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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
2
Introduction
Local partners
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4
Participants
Activities
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6
Final Exhibition
Credits and Acknowledgements
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1
Introduction This Youth Exchange is called “Art in Action - How can art have a positive impact in social issues?” and was in Guimarães, Portugal in the Autumn of 2015. The activities took place in October 9-15 (without travel days) official ending in 15 of October, with a final presentation of the participants works. It involved 6 countries with 5 participant each, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Estonia, Slovenia and Turkey.
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One of the aims of this project was to promote an active citizenship between and with young European, giving them the space and opportunity to discover, reflect and debate about topics related with the impact of art in social issues and projects. Moreover they also reflected in their role as citizens, their cultural identity and values/priorities. Being a European citizen direct you to a position where you are more confronted with different realities and more aware of social differences and multiculturalism. In addition it calls attention to the need of more sustainable behaviors, more integration and equality. The system used in this project created a safe space to discuss sensitive subjects and was open to creative solutions. The usage of arts and creativity was one of our main languages supported by non-formal education methods. We want that artists find their ways to be taken serious by the community and find possibilities of doing meaningful artistic projects that can help their work perspectives and improve the society they live in. This attitude creates a double positive
effect, both in the key actors and in their target groups. The learning is mutual and results from sharing experiences and needs. The project gave youngsters the possibility to focus in the social field (poverty, lack of integration, inequality...) and also in environment (usage of eco-friendly behaviors, recycled materials...) By helping others with something that is part of you personal skills and interests, adds value to what you create, to what you share and what you take from it. Part of our expetations was to generate an experience of great personal and professional growth with significant development of skills and competences that would promote a better understanding about social issues and how we can take action in our communities. The group had European artists, with experience in European programs or in the social field, and other youngsters that just wanted to explore this thematic. This diversity created a balanced group.
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2
Local Partners The Youth Exchange was held in Guimar達es, Portugal and hosted by Platform Spartak. Our participants stayed in Pousada da Juventude, located in the center of the city. The main activities were in the Plataforma das Artes e da Criatividade and Casa de Dardos.
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Platform Spartak is a learning platform that connects young people from Europe to the Hague and vice versa. The organisation envision a Europe based on strong and sustainable local communities, in which (young) citizens are socially involved and encouraged to express and develop themselves. Platform Spartak believes that creative expression and cultural exchange are crucial to the development of such communities. As part of Platform Spartak, one can gain experience on both local and international level: our projects range from Art Jams in The Hague to voluntary work in the Balkans. Young people have the opportunity to join existing projects, but also to organize their own. Platform Spartak is a non-profit organization with a small dedicated staff. It has the ambition to work as a learning platform, where young people are supported and stimulated to implement new projects and realize their own ideas.
Some of our activities: • Music festivals that see young bands compete as well as cooperate. • Art jams that bring storytellers, artistes, painters, comic designers and the like, spread across the continent, together. • Training workshops on topics like communication, personality development and everything else that improve skills and employability in chosen spheres. • Youth exchanges • European Voluntary Service, our star program that offers experiences along with opportunities. It is a project where we send a volunteer to work abroad, with all of their boading and lodging expenses taken care of.
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Thanks to the Municipality of Guimarães and the Oficina, we could count with an amazing room in the space of Plataforma das Artes e da Criatividade. This center for arts and creativity is a new space in the heart of the city that is managed by the A Oficina - Centro de Artes e Mesteres Tradicionais de Guimarães, a Public Interest Cooperative founded in 1989 on the initiative of the Municipality of Guimarães. The main occupation of the platform itself is “The International Center of Arts José de Guimarães”, a structure dedicated to contemporary art and the relationships with other eras, different cultures and disciplines. From a conception of art as experience of space and freedom, not submissive to the categorization of history, form or style, has a particular interest in issues that have become important operational concepts in contemporary art and in today’s world, such as: energy vs. shape , circular design vs. linear time, archeology of knowledge, nomadism, migration - of shapes, motifs, ideas, people,
goods - individual and collective memory, hospitality, community, change, miscegenation, cultural cannibalism, utopia, among others. CIAJG (Centro Internacional das Artes José de Guimarães) joined objects and images of very distant times and places, sometimes without apparent connection, as if they came to us brought by the wind, as if they were flying seeds. The CIAJG is as well managed by Oficina and features works of African art, pre-Columbian art and ancient Chinese art from the collection of the painter José de Guimarães. Our participants had not only the chance of working half of the programe in this inspirational and contemporary place but also to visit the exbhition of CIAJG. The final exbhition of our project was also hosted in the space of the Plataforma das Artes, which enforced the connection with the city and its local organisations.
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Dra. Luisa Oliveira, President of the Cooperative and our partner Desincoop Desenvolvimento EconĂłmico, Social e Cultural, CRL, was the responsible for the second location of our activities. When the more practical part of our project arrived, Desincoop hosted us in their little farm, located nearby the center of the city and the space of their most interesting activities. This farm was given by the Municipality of Guimaraes to Desincoop for 5 years to carry on their activities more connected with the social and environemntal field. This space is being reconstructed with help of volunteers, Desincoop funded projects and trainings for people that suffer of social exclusion. In this place they can aqquire more professional skills in professions like carpenter, paver and gardener. At the same time these trainees support the renovation of the place, helping to make possible the future activities that are aimed to be carried out there. One of these activities is the Bicycle Shop. This shop is meant to
give jobs to persons with disabilities or in vulnerable situation and promoting a more sustainable and green mobility concept in the city. The idea is that old bicycles are collected and renewed by the shop, making them usable again for sale or rent. Other important place in this farm is the “Garden of Senses / Laboratorio dos Sentidos�, this garden was projected to be used by people with disabilities, making use of their senses through plants with smell, different textures, sounds of the nature and also with people reduced mobility. The activities, ideas and work of this place were extremely inspirational and important to this project since the majority of the group dedicated their contribute and ideas to them. In the final exbhition several projects aimed to support activities like the Bike Shop and the Garden of Senses. The participants could enjoy the place, nice meals in sunny weather and workshops of bycicles with the target groups of this cooperative.
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Located in the city center, the hostel was close to the historical center of Guimarães -Património of Humanity since 2001. The century-old building, full of history and memories, has been fully restored and equipped so the guests can’t miss a thing. The rooms were spacious and divided by male and female. Each room had maximum 6 participants and in some cases only two. There were plenty of leisure spaces, both indoor and outdoors and was a perfect meeting point after and before the activities. The breakfast was also in this Hostel and served by their staff.
POUSADA DE JUVENTUDE GUIMARÃES GPS 41º26’23,25’’N | 8º17’35,70’’W KML ou GOOGLE MAPS Complexo Multifuncional de Couros, Largo do Cidade, 8 4810-430 Guimarães Portugal T. 351 253 421 380 E. guimaraes@movijovem.pt W. microsites.juventude.gov.pt/ Portal/pt/PGuimaraes.htm
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This chapter couldn’t end without mentioning the various local restaurants and caffes that received us for lunch, dinner and free time of the participants from the project. This was a great opportunity for our participants to try the local cuisine and feel the hospitality of the locals. Some of the places we would like to mention and thank are:
Burgo
Cor de Tangerina Coconuts Sr. Julio
Porta Larga
Churrasqueira do Toural Carroça
NãoCozinho Oriental
Jardim Bambu (Chen Xing) Pizzaria Celeste
Supremo Gosto Cachorrão
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3
Participants The Youth Exchange counted with 30 participants coming from Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Slovenia, Estonia, Turkey and Netherlands. The success of this project was in big part thanks to the amazing group we had! Their open mind, active participation and willness to help to improve the world we live in and of course their creativity were a big help to carry out this Youth Exchange. We would like to thank them all for being present and their inputs.
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Alpgiray Kelem Turkey
Andrea Guidi Italy
Andrea Tamanti Italy
Ania Mlakar Slovenia
Antonio Corea Italy
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Antonij BoĹžiÄ?ko Slovenia
Berk Suvar Turkey
Bostjan Stajnberger Slovenia
Carina Oliveira Portugal
Ivo Faria Portugal
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Eeva Metssalu Estonia
Fosca Raia Italy
Giuseppe Palo Italy
Hugo Castro Portugal
Karl-Hendrik Pallo Estonia
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Kristiina Kullus Estonia
Kristin Hansen Estonia
Larisa Tomsic Slovenia
Leonor Lima Portugal
Lorena Bravo Netherlands
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Marcello Pucci Netherlands
Mirte van Kooten Netherlands
Osman Ayaz Turkey
Sara Lima Netherlands
Sara Munda Slovenia
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Senihâ Yıldız Turkey
Shahlo Ovezniyazova Netherlands
Susana Ribeiro Portugal
Taimi Karing Estonia
Zeynep Kınlı Turkey
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Activities The activities followed mostly the original schedule proposed in the project application. However during the week we were open to adjust the activities to the participants profile and the flow of them. In this chapter we will introduce the majority of the implemented activities so other people or organisations can also find inspiration to implement similar experiences in their own countries or projects.
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Day 1 Get to know each other During the first morning we did activities in order to make the participants to get to know each other. The first activity was a name game, in which people had to find each participant through their baby pictures. This activity was challenging and fun and made the group more availabe to participate. The second activity was “find the lie�, in this game each participant write down 3 characteristics about himself/herself. One of them was a lie, and the others had to find out which one. This game lead to informal conversations within the participants about each other backgrounds. The last game was blind drawing of the participants. They were divided in groups of two and without looking to the drawing or taking the pen out of the paper they had to draw the portrait of the person in front.
Elaboration of common rules + Programme Presentation The second part of the morning was time to go more deep in the program and to create the ground rules for the week. We hide some basic symbols of this rules and after the participants found them, we discuss it and agreed with it as a group. Furthermore we add extra rules that the participants found useful.
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Backpack of expetations: Hopes and Fears This activity had an ultimate goal to find out the hopes and fears from the participants in relation to the project, however the “backpack of expectations” added a new layer to it. The participants, in order to conclude the first step of the activity, had to find the pieces of their puzzle, however they discovered that they had parts of other groups and other groups their parts. To make the exchanges there were some key rules. They couldn’t ask, but think about others, Silence was everywhere and they couldn’t take it but only give to others. More detailed rules of this activity can be found in salto-youth.net.
Team Building “The other side of the blanket” This team building activity had as main goal to build the trust between the participants and help them to learn how to cooperate together. Each group had a blanket and they had to turn it to the other side without anyone stepping out of it.
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Personal Presentations Each participant had the task to bring from home 5 images, 5 feelings and 5 goals that they could relate to their personal experiences in the art/social field. This presentations were crucial to get to know the participants and to understand how we could cooperate together. Furthermore this presentations were very personal and a great way to everybody to get to know each other.
Day 2 Intercultural Language During the morning we finished the presentations from the previous day. Afterwords, we did a game to explore the “Intercultural Languages�. In this game we had two participants from different countries and they simulated a hotel situation in which one is the guest and the other the employee from the Hotel. They had to communicate in their mother tongues and the aim was that the employee managed to understand the situation that the guest neeed support. In most of the cases, the employee understood the message. This activity is meant to remind the participants that the languages barriers are only there if we allow it.
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City Game Participants were divided in random groups in which there was also a person from Guimaraes. They had the task to exchange a lemon (the initial object they received) for something else in every mandatory stop in the way. This stops had the aim to let them understand the local reality with art and culture and the relation of the locals with it. This list consisted in discovering museums, street art, galleries, studios and get the opinion of the locals about “What art can do?”. This gave the participants a good overview of the city’s artistic context and made the group more united. Furthermore the connection with the locals was extraordinary!
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Day 3 Debate As suggestion of some participants we decided to do a debate. Each participant wrote a statement and the others had to positionate themselves in the room in accordance to their opinions towards it. The room was divided in the middle creating 3 different zones, Yes, No, Maybe (center). The statements were related with art, design and social field.
Take a step forward The participants were asked to assume the role of different persons with social issues (lack of integration, disability, suffer of racism...) or people who had a better life situation but other social responsibilities (e.g. daughter of ambassador). They needed time to enter in the character, behave, think and act as the person. After they entered in the role, they were positioned in line and some questions were asked, if the answer was yes they could move forward, others no. This activity aims to create the reflection in the participants how our lives would be different if we had born in a different “role” or as a different person. Some could be easier others more difficult. It aimed to call attention to the difficult other persons face in doing simple things like going to the cinema or going out with the friends. More detailed information in this activity can be found in the book “Compass: Manual for human rights education with young people”.
Inspiration cases of Art supporting social projects Participants were divided in groups and got one inspirational case in which art worked supporting a social issue or project. The participants had to prepare a presentation in order to share their case to the rest of the group: ex. Mine Kafon, landmine clearance solution created from Massoud Hassani, Amer Shanti, music, the street store project...
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Day 4 Presentation Local Projects by Desincoop In order to keep the group working in the same location and this way being able to cooperate together, it was decided to focus in the work of one local organisation, our partner Desincoop. The President of this cooperative presented a few of their projects and its needs, especially projects being developed in “Casa de Dardos�, a little farm that was the place of our activities. After the presentation the participants had to come up with their own proposals or choose between this thematic in order to find their theme to focus during the rest of the week. The projects presented by Desincoop where: 1. Inclusive Bicycle: Workshop of renovation of bicycles for people with disabilities to get new opportunities of job employment. (e.g. Architecture of the place, branding of the shop, branding of campaign to collect old bikes and awareness of the public to the project). 2. Garden of senses: Garden designed for persons with disabilities (e.g. land art, design of the garden and the needs of the target group, information design of how to interact with the gar-
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den, info graphics, installation) 3. “Look what is left!�: Street Social Shop, collect old clothes, sort it and create a social open shop in the street. (e.g. Branding of the event, promotion) 4. Refugee crisis in Syria through the eyes of a small city in Portugal: Video or photo session based in interviews with local community and awareness of real events and how people can contribute to help. (e.g. anonymous opinions) 5. Roma Genocide: anti racism anti xenophobia, human rights. (e.g. Campaigns, how to approach the theme, how to avoid prejudices) 6. Orange Day: Against violence to Women. (Create awareness, views of local community.)
Division per groups and themes After the presentations the participants were really interested in work in three themes: Inclusive Bicycle, Garden of Senses and Refugee Crisis thematic.
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Day 5-6 Workshops, Group Work in the Themes In the last two days of the project the participants were really focused in creating their artworks. They spent this two sunny days working in “Casa de Dardos�. They had workshops of bicycles and all the support of Desincoop and Platform Spartak staff, including materials, ideas and professional opinions in the artistic and social field. Participants were able to explore artistic techniques and improve their works with the aim to present them to the local community.
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Final Exhibition After a week working together and two full days focusing in their artworks, the participants built the last exhibition and presented it to the locals in the center of Guimar達es. This was an important moment to the participants feel the accomplishment of their efforts and to share it with each other, the municipality, their target groups and local citizens. These e-book will allow the results to be shared online, reaching a wider public.
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Refugee Crisis in Guimarães In this project using our artistic skills, we attempt to demonstrate views and experiences of people from Guimarães who provide humanitarian aid to those in need. Humanitarian aid is provided to anyone regardless of their religious, political, or cultural differences, even if costs might be high at times. Between 13’14 October 2015, we have interviewed 50 random residents of Guimarães with the purpose to find their opinion on the refugee crisis subject. We collected information from people from different social background and age.
by: Alpgiray Kelem, Andrea Tamanti, Giuseppe Palombi, Ivo Rainha, Marcello Pucci, Sara Lima, Shahlo Ovezniyazova and Susana Ribeiro.
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The Uchronia of Dreamcatcher The land of the dreamcatcher is Uchronia. A place inside of the space where time doesn’t exist. It has the ability to take you to your inner world, places of memory and fantasy. The project is composed by two parts of an art installation, a portal and a little lake. The portal with a vertical garden marks a moment of passage, where the movement and time slows down. It intends to create the sensation of entering in a dream, a magical place where we can develop imagination through all the senses. The little lake, inspired in a dreamcatcher, is interactive and by the movement it creates very gentle sounds that connect us with the nature. like a stone falling in the water. Like a toy, it brings us back to our childhood.
by: Antonio Corea, Carina Oliveira, Fosca Raia and Hugo Castro
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Activate your Senses The aim of this project is that through the sculptures we made, people will physically engage with the garden, since this is a place for not only looking but smelling, touching and hearing.
by: Mirte van Kooten, Lorena Bravo, Krstiina Kullus, Bostjan Stajnberger.
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Garden of senses: Reborn Trees The trees have faces, making them come alive with those expressions from the nature. With them, memories and feelings reborn.
by: Leonor Lima, Mirte van Kooten, Lorena Bravo, Fosca Raia, Antonio Corea and Krstiina Kullus.
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Garden of senses: Interactive Map The interactive map represents some of the interesting sights of the garden of senses. The map is adjusted to people with special needs. Each plant placed on the map you can smell, touch and discover its (semi-palindrome/braille) name. Afterwords you can actually see it in the garden.
by: Anja Mlakar, Sara Munda, Larisa Tomsic, Bostjan Stajnberger.
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“Bicicleta Inclusiva” Inclusive Bicycle If you don’t use it, make it available for the use of someone else. Share your experience and resources with those in need.
by: Zeynep Kınlı
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“Bicicleta Inclusiva” Inclusive Bicycle The aim of this project was to increase the awareness that all people don’t live like they want - not everybody can own a bicycle or a place to call “home”. Our motto is: “If you don’t use it, give it!”
by: Eeva Metssalu, Kristin Hansen, Taimi Karing, Berk Suvar, Osman Ayaz, Senihâ Yıldız, Antonij Božičko, Andrea Guidi, Karl-Hendrik Pallo, Zeynep Kınlı.
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Credits and Acknowledgements We would like to thank all the participants and partner organizations of “Art in Actionâ€?, specially our partner in Portugal, Desincoop that supported us in the process of hosting this project. Furthermore we would like to thank the municipality of GuimarĂŁes for the interest in this project and for supporting us with a room in Plataforma das Artes. The last thank you note goes to all the restaurants and places in the city that received us and for the people that attended our exhibition .
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Photos: Alpgiray Kelem, Andrea Tamanti, Bostjan Stajnberger, Fosca Raia, Ivo Rainha, Kristin Hansen , Leonor Lima, Osman Ayaz, Senihâ Yıldız, Susana Ribeiro , Zeynep Kınlı.
Design: Sara Lima
This Youth Exchange was funded by Erasmus +. Promoted by Platform Spartak, hosted in cooperation with Desincoop CRL in Guimarães, Portugal in October 2015.
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