The research project Contemporary Art, Popular Culture, and Peacebuilding in Eastern Europe examines contemporary art and popular culture as interconnected systems to gain a broader perspective on the role of art in conflict resolution. It builds on ongoing long-term cooperations between the Zurich University of the Arts, the project partner Artas Foundation, and partners in Eastern Europe – a region often overlooked and marginalized in the West. Three subprojects look at specific contexts: the culture wars in Poland, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Armenia and the Transnistrian conflict in Moldova. The ongoing research has looked at cultural workers’ responses to war and social conflict, the varying degrees of artistic autonomy in the respective regions, and what role self-organized art spaces can assume in the cultural field.
https://zpatiu.wordpress.com/2024/05/15/razboaie-culturale/
How can an absence be transformed into something productive? Following two previous conversations on the topics of antagonism and autonomy, we will look at the topic of absence.
The Common Grounds program took place between July 17-19, 2025, at Zpace, consisting of several practical sessions followed by presentations with guests from Armenia, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. The discussions have broadened the understanding of the guests’ artistic practice and how it relates to the theme of conflict in their countries of origin.
Between October 23-26, 2024, at Zpace, as part of the education through art program Edu-Art, the visual arts and graphic design workshop – At the Local Scale took place.
The discussion will elaborate ideas and concerns put forward by participants and additionally center the question of (artistic) autonomy in a fraught political context.
The workshop provides an opportunity for cultural workers, artists and activists to discuss their practice in an organized manner with a focus on the ongoing challenges that the independent cultural community currently faces.
![Art, Activism, Absence? – a workshop facilitated by Rada Leu [BG/CH]](https://oberliht.tejido.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ArtactivismAbsence.jpg)
![Art, Activism, Autonomy? – a workshop facilitated by Rada Leu [BG/CH]](https://oberliht.tejido.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20241019_art-activism-autonomy.jpg)
![Art, Activism, Antagonism? – a workshop facilitated by Rada Leu [BG/CH] and Vladimir Us [MD]](https://oberliht.tejido.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/art-activism-antagonism-vers1.jpg)