 13th to 19th September – exchange in Amstelveen.
18th September – live audio visual performance in P60 venue.

Exchange in Riga has successfully finished.
The main idea of step 01 was to meet for the first time, get to know each other and to divide into successful and productive crews. Because of a good start and right activities, despite the short time, both artist crews managed to create very nice performances. And not least, the exchange itself went very well and pretty active.

The artists involved are: Ashkan Honarvar (NL), Emile Van De Coevering (NL), Gatis Stauga (LV), Kaspars Groševs (LV), Krišs Zilgalvis (LV), Roberts Galviņš (LV), Robin Koek (NL), Sander Houtman (NL), and Marieke Van De Ven (NL).

Some comments from participants about week in Riga:

“I think the idea of WSC itself is promising and even intriguing, at least for me. All artists are quite different from each other in means of expression and activities, and I like the challenge it offers. However sometimes it was hard to understand what is it exactly that we are working on - an art work, performance, entertainment piece? Perhaps it’s not that important, but these questions naturally come along with concerns of finding purpose in using image, sound, space, event. Conceptual guidelines and some “curatorial guidance” can really help in shaping up the result. Because if artists start from the scratch and there’s no real direction or guidelines than most probably the artist will do what he/she does best. In case of a group project it can lead to more or less interesting combinations or more likely dissonant fragments.
The week passed by really fast so it was just enough time to get to know everyone better and find some common interest point to work with. I thought the technical limitations didn’t disturb that much - just helped narrowing down all the possible choices, however unclarity of whether or not LED screen can be used left some choices to the last moment. The work process was quite short but kind an intense and it was interesting for me to try stepping into club culture aesthetics. I feel it has a potential of rethinking its elements and structures. So I hope this working process has just started and we will be able to work more on clearing the end result.”

Kaspars Groševs (LV)

“I think the exchange of Holland with Latvia was a very good one. Not only did we learn a lot and got inspired from each other, we also had a great week just spending time with the group. Good progress on the projects at day and interesting discussions at night. I was very satisfied with the (semi)end-results after just one week of cooperation. And participating in the Latvian midsummer festival was really a fantastic experience! I’m looking forward to the next part of the Exchange in Holland”

Sander Houtman (NL)

“The first step of the project was great. It was a good chance to meet all participants and exchange ideas. It was challenging for me (in a good way) to work with different kind of artists and meet different cultures (and subcultures).
I really hope that we gonna make something good in Amsterdam.”

Krišs Zilgalvis (LV)

City collage by Ashkan Honarvar (NL)

Read more about “Water. Sinking Cities.” at the project’s website.

Just to have an idea how great was the first exchange in Riga!

Other info, videos, photos and comments in the website: www.watersinkingcities.org

we are sinking

in p60

sink with us

http://watersinkingcities.org/

Marian Söderholm at ufaFabrik, Berlin

My time at ufaFabrik and indeed in Berlin has sadly come to an end. Yesterday my colleagues and I celebrated our time together by having dinner at the children’s farm; a lovely end to a lovely stay. As many people would surely agree, ufaFabrik is a fantastic place full of creativity and I am very happy to have had the chance to work here for the past four months.

I have been saying goodbye to Berlin by cycling, celebrating and chilling during the last few days. And I have checked off the last couple of things on my “you’d be crazy to miss this in Berlin”-list: climbing up onto the green roofs of ufaFabrik (I’ve wanted to do that for ages…) and going to the open-air cinema in Kreuzberg. Plus I’ve experienced the madness of the 1st of May in Berlin. Those of you who have been here know what I mean. All in all, the circle has been closed and it’s time for me to pack my ever-so-slightly-too-big bags and go back to Sweden, where reports, seminars and graduation celebrations await.

I will most definitely be back to visit Berlin though and who knows, we may see each other again sooner than we know…

until then, see you all in Budapest!

xox

Marian

Hi there!

In this raining night, finally I’ve decided that is the time to present myself to this blog! But I’m an Italian lazy, so I’m going to start with the introduction that I sent to Florence some months ago..
I’m Monica from P60, this great podium for music, media and culture in Amstelveen (NL). I left Italy (this explains why I don’t like to write in English :-)) in September to live my first experience abroad at the age of 25 (better late than never!). Now I’m here in Netherlands with still my mind full of cliche’ about Dutch culture (cheese, bicycles, tulips..) but also with some enrichments and I’m trying to find a new style of life.  I live close to a forest and a lake (amazing view!) in a big house with other 2 evs volunteers (a Portuguese guy and a latvian girl). So we have the advantage to keep in touch with the nature and in the same time, just in a few minutes we’re close to Amsterdam!
In P60 we have our “international office” (actually it’s a multimedia room!) and we have a daily work and one by night.  Just right now, we’ re organizing “Water. Sinking Cities”, young artists’ exchange, that we’re proud to present for the first time during the next TEHmeeting in Budapest! So after this trip, there will be the next chapter with a lot of pictures!

I think it’s enough for the first time..now you know too much about me!
see you soon!

Monica

ciao

i am linda konone.

from  Latvia NOASS.

now in the Netherlands P60.

already for 7 months evs.

work with video

did Moving Buildings09 project and now work on  Water. Sinking cities exchange.

there is a wind of change

Martina Prokopová at Culture Center Rex, Belgrade

During the second half of November 2009, right after the realization of Slobodna Zona Festival, my volunteering work consisted of helping Nebojša Milikić with his projects. Besides some small assistances on KEF 10 (Kratka Elektronicka Forma/Short Electronic Form) I was working mainly in Kaluđerica (one of the biggest illegal settlements in Central Europe) with Nebojsa Kitanović on a project about sewerage. This project is the most recent phase of the FLUX project which lasts already from 2001 onwards. The FLUX is organized and produced by Cultural Center Rex in Belgrade and as Nebojša Milikić says: ”(The Flux) was initially focused on the cultural production in the Belgrade suburbs through displaying the contemporary art-works, organization of discussions and workshops, production of art-works related to the problems of local communities and fostering broader debate on the aspects of contemporary art itself.”

My participation on this project was work in the terrain which I welcomed after two months in CyberRex. Together with Nebojša Kitanović I was leafleting flyers from house to house, from street to street, avoiding dogs and trying to find people willing to talk, asking small shops and houses of different political parties for help. I took documentation photos of contaminated sewers as documentation of different parts of Kaluđerica. Besides I had an occasion to cook with Nebojša for the first time Serbian beans meal Prebranac. It was exciting combination: cold autumn, foolish Nebojša, barking dogs and streets not existing on the map, small coffee house with porno and holy pictures on the walls, quiet mornings and vibrant breaks under pillars of electric network near highway. It is wild and civilized place at the same time. You can see there women working on field along with “castles” (really big and modern houses). I couldn’t talk with people, but not because of my basic knowledge of Serbian. People there are absorbed in their lives, in their worries and in their daily hard work. Maybe these were just my impressions, but I could feel some gap in time or different flow of time in comparison with my work and life in the centre of Belgrade.

Previous week, 7^th April 2010 I visited Kaluđerica after longer time again. I wanted to participate on one of the top phases of the Kaluđerica sewerage project. This meeting was organized for public and all local habitants were invited to participate. The map of sewage canals has been partially completed and at the meeting mentioned above was sticked on a wall in local community building. All inhabitants of Kaluđerica were invited to talk about sewerage, to provide organisers with new ideas and information, to complete the missing parts of the map, to talk about possible solutions of the sewerage problem. The map of sewage canals will be waiting for filling up for the whole next year on this wall and the meetings with local people will be further organized. The main organizer Nebojša Milikić along with Nebojša Kitanović and Tanja Vasiljević were waiting the whole afternoon for people willing to come and talk. Why am I mentioning this (in some way) banal information? Because, as I noticed, to open local people for community projects, even for communication, is one of the hardest aims to achieve and as well if it works the most worthy reward. About the main goal of the project Nebojša Milikić says: “The most recent phase of the FLUX project is aimed to interweave an artistic and activist approach to the problem of local community. To merge the politics and the policy of the action so that everybody can extract from the project process and outcomes what finds more important or more relevant to agree or confront with. We are about to produce the map of the sewage system in Kaludjerica and thus surface a number of issues related to developmental, environmental and societal issues that characterize not only Kaluđerica, but in fact most of the other Belgrade suburbs.”

While participating and working on this project I could follow the approach of Nebojša Milikić and his assistants to common people and the space where he lives, also the slow process of working with people in suburbs what can be sometime demotivating. This work is not running in the center where are the results uncovered with fame, but almost at the borders which are too faraway.

(Photos of the meeting 7.4.2010 taken by Michal.)

Florence Jauberthie at Mejeriet (Lund, Sweden)

Hej / Hello / Salut !

After several months where I’ve tried to gather all the young people in exchange within TEH network to build this blog, I’m very glad at last to write my first article in the Youth Exchange Blog! And I’m quite happy that there are already some articles here (not writing only by me!).

 Let’s do the presentation:

I’m Florence. I’m from France. I might say that I’m the typical cliché of the Frenchwoman, because I can’t live without cheese, wine and “baguette”. Look at the picture if you want to know why…

* Translation: “Bread, wine and cheese: that’s good for the health!”

But since I live in Sweden, I have learned to live without (or with less, let’s say!), and I discover an other way of life… Not so bad I have to say!

Here, I have learned a new word: « Fika ». And I can’t live without now!  Fika is a special word to refer to a social institution in Sweden: the coffee break. Swedes have made a special verb and noun for that, to show how is important in their culture! Everything is a pretext for a fika, even at work.  Fika rocks!

I’m doing my European Voluntary Service at Mejeriet, in the really cute and charming city of Lund, in the Southern part of Sweden, in the Skåne region where all the people talk with a strong accent (« skanska »)!

In France, I was involved in many cultural projects and places, like Mains d’Oeuvre my sending organisation where I was volunteering last year for different cultural events (concerts, exhibitions, theatre) and some office tasks.  EVS is a way for me to learn differently, and gain experience in the cultural field when being abroad. A full life experience in fact!

Changing country, changing language, changing “room”, changing food. Indeed, changing life.

That’s something I’ve never experienced in my life.

And I might say after seven months living here that I’m proud of myself, dared to change my habits and to broaden my mind.  It’s like to learn life again…

And that one’s of the amazing and best thing that I’ve done in my life!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

 Until next September, I’ll try to give you an overview about my EVS experience in Sweden through some articles and pictures… Feel free to follow me !

Vi ses snart / See you soon / A bientôt !

Marian Söderholm at ufaFabrik, Berlin

It’s true. I have less than two weeks left at the ufaFabrik.  I hear myself saying it to colleagues who ask for how much longer I’m here; “nur zwei Wochen”. Just as I’m starting to feel at home! Nevertheless, the last couple of weeks have been filled with excitement and memorable events. We had two visitors, Kiki from Subtopia, Sweden and Paola from OZU, Italy. They were both here for a one-week exchange through the Changing Room project….or so they thought. As you all are aware, there was an incident with a volcano, and…well. The rest is history. Paola’s flights were delayed and cancelled and Kiki stayed for a few extra days here at the ufaFabrik. Chaos, but fun chaos.

As their official guide to Berlin, I took Kiki and Paola on promotion tours in the city and showed them around the ufaFabrik. There was, of course, also the IETM meeting taking place at the same time, so we got to hook up with cultural producers from all over Europe, and also managed to watch a couple of amazing dance performances. One was Flying Bach at the Neue Nationalgalerie here in Berlin. It was the street dance group Flying Steps dancing to live Bach music (with some added electronic beats). Since I am into street dance myself, I really enjoyed the originality and the idea. I found myself laughing out loud at times, thinking “this can’t be real, it’s impossible for a person to move like that!”, but possible it was. The venue was also spectacular, with surrounding glass walls and two massive stone pillars which they showed projections on. Impressive.

Another performance we saw was Les Possédés by cie. toula limnaios at Halle Tanzbühne. Imagine: a one-hour dance performance in the gym of an old police house, based on the novels by Dostoyevsky. Pretty dark. Incidentally, was reading The Brothers Karamazov in the foyer before the performance, waiting for Kiki. It felt somehow apt, but after the show I felt a need to go home and watch a comedy.

There was a guided tour of the ufaFabrik during the IETM meeting, a fabulously sunny day during which I took a couple of pictures. The audience were pretty impressed by our pigs at the Kinderbauernhof (Children’s Farm). Maybe you’ll see yourself in one of the pictures?

Marian Söderholm at ufaFabrik, Berlin

I am about to experience a cultural exchange first hand! On Monday we will receive two Changing Room participants, Paola from OZU and Kiki from Subtopia. I have been appointed as their contact person in Berlin, and I feel both honored and excited! Not only is this a terrific opportunity to meet people who work in similar cultural organisations in other countries, it will also be an experience for me to be a guide for someone seeing the city with new eyes, just like I did three months ago.

I am hoping it will be an inspiring stay for Paola and Kiki, and that we will find some interesting activities to do. Next week is also Plan C - IETM Meeting in Berlin. In this city, you are really spoilt for choice when it comes to culture.

Another thing I love about Berlin is how amazingly green it is, even for a capital city metropolis. It’s the biggest city I’ve ever lived in, but probably also the greenest. During the last week, I have been walking around the whole (and I mean the WHOLE) of Berlin, visiting schools and shops and handing out flyers for the Lange Nacht der Opern und Theater and Platypus Theater’s performance of Alice here at ufaFabrik on Saturday. It’s a great way of discovering the city and exploring new neighbourhoods. At this time of year, I want to make the most of the sunshine and be outdoors as much as possible.

Now that the winter is finally over, I am discovering how much life there is here - in parks, forests, streets and gardens, the city is bursting with life and energy. Just take a look at these pictures and see for yourselves!