Den 15-21 maj har 8 unga kuratorer från Sankt Petersburg, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk och Kaliningrad varit i Stockholm på ett veckolångt studiebesök.

Den 18 maj arrangerade vi en sammankomst med våra gäster och bjöd in svenska kuratorer och andra personer som arbetar med konst (art operators) till Svenska institutet.

/ On 18th of May, Intercult together with The Swedish Institute, arranged a seminar for the group of eight curators and artist from North West Russia. They discussed latest art initiatives and collaboration possibilities for the Nordic Region and Russia. The visit to Stockholm is a first part of the international project funded by Swedish Institute program Creative Force. The project is organized together with the Creative Association of Curators TOK from Sankt Petersburg.

There is lack of a curatorial network between Russia and the Nordic counties. We hope that Creative Force can be a future network for young and emerging curators from the region, which will in the beginning be between Sweden and Russia, and later will develop into a large cooperation between the Nordic region and Russia, said Iwona Preis, project manager at Intercult.

The initiative aims to increase cross-cultural knowledge about each other’s projects and methods the regional curators work with. The first stage of the project is a research and educational trip of young curators and artists from NW Russia to Sweden to meet their colleagues and local agents. In the next stage, the Swedish curator group will participate in the study visit to Russia. All the participants are during 2016 offered short residencies in Russia and Sweden hosted by participant organizations.

Creative Force promotes human rights, freedom of expression and democracy. The task of this project is to cerate cooperation between Swedish organizations and international organizations. Projects should use culture, creativity and media, concluded Judith Black from The Swedish Institute.

Anna Bitkina and Maria Veits, the funders of the Creative Association of Curators TOK participated in the meeting in Stockholm. The guests presented TOK’s local and international projects, as well as talked about the current situation of the contemporary art scene in Russia.

TOK’s main mission is to integrate contemporary art practice into the public sphere in Russia. We chose to work with state financed institutions in Russia, as well as diverse galleries and art centers, as it opens for the dialogue and gives us the possibility to communicate with different actors, on many different levels, said Anna Bitkina from TOK.

During the seminar five curators from Russia presented their latest initiatives and discussed the possibilities for the future collaboration with the Swedish partners. Last but not least, project manager Pontus Raud, presented artist driven air fair Supermarket Art Fair.

Young curators and artists from NW Russia:

YULIA MEDVEDEVA lives and works in Arkhangelsk. For 5 years she has been the Director of the Exhibition Gallery of the Union of Artists of Arkhangelsk.

Yulia is interested in developing of contemporary art in Arkhangelsk in general and museum projects connected with new technologies of interaction with people in particular.

She wants to develop collaboration between the local artists and the artist from the Nordic Region.

For June 2016 Yulia plans the exhibition project “Showcase“, which will include rebuilding the facade of the Exhibition Gallery of the Union of Artists and the surrounding area. The project is a platform intended for the international residents and guests of Arkhangelsk.

LIUDMILA SHUNKINA curates and produces different art projects in the Murmansk region. Currently she is the curator of art program of International cultural festival Barents Bird (10-19 April) based in Murmansk region. The idea for the project is rooted in the Nordic culture.

Ludmila is interested in developing culture in the region and creating the ties between the artists from the Nordic courtiers and the Russian artists.

ILIA KUZUBOV is organizer and producer of the art-festival Taibola. The festival is a cultural-ecological volunteer open-air festival, held in the middle of July on the White Sea shore. It includes the art-object contest, different master classes, original and ethnic music concerts, and folk crafts fair.

The festival is currently looking for partners in Europe and Barents region countries such as organizers and producers of different festivals and musical bands.

More information:
http://vk.com/evil3k
https://www.facebook.com/evil33k

EGOR LUCHSHEV is one of the founders of the gallery Exit and the art space project Vorota, in Kaliningrad. Vorota is a gallery, café and place for different cultural activities.  The philosophy of the place is to connect and support artists. The place is open for any idea. 80% of the content comes from the outside.

Egor’s main goal is to bring more artists from Europe and to show the latest contemporary art.

More information:
https://www.facebook.com/artvorota
www.artvorota.ru
https://www.facebook.com/exitplace?fref=ts

VIKA RYSKINA currently works as art project manager for the Iris New Holland, on the New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg.

The initiative focuses on transformation of a man-made island in the center of St. Petersburg into international creative platform. Iris New Holland was developed since 2011 and supports projects for children, eco initiatives and to contemporary art projects in Russia.

Vika is interested in international cooperation with a focus on the Nordic region.

All curators and art operators interested in cooperation within the frame of the project are welcome to contact Iwona Preis at Intercult at iwona.preis@intercult.se

More pictures from the meeting: