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Art as bonding beyond the waters of the Baltic Art Line is an international art-project in collaboration between fourteen partners from five different countries in the South Baltic region. These countries are Poland, Sweden Germany, Russia and Lithuania.
The project is part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund), South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme. It will run from 2011 until December 2013. During this period a number of workshops and seminars will be held and exhibitions hosted either on Internet and/or art institutions, academies within the South Baltic region, as well as on the Stena Line ferry. The Lead Benificiary is Blekinge County Museum, situated in the southern parts of Sweden. Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art is leader of both components in the project.
The aim of project Art Line is to create a collaborative network between art institutions and academia in the South Baltic region. Another important aim for the project is to involve the general public in discourse regarding contemporary art to give rise to a deeper understanding of not only contemporary art in itself, but of contemporary art as cultural and political critique; of contemporary art as an ongoing narrative of the advance an
d/or changes in human values, knowledge and technology.Contemporary art in all its shifting shapes and forms is a major tool for regional growth in all senses of the word. The aim of the project is thus to makes use of these shifting shapes and forms to bring both institutions and people living in the South Baltic region closer, or creating a constructive, communicative circle of art bringing us all closer together. The Baltic is not what separates us, but what connects us.
Art Line is unique in that it is the very first art-project to be granted funds from the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme. It is also the very first art-project to have a Swedish Lead Partner.
Art in Real and Digital Space The primary focus of the project is on digital art and art in the public space. This focus implicitly highlights the importance of Internet, and how Internet has impacted on and changed the view of the concept of the public space.
These days the digital terrain has increasingly come to replace the “real” physical space as a site for interaction and exchange of ideas, allowing instant points of contact between people spread all over the world. The quite recent creation of the concept social media as a descriptive term for computer-based information and communications tools – such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube – goes to show that the Internet is not to be seen as a passive reciever and giver of information, but rather as a social space through which individuals exist together; a social space in which individuals in a constant process of interaction co-exist. The internet has become a public, social space.
Within this project we ask ourselves how one can employ this new public space for both the creation and the communication of and about art; as well as how one can mesh the digital space and the “real” physical space. Partners and associated partners There´s a total of fourteen partners involved in project Art Line of which four are associated partners: - Blekinge County Museum, Sweden.
- Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art- Laznia CCA, Poland.
- Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany.
- Art Centre Gallery EL, Poland.
- Gdansk City Gallery, Poland.
- The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre- the BSCC, Poland.
- Kulturcentrum Ronneby, Sweden.
- Art Exhibition Hall of Karlskrona City, Sweden.
- Blekinge Institute of Technology- BTH, Sweden.
- Kalmar konstmuseum, Sweden.
Associated Partners: - Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts- Kaliningrad NCCA, Sweden. - Nida Art Colony, a subdivision of Vilnius Art Academy, Lithuania.
- Stena Line Scandinavia AB
- Region Blekinge, Sweden.
The background of Art Line As with anything, Art Line started with a single idea; continuously growing in the mind of project Leader Torun Ekstrand whom before Art Line worked on a cross-border art-project with Poland entitled Neighbours. At the end of project Neighbours Ekstrand wanted to continue the work on tying together art institutions in the South Baltic region. She was striving towards shaping a larger collaborative network between art-institutions, as well as academic institutions. The idea started with this single seed and grew up to become Art Line- a cross-border, jointly developed art- project. Kick-off-seminar on Stena Line ferry Beginning January 2011, all the participating partners in project Art Line met up for the very first time in group on the Stena Line ferry while it was on its route between Karlskrona and Gdynia. Project Leader Torun Ekstrand had prepared for a full day of information regarding the project. A conference room was set off for the fourty participants and after a press-conference in the lobby of the ferry this is where all partners gathered to start planning for the future of Art Line. The aims and goals of the project, as well as how to best reach these, were discussed. Just before lunch the project´s International Steering Group – consisting of representatives from each of the five participating countries – sat down for the first time to decide on issues concerning the projects budget, components, graphical profile and much more. The day ended with a series of lectures. The first of these were held by the Russian performer, artist and curator Dmitry Bulatov of Kaliningrad NCCA, in which the ontological complex of problems relating to the technological progress of postmodernity were highlighted. What does it mean to be a human being and how has modern technology (re)shaped the notion of humanity? Dmitry Bulatov was followed by Martin Schibli, art-critic and curator of Kalmar Konstmuseum. He talked about the Swiss artist-duo Com&Com, about how they were hired by the municipality of the Swiss city of Romanshorn to – via the production of an artifact for the city´s public space – market the city, and about the following heated art-debate.
Ending the threefold series of lectures was the Polish artist Mateus Pęk who discussed his artistic work consisting of both using and critically reflecting on social media and the Internet.
Graphical profileA temporary website was launched to spur graphic designers and web-agencies in the South Baltic region to give form to a logotype and further a graphical profile for project Art Line. More than 85 proposals were handed in, and the website had 4300 visitors during its brief existence on the web.
From the 85 proposals 10 were chosen, and from these ten the partners made a vote for which design to be realized. The winner was Engram Studio situated in Gdansk, Poland. The concept for their logotype was a perfect visual fit for the aims and goals of the project. It consisted of five intersecting line representing the five participating countries with the point of intersection visually representing the aim to create a collaborative and jointly developed network.
Telling the BalticOne of the many projects within Art Line is a storytelling-project entitled Telling the Baltic. In this project stories from and referring to the South Baltic Sea region will get collected and subsequently handed over to artists living in the region. The artists will transform these stories into works of art; works of art that will both be showcased on the project website and on five different venues in Karlskrona, Gdansk, Rostock, onboard the Stena Line ferry and possibly in Kaliningrad.
In March participating partners in the project met up at Blekinge County Museum to discuss the future of the project. Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art and Blekinge Institute of Techn
The Polish artist Patrycja Orzechowska was invited by the curator and artist Agnieszka Wolodzko at Laznia CCA to present her work for the group, which has a focus on the concept of memory and history.
The next meeting was in Gdansk in the end of April, to meet story-collectors and artists and discuss how the interaction with visitors and storytellers online can be possible.
Particiating partners in Telling the Baltic are also Kunsthalle Rostock and NCCA Kaliningrad and Nida Art Colony, subdivision of Vilnius Art Academy. Earlier in February project leader Torun Ekstrand together with NCCA Kaliningrad and Nida Art Colony sat down and composed a new EU-application for more funds so as to enable both NCCA Kaliningrad and Nida Art Colony to take a more active part in Telling the Baltic. This application is still pending, awaiting an answer.
Progress-report coursesDuring two days in March progress-report courses were held both in Sweden and Poland. During this course Financial Manager of the project, Annika Thelin, informed all present on the procedural specificities of working with an EU-project; what to think of and what to be aware of. Within project Art Line a total of six progress-reports will be made by all participating partners. These reports will be in-depth documentation of how the granted funds have been used, and they will contain reports on how and when set goals for the project have been reached.
During this course Johan Lundbäck from the South Baltic Programmes office in Kalmar County were present to inform all present on how the South Baltic Progra
mme works. The layout for this course was later on at the 30th of March brought to Gdansk, where the polish partners of the project were informed and educated on the same procedural specificities. The course in Poland were held in the locales of the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, a beautiful old Renaissance building in the central parts of Gdansk, whilst the Swedish one was held at Blekinge County Museum. Administration Manager Dominika Butkiewicz and Financial Manager Małgorzata Zdunek of the joint technical secretariat in Poland were present at the Gdansk course to answer questions. Torun Ekstrand informed about activity-reporting and Art Lines information officer Aje Björkman informed about the planned for dissemination-activities within the project.Art Line in mediaArt Line has thus far been featured in Swedish press and media, interviews in Swedish radio and printed newspaper as well as on web. Art Line has been featured in Polish press, both in print and in digital media. The vice-director of NCCA Kaliningrad, Yulia Bardoun, was as well on the Russian television show Pora Vklyuchatsa on TV-channel Kaskad, where she got a chance to talk about Telling the Baltic, Art Line and NCCA Kaliningrad’s involvement in the project.
Project managementSince the decision to give funds to project Art Line were made at the end of year 2010 curator and consult Torun Ekstrand got appointed project leader.
She is together with Financial Manager Annika Thelin and Information Officer Aje Björkman the project management of Art Line.
Contact Details: Torun Ekstrand: +46709 30 49 71
Annika Thelin:
+46709 30 49 73
Aje Björkman
+46709 30 49 74
An International
Art-project in Real
and Digital Space.
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