2016 var året då Konstfrämjandet Öland-Kalmar valde att fokusera på hästen som kulturbärare. Vi leker med iden om att användandet och interaktionen med hästar skulle kunna ändra sättet vi lever våra liv på i framtiden. 

NEW HORSE CULTURES

Hästen har varit vårt redskap för förflyttning, jakt, krig och jordbruk, och var förutsättningen för människans stora migrationer. Den förknippas med krigarkungar och med unga flickor, med överklass och med fattigdom. Vi använde hästen som centralfigur i en social skulptur som varade från Maj till augusti 2017. Allt som allt inolverades närmare 150 personer i allt från ridning, byggarbete, nyproduktion av konstvideoarbeten, korrigering av hästskelett och performance med piano i Ridhus. Vi hade glädjen att jobba med konstnärerna Signe Johannessen, Shiva Anoshirvani, Ramez Omareen och Johan Carlsson. Efter vårt projekt på kultivators gård på Öland, flyttade delar av projektet in på Kalmar konstmuseum och blev basen för utställningen ”Den sista Ölandshästen”, curerad av Joanna Sandell.

Den första aktiviteten var en studiecirkel i hästhantering för nyanlända kvinnor från asylboenden på Öland.

”Jag har alltid längtat efter hästar, men i Syrien var det ingen kvinnogrej. Det verkar det vara här”

”Det krävs att man har bra självförtroende om man ska få hästen att lita på en och följa en, det är en otrolig känsla när det går”

8 kvinnor träffades vid 11 tillfällen på Kultivators gård, och lärde sig hantera, rida och umgås med hästar. Projektledare var Dima Matr, själv nyanländ, med bakgrund från ett jordbruk i Syrien. Studiecirkeln avslutades med en stor festlighet på gården, med riduppvisning, screening av konstfilm, hästdisco och invigning av Johan Carlsons ”Pavillion with horses”. 

Johan Carlsson och hans JAC studios från Köpenhamn bjöds in till projektet för att formge ett nytt sorts utestall med nya funktioner, bland annat med en mobil tecknarstudio, inbyggd i en tvåhjulig vagn. Precis som hästarna användes byggandet som möjlighet till möten i arbete. Haitham Sabahi, nyanländ från Syrien, och hela hans familj ledde i arbetet i ständigt samspråk med arkitekterna Johan Carlsson, Beate Juell, och Sebastian…  och alla frivilliga från konstfrämjandets ”ungläger”.

Table of plenty by Kultivator

A part of the alternative education programme “Everything Under The Sun”, that merges the fields of food and art under the issues of climate change through an interdisciplinary, experimental approach. Curated by Ece Pazarbasi and  Caique Tizzi in the Agora collective, Neuekölln, Berlin.

Kultivator led a module with 12 participants in this programme, choosing to set the focus on the refugee situation. From Kultivators perspective, the changes in everyday life due to the migrations of people is one of the effects of climate change that had the biggest impact so far on society as a whole, as well as on Kultivators home village and farm. This movement is big right now, but as climate change continuous, the amount of people having to re locate themselves will only grow. With the 12 great participants of chefs, artists and activists from all over the world, the aim was to create an artistic response to the possibilities and challenges of this present.

We were particularly interested in the changing cultures of food, like organization of meals,  economy, ownership, manual labor, social aspects, and the mix of traditions and recipes.

The north has since long benefitted from influences from all over the world in their kitchens. Berlins Neuekölln and Kreuzberg districts are evidence of a great wealth in food culture, from street food to restaurants, or as in Agora; cosmopolitan, artist-run cafes. In the many street markets there is an abundance of produce.

In the same areas people are living in refugee camps, at the moment extremely overpopulated, with no possibilities for people to prepare food or eat as they wish. With only one week to work with, we set out to cook something from these ingredients.

The “cooking” process started with visits to inspiring initiatives, activist groups and kitchens, and two different camps for asylum seekers. With the people we met, and in our group, we decided that we wanted to create a situation of sharing and discussion with people that are in the asylum seeking process, and together with them create something that could serve as a template for future community events at Agora cafe.

As we discussed the project with local street vendors, an overwhelming lot were more than willing to join by donating bread, vegetables, fruit and other nearly overdate produce. In one evening’s gathering, we collected more than enough of material for a huge dinner. We could invite the people we had met in the refugee camps, Tempelhof (at the time housing a thousand people) and Berlin Stadtbadhaus (around 300) to share the kitchen and social space of Agora with us for one evening. The event was named “Table of plenty”, referring to both the overfull table of food material, and the chefs and guests from many backgrounds. The evening went over all expectations.

The connections made between people locally in Neuekölln, and the map of where to find food, + the new experiences and knowledge sharing of kitchen skills, could be one small step in preparation for a world that is changing, not only for the worse.

Programme Curated by: Ece Pazarbasi and Caique Tizzi

Two workshops by Eva Bakkeslett
http://www.evabakkeslett.com

Through Konstfrämjandet Öland Kalmar, Kultivator invites Eva Bakkeslett to collaborate with newly arrived around baking as a common cultural activity, and bread as social sculpture. We look at grains and dough in the microscope, listens to the stomach and hear on the dough, ferment together and discover how to cooperate with bacteria. We use our hands and make bread sculptures and share our stories and traditions around bread and baking.

Eva Bakkeslett is an artist, filmmaker and kitchen table activist. Through a combination of films, lectures and social sculpture, she tells stories where timelessness, attention, ecology and collaboration are important elements. By discovering and regaining obsolete knowledge or forgotten meanings of words, concepts and cultures, her work brings our attention and awareness of the relationship between man, nature and culture as a living organism.

Bakkeslett holds an MA in Arts & Ecology from the Dartington College of Arts in England. She has shown her works, projects and films internationally, and has, among other things, curated “Gentle actions” in the Artists’ House in Oslo, and Kjerring Island Land Art Biennial. Eva now lives in Northern Norway.

18-21 September 2015 – Yaroslavl, Russia.

Organized by the team «TEXTIL» and TYP Kulturkapital.

An international conference with the design sessions with the participation of Russian and European experts in the field of culture and urban development.
The key question of the project «People Making Spaces»: whether an independent cultural center in the Russian city become a real force behind the social values ​​of urban development, engaging citizens and creating a significant artistic product?

The focus of the conference – the project «TEXTIL» Yaroslavl. Experience of project review in the present context, familiarity with the team and stakeholders, as well as the universal nature of the problems of design sessions will make a useful part in the conference for each participant, regardless of whether it is connected with the project «TEXTIL» and Yaroslavl or not.

Conference Objectives

Develop scenarios for the project "TEXTIL" in Yaroslavl. 
Suggest models, methods and examples of projects within the perspective of design sessions. The exchange of ideas and experience in the Russian and European context.

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