Gen(d)eralisation 2011

Date:                                       September 2011

Place:                                      Erfurt, Germany

Applicant organization:          CULTURE GOES EUROPE (CGE) - Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V.
                                                                phone:+49 - 361 60 21 515
                                                                fax: +49 - 361 60 21 516
                                                                office@cge-erfurt.org

                                                www.cge-erfurt.org

                                             

Participating countries:       Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia

Gen(d)eralisation is a project about gender and art in the Western Balkans from 1990 to 2010. The topic of Gen(d)eralisation and Gender Equality in general rather than exclusively focusing on either women or men, considers the situation of both, and aims to address the issues affecting unequally both women and men. Gender equality has only recently become a topic of discussion in the Western Balkans and in some regions it is still considered to be somewhat of a taboo subject. The transitional period, specifically the last 20 years brought many changes to this region and is still an ongoing process.

What is the position of men and women today and how has it changed since the early 1990’s and what are the reasons for this? What influenced this and what are these changes leading to? How does art depict this? How do people see feminism and has this term become unpopular or are people still afraid of using it? Are traditions the cause of problems, are they changing and how fast? How do artworks created after the 1990s and the re-establishment of nation-states address traditional gender patterns? These are just some of the questions which will be raised during the project.

The aim of this project is to go deeper into the topic of gender equality ,specifically in the turbulent region of the Western Balkans by providing a forum for discussions but also to introduce this topic to the people of Erfurt and Germany. The topic of gender does not rank as one of the most important but is a fundamental part of people’s lives and the idea is to use art as a tool for presenting the idea. Also it is interesting to place it outside the borders of the Western Balkans, in former Eastern Germany, where there is a lot of interest in the Western Balkan culture. To make an overview, from the fall of the Berlin Wall and neoliberal influences on one hand to the end of the Socialist regimes and the rising of nationalism on the other. This will provide a opportunity for more objective discussions and strengthen connections between the two regions.

The project will address the position of women and men, femininity and masculinity, in the Western Balkan region ( Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia ) from the early 1990’s to the present day through these thematic areas:

· Gender Ideology

· Education and Art

· Employment and Social Status

· Gender Roles in the Family and Household

The project, organised by CULTURE GOES EUROPE (CGE) - Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V., is planned to take place in Erfurt, Germany in the second 2 weeks of September 2011. The project will include an exhibition by different artists from the Western Balkans, panel discussions with scholars from various related fields, film projections and a concert. The idea is to gather together people who have worked with the topic of gender issues, more specifically in the Western Balkan region from the early 1990’s until today. We plan to address the topic of gender equality by using art as a tool to discuss what has been the position of men and women during this period of transition. One of the key points is that we plan to promote young artists with different approaches to the topic.

Artists, coming from different Western Balkan countries will address the issues of gender (in)equality in their countries and in the region itself. They will also be asked to give short speeches about their work and visitors will be able to find out more about the artists’ work and points of view on the subject. Beforehand the artists will be asked to give interviews which will be available for reading during the exhibition and there will be a book published after the exhibition period which will be a collection of art works and texts. It is also planned for a number of panel discussions to take place with scholars from the Western Balkan region, but also from Germany, who would again be addressing the topic of gender equality. There will also be film projections, connected to the topic, with a moderator who would organise discussions after the films.

Applications

If you are an artist from the Western Balkans interested in taking part in this project, please contact us with the following information:

Applications must include a statement/motivation letter. Please send your CV, along with sufficient visual material such as URLs, JPEGs, and/or MP4 files and a short description of your art work.
You can upload your files to providers such as rapid share, esnips, and dropbox.

You can alternately send your materials in a CD or DVD to:

Elena Kragulj
office@cge-erfurt.org

CULTURE GOES EUROPE (CGE)- Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V.

Iderhoffstrasse 12

99085 Erfurt

Germany

The deadline for applications is 30th May 2011

Please note that the submitted materials will not be returned to the applicants

CULTURE GOES EUROPE (CGE) - Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V. is active in the fields of local, national and international youth work, arts and cultural activities and in political education through the realisation of different projects and programmes with local, national and international partners. Our special focus applies for the countries and cultures in Eastern and South Eastern Europe.