Open Place is an interdisciplinary platform founded by the Ukrainian artists Yulia Kostereva and Yuriy Kruchak. It aims to hold meetings, conduct joint actions and propose possible prospects on the intersection of art, politics and socio-cultural transition. The projects of Open Space aim to expand the understanding of art and invite new groups of people into the creative process.
During their residency in Innsbruck, Kruchak and Kostereva will investigate the theme “Common Landscape” understood as a non-hierarchical structure of relations. Therein, the artists are interested in the different components that make up this landscape. Together, they will work with the various semantic layers of Innsbruck and its various intersections such as objects of material and immaterial memory, nature, people, infrastructure, activities or influences.
By engaging with different citizen groups, Kruchak and Kostereva will help us to think beyond landscape as a mere set of infrastructural components and show us different shapes and shades of the common landscape.
Cultivating a “Common Landscape”
In search of the “common landscape” of Innsbruck, the artists engage in a variety of different activities. Migration and challenges that arise because of migration, was the starting point of Open Place’s research. Migration is understood as a process of transition, which is fundamental to so much of contemporary life. People migrate between identities, countries, languages, economic realities, genders, political beliefs, contexts. Open Place is aimed to record diverse experiences and to create a political and social document collectively. The activity in Innsbruck follows Open Place’s ongoing goal to bring together different perspectives into a universal message, offering strategies and tactics that we can all access.
Common Landscape is a series of meetings in the format of interviews, workshops, course and talks that will result in a subjective map of Innsbruck during June and July. The starting point for the artistic activity is communication, understanding of one’s own states and manifestation of them. Thus, it is the people who will come to the workshops who will determine the subjective map of Innsbruck. The aim of the project is to establish communication through artistic practices, perform your feelings and experiences in a various way.
On the search for the visual identification of our inner landscapes
Furthermore, they will make a series of interviews, create workshop formats as open spaces for encounter and exchange, as well as for sharing practices and thoughts, experiences and stories.It’s about visual and oral storytelling, and the participants are invited to be ready for collective actions as well.
In addition, on July 1 and 2, the artists will offer an in-depth and interesting learning format in the form of a course for the participants of the Kunstraum Innsbruck Summer School. As part of the same program, an artist talk will take place on July 7 at Kunstraum Innsbruck. During the course, participants will work with the different semantic layers of the city and its intersections. These include objects of material and immaterial memory, people, infrastructures and activities. At the same time, they will use drawing and linocut as a means of communication and learn more about the different histories of the techniques, as well as the theoretical approaches associated with them.
Finally, Common Landscape is an attempt to build bridges through disparate experiences, and create a source of trust and solidarity. It is a collaborative environment and the place for reflection.
In the last week of the residency, the landscapes collected during interviews with local actors, daily encounter sessions, community workshops, and the summer school course/artist talk will be interwoven with other narratives and presented in a site-specific installation in public space.
As the residency program will evolve in parallel with the artists’ work process, we will keep you informed about possible changes and further activities.
Links:
Open Place
www.openplace.com.ua/en
openspace.innsbruck:
https://www.instagram.com/openspace.innsbruck
Magic Carpets Austria:
www.magiccarpets.at
Magic Carpets:
www.magiccarpets.eu
Kunstraum Innsbruck Summer School:
https://www.kunstraum-innsbruck.at/termine/common_landscape
https://www.kunstraum-innsbruck.at/en/events/common_landscape