The Uses of Art – on the legacy of 1848 and 1989

Project leader: VAM – Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL)
Coorganisers: Moderna galerija, Ljubljana (SI), Garanti Kültür A.S. (TR), Grizedale Arts (UK), Liverpool John Moores University (UK), Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA (ES), Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen – M HKA (BE), Museo nacional centro de arte Reina Sofía – MNCARS, Madrid (ES), Stiftung Universität Hildesheim (DE), University College Ghent School of Arts – KASK, (BE)

In the 5-year project the UoA, the consortium L’Internationale, drawing from previous experience in EU-collaboration, will publicly develop a new European model for content-driven, sustainable collaboration in the museum field. It does this through a rich program of 20 exhibitions, 10 publications, 8 symposia, 4 new commissioned art projects, a vibrant online platform, an innovative education program, concentrated professional exchange and more. Through UoA we create new, sustainable ways of professional collaboration, allow concentrated and long-term collection exchange (digital and physical) and will foster an intercultural dialogue for 2.000.000 Europeans, who are asked to use art to shape their European citizenship.

Museums are the civic institutions where fine art is used for public benefit: They mediate art and history to a public via an organisation. Recently on the organisational level, the EU has funded successful initiatives like NEMO. The UoA however seeks to develop a model for all three levels through a long-term mid-size collaboration that departs from a shared vision on art and society.

The central narrative of UoA links art and its public by rereading the period around 1989 to today as a chapter in a longer European history of civil society that started with the revolutions of 1848. The project analyses the ‘useful’, even necessary role art plays in the functioning of civil democracies.

The consortium has 10 partners connecting East and West, North and South. At the centre are 6 public art museums, joined by a group of universities, smaller art platforms and publishing organisations.

The project sits within the ambitions of the Culture Program 2007-2013, but also aligns with several key-issues addressed in the coming Creative Europe program (transnational collaboration, inclusive growth of public, and new forms of access online and offline). It also is in line with European 2020 agenda – inclusion and the balanced sharing of knowledge.
(Source: EAC.)

Project activities:
The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents Exhibition

Museum of Contemporary Art MG+MSUM

(Partner) Ljubljana

Funded projects

stART point - a platform where performing arts and young people get connected (stART.)

Heritage Understanding & Participation Hackathon: Co-creating Cultural Heritage Experiences with and for youth (Hup Hackathon)

Artificial Intelligence for Artistic Futures and Creative Talents (ARTIFACT)

CULTIVATOR

Architecture With an Approach to Regeneration and Empowerment (AWARE)

Upsala – SUITCASES

Invisible painting (IP)

Building, Revising, Including - Diaspora and Gender Equality (BRIDGE)

Studio Virc – Mini Slate 2025: Izzvenelo bo, Dolasilla, princesa usode, Tujek, Pobeglo srce

NOSOROGI – Mini Slate 2025: Three Waters Meet, The Healers, Liar, Thief, Flea-Eater

Mono O – Mini Slate 2025: The Happiest Day, The Last Roast, After Sunday

Cvinger – Mini Slate 2024: Before the Eyes Turn Black, Reckoning by the Sea, Project North

Venice Eastern Gate

ECHOES from Invisible Landscapes

PORT OF DREAMERS

ACuTe: Culture Testbeds for Interactivity, Performance and Technology

Rail2Dance (Rail to Dance)

Innovation through media collaboration: Digital assets exchange platform (MEDEXCHANGE24)

Animation HUB (A-HUB)

Word: Enhancing European Graphic Novel Perception, Circulation and Market Development

Roma Soul Food (ROMASOUL)

Tying the European Cultural Landscapes with Knots and Patterns (Knots and Patterns)

Hiking Heritage Trails (INHERIT)

Sensory Artistic Experiences for the Blind (Multisensory Art)

PASS – Pass the Street (Art), Shake the Hand

Slow Performing Arts Festivals for Improved Wellbeing, Mental Health and Social Inclusion (Festival SPA)

Staragara – Slate 2024 (The Colour of the Doubt, Black Swan, Removal, We would have told each other everything, Kozmonavti)

PAGE: Project for Advancing coGnitivE accessibility in publishing

NEB COOLTOURS: Transforming Tourism Through Cultural Innovation and Environmental Stewardship in Alpe-Adria

Bridges

Transition to 8: European societies in flux

ENACT – Easy-to-understand News for Collaborative Transformation

THRIVE – Talent Harvest: Rural Intangible Heritage and Value Empowerment

Land of Lace

CAFE: Redefining Historic Cafés as European Cultural Heritage

ArtElevate – Fostering Inclusive Cultural Expression in Europe

CARE – Culture for Mental Health

Glassmaking Between Tradition and Innovation (GTMI)

WONDERCUT – Collaboratively Exploring the Public Value of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Next Level Cultural Experiences

Heroes Unleashed: Implementing a Sensory Reading Program in European Public Libraries (HERUN)

DATAS – The Data and the Sovereign

TALKING HEADS – Conversation with the art of the past

Libraries of Emotions for Good – LOE for Good

GreenHeritage – Nurturing a sustainable future in the gardens of time

G-BOOK 3 – Audience engagement activities for the social and emotional education of EU teens through gender-positive literature and digital technology

DIGITAL on STAGE – Unleashing the Performing Arts Experience through Digital Innovation

OASis – Open Art Spaces in Synergy

Transport: Sustainable puppet co-creations for European young audiences

Danube Dance Alliance for Development of Contemporary Dance Scene in the Danube Region

Mind the GAP

Beletrina Digital

WOMEN interACT – participatory theatre against the double exclusion of women

TECH(ing) TALES WITH A TWIST for the children of the present

DoSEL – Drama of Smaller European Languages

MUSICVILLE – Green European Opera

Operation Nova - OPE.N

Kino x Games

FASIH - Future Art and Science Industrial Heritage

CULTURAL BEES: Promotion of entrepreneurship skills in the Cultural and Creative Industry among youth

Is this us?

Climate Art Fusion Caravane (CARAVANE)

Moving Balkans

Youth Art for the Earth (YAFE)

Shadow Pandemic: Hidden Voices

Open House Europe (OHEu)

Third Stage

VERSOPOLIS – WHERE POETRY LIVES

December: Uncomfortable Beings, Azra, Best Imaginary Friends Forever

LINA - Learn, Interact, and Network in Architecture

reCITYing – Reactivating Unused Urban Spaces Through Architecture and Arts 2024–2028

Art Nouveau: a new EUtopia

Creative Industries Development Centre (KUL)

Web 3.0 Accelerator for Sustainable Cultural Tourism (Web3Tour)

Studiotopia: Enter the Symbiocene with Arts and Science (Studiotopia 2)

Bio Awakening - developing bio-art practices in Western Balkan (Bio Awaking)

TestArt

GREENSTAGE

Connecting Emerging Literary Artists (CELA)

Transmedia stories of insularity (TRAST)