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Events Lecture Series Participant Activities Comradeship: Curating, Art, and Politics in Post-Socialist Europe by Zdenka Badovinac This is the third book in the PERSPECTIVES IN CURATING series, which offers timely reflections by curators, artists, critics, and art historians on emergent debates in curatorial practice around the world. Venue:Ostavinska , Kraljevica Marka 8, Belgrade Date: September 21st 2019 19:00 Comradeship is a collection of essays by Zdenka Badovinac, the forward-thinking Slovenian curator, museum director, and scholar. Badovinac has been an influential voice in international conversations rethinking the geopolitics of art after the fall of communism, a ferocious critic of unequal negotiations between East and West, and a historian of the avant-garde art that emerged in socialist and post-socialist countries in the last century. She has been, moreover, an advocate for radical institutional forms: museums responsive to the complexities of the past and commensurate to the demands of the present. Gathering writings from disparate and hard-to-find sources alongside new texts, this book offers an essential portrait of a major thinker, and a crucial handbook of alternative approaches to curating and institution-building in the 21st century. “Whip smart, politically astute, curatorially inventive:
Zdenka Badovinac is nothing less than the most progressive and intellectually rigorous female museum director in Europe. This anthology includes key essays accompanying her series of brilliant exhibitions in Ljubljana, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the differences between former east and former west. For anyone seeking curatorial alternatives to the neoliberal museum model of relentless expansion and dumbed- down blockbusters, Badovinac is a galvanizing inspiration.” —Claire Bishop, art historian and critic About the Speaker: Zdenka Badovinac is a curator and writer, who has served since 1993 as Director of the Moderna galerija in Ljubljana, comprised since 2011 of two locations: the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova. In her work, Badovinac highlights the difficult processes of redefining history alongside different avant-garde traditions within contemporary art. Badovinac’s first exhibition to address these issues was Body and the East—From the 1960s to the Present (1998). She also initiated the first Eastern European art collection, Arteast 2000+. One her most important recent projects is NSK from Kapital to Capital: Neue Slowenische Kunst – The Event of the Final Decade of Yugoslavia, Moderna galerija, 2015 (Traveled to Van Abbe Museum , Eindhoven, (2016), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2016) and the Museo Reina Sofía Madrid (2017)); NSK State Pavilion, 5tth Venice Biennale, 2017, co-curated with Charles Esche; The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents Exhibition, Modena galerija, Ljubljana, 2017, co-curated with Bojana Piškur; Sites of Sustainability Pavilions, Manifestos and Crypts, Hello World. Revising a Collection, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin; Heavenly Beings: Neither Human nor Animal, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana, co-curated with Bojan Piškur, 2018; Her most recent book is Comradeship: Curating, Art, and Politics in Post-Socialist Europe (Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, 2019. Founding member of L’Internationale, a confederation of six modern and contemporary art institutions. Badovinac was Slovenian Commissioner at the Venice Biennale from 1993 to 1997 and 2005. and Austrian Commissioner at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 2002 and is the President of CIMAM, International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art, 2010–13. The event is free and open to the public. The WCSCD curatorial course and series of public lectures have been initiated and organized by Biljana Ciric. The lecture by Zdenka Badovinac is produced by WCSCD < Mentors Educational Program How to Apply >

As you go … Online Journal Editorial Statement As you go... roads under your feet, towards the new future is transitioning from a long-term research curatorial inquiry into a sustainable, autonomous, transnational, and multiplatform organization. Biljana Ciric conceived and initiated this project in 2019, and it has since developed into a network of organic research cells comprising independent art practitioners, small-scale organizations, state/private museums, and researchers from various fields. As you go… aims to generate alternative modes of working together that debunk the hierarchy of the artistic institution, encouraging creative interplays amidst the vast scope of cultural production and interdisciplinary research. The initiative has organized two encounters, the first in Addis Ababa and the other in Bor, a symposium, and provided support to numerous artists, collectives, and researchers. The transition to a sustainable, autonomous, transnational, and multiplatform organization is a significant step forward for As you go… and its partners. The organization will continue to connect and relate with localities on the margins and expand its network to like-minded individuals, communities, and institutions in various regions. As you go… will nurture art and research as political and solidarity practice within its organization members and beyond, using opacity and visibility as active choices. As you go… transnational organization funding partner cells include: Biljana Ciric , What Could Should Curating Do, Belgrade Larys Frogier , OW Ocean & Wavz, Paris Aigerim Kapar , Artcom Platform, Almaty/Astana Jelica Jovanovic, Belgrade/Vienna Sinkneh Eshetu , Fruitycity Children’s World, Addis Ababa Among our other activities and platforms that we use to connect to and engage with artists, art institutions, and the public, we will continue our online journal. As a journal, we are committed to supporting initiatives that challenge the usual definition of curatorial practice and academic research and aim to generate alternative modes of working together. We believe that As you go… has the potential to make a significant contribution to contemporary arts and humanities by fostering collective and critical learning, building a sense of intimacy, and amplifying unheard voices of shared struggles within different contexts. As you go… member cells in different parts of the globe commit to continuing to contribute to our journal, sharing their personal as well as institutional experiences and learning, as they act within their local contexts with a shared vision as an organic unit. We also encourage and welcome contributions from individual and institutional partners of As you go… to lend impetus to our shared goal of playing constructive roles in contemporary arts and humanities through channeling unheard voices and ‘quoting from the margins’. As you go… funding partner cells will also serve as members of the online journal editorial board. Written by Sinkneh Eshetu April 2023 Addis Ababa Stories from the Room – Conversation A disturbing Chinese dream: scattered thoughts on the cultures of involution and art institution in China Shore Seeing Stillness Non-Alignment Summit Anniversary a difficulty to re-member Seeing the invisi ble The cultural interweaving of China and the Balkans: A textural understanding of artistic exchanges under the Bri < Activities Curatorial Inquiries Projects >

< Back AS YOU GO… ROADS UNDER YOUR FEET, TOWARDS THE NEW FUTURE | FILM PROGRAM 8 Apr 2021 As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future International symposium / live stream Symposium presenters: What Could Should Curating Do and Moderna galerija , Ljubljana, Slovenia Duration: 22 – 31 March 2021, Link to live-stream Special screening as part of the As you go..roads under your feet, towards the new future presenting works by artists, researchers and curators part of the project. Jasphy Zheng, Stories from the Room As a response to the state of isolation and the collective pause we shared globally due to the outbreak of the pandemic, I initiated Stories from the Room, my on-going art project since early 2020 to collect personal writings from across the world. While receiving writings in different languages, I am building a growing archive and housing it in various countries, thus outputting and storing memories in private or public places. By connecting on and offline worlds, I am imagining a new territory that redefines the notion of physicality, distance, and connection at this time. Are we, perhaps for the first time, experiencing something together as a globe, or is “universality” still a romantic illusion? Is it still possible to expand empathy even when the sentiments of ”we are in this together” fails? Living between the US and China, Jasphy Zheng is an artist whose art practice explores the idea of imagined collectiveness and the inevitable failure of communication. Salem Mekuria, Amba’s E(u)topia About Awra Amba’s E(u)topia – About seventy years ago, Zumra Nuru was born into a traditional agrarian Muslim family in a remote village in Northern Ethiopia, near Awra Amba. He never went to school. As a child he started questioning why things were as unequal and unjust as he observed life in his village to be. He dreamt of a society where people could live in peace and full equality regardless of who they were. Fifty years ago, that dream materialized into what is now known as Awra Amba, a community based on true equality in all aspects of life and where religion is a private affair. This story introduces a revolutionary society thriving in the heart of a very conservative Ethiopia. With interviews and compelling scenes of the village and its people, Awra Amba’s (E)utopia will give us a glimpse into their unique lifestyle. Salem Mekuria, Square Stories Trilogy For the last twenty years, I have been exploring innovative ways to visually represent the lingering, yet unexamined, legacy of the tragic events of Ethiopia’s military regime. I started experimenting with multi-screen format as a tool for complicating the linearity of documentary style film, and for telling visual stories without the need for verbal narration. In utilising the triptych form, I reference traditional Ethiopian Orthodox religious art history and its ubiquity in the lives of my primary audience. By expanding on this cultural motif and emptying it of its traditional content, I juxtapose images, events, stories, and ideas to offer multiple ways of understanding Ethiopian history, and to engage audiences by inviting them to actively participate in the unfolding of these narratives. The Square Stories Trilogy is the latest in such experimentation. In it, I examine visual memory and the process of its erasure – how the spaces in Maskal Square defy efforts to suppress or erase traces of the traumatic events presented in Deluge. I follow the Square’s physical evolution from its beginnings as a space for the annual celebration of Maskal (the Finding of the true Cross), to becoming the primary site for political protests as well as the display of spectacles of power by succeeding regimes. Ethiopia’s desire for modernity is also played out in the ongoing transformation of the square, which has watched Ethiopian history be made and remade time and again. Salem Mekuria, an Ethiopian-American, is an award-winning writer, director, videographer and producer of independent films and video art installations. Aigerim Kapar, Artcom Platform The many secret scapes of Balkhash Lake: a travelogue of the crossboundary contexts, communities and ecosystems. The lake is one of the biggest endorheic water bodies in the world and has a millenia-long history of socio-cultural life, ecological traditions, and semi-nomadic management methods, responsive to the climatic features of the arid zone. Today modern industrialization and militarization during the colonial Soviet period continues to prevail in its cultural landscape and imagination. Scientific research of the lake and its region mainly carries out a capitalist design, and the socio-cultural studies are practically absent. An important and pressing task is to decolonize the concept/memory/knowledge of Balkhash. It is necessary to understand what it was like before the Soviet period, what role Balkhash played in the cultural landscape of the local people, and how current sources impact the attitudes and practice towards Balkhash ecosystem – how old/current/new sources can be reflected through decolonial optics and emerge as an important factor in its sustainable future. The secrets of Lake Balkhash is a transdisciplinary collaborative mixed methods research effort including contributions from ethnography, cultural mapping, interviews, observations, expedition reports. The research is part of Artcom Platform’s Care for Balkhash initiative and is supported by the As you go…the roads under your feet into the new futur e long term research inquiry. Aigerim Kapar is a curator and Founder of Artcom Hu Yun, Untitled audio and video diary letters from Bor, 2021 BOR – The early stage of my research in Bor is composed of an ongoing conversation with the city’s only Chinese restaurant owner, Chef Qiu. On 18th December 2018, Chinese Mining company, Zijin Mining Group, formally took over RTB Bor Group under the new name “Serbia Zijin Bor Copper”. During the past two years, Chinese engineers and workers have been relocated to Bor by Zijin Group and its supporting companies from China. Due to the pandemic, the relocation process has slowed down, though has not come to a stop. According to Zijin’s development planning, more workers will be needed in the coming years. As a newcomer, just like all the Chinese workers working for Zijin Group, Chef Qiu arrived at Bor without any knowledge of the local context, and he only speaks Mandarin and Hokkien (Fujian Province, Southern China dialect). The outcome of this first stage of research will be several short video essays based on a series of interviews done with Chef Qiu and video footage taken during a research trip in early 2020, together with footage from Chef Qiu taken throughout 2020 as his own visual memory of his first year in Bor. Hu Yun is an artist based in Melbourne Previous Next

Events Lecture Series Participant Activities Public Moments WCSCD Educational program 2025/2026 at SKUP For the Iteration of WCSCD educational program 2025/2026 we are pleased to announce following public moments in formats of public lectures, screenings and other forms of gathering. The public moments are organized in collaboration with SKUP and Sok Cooperative. Meet the program participants Time: September 5th 19:00 Venue: SKUP, Novi Sad, Bulevar Despota Stefana 5, Meet program participants through public sharing — Lecture by Nina Montmann Decentring the Museum. Contemporary Art Institutions and Colonial Legacies Time: September 10th , 2025, 19:00 Venue: SKUP Novi Sad Nina Montmann lecture is taking point of departure of her recently published book Decentering the Museum: Contemporary Art Institutions and Colonial legacy. Montmann in the book acknowledges transition processes towards decolonization, de-elitiziation, giving emphasis on importance of moving away from collection, exhibition policies that are based on European colonial legacy of institutional rituals that will be also addressed at the lecture. — Lecture by Marina Christodoulidou Assembling Land: Rehearsals towards Placemaking Time September 19th 2025, 19:00 Venue: SKUP Novi Sad Delving into pressing themes surrounding Land —particularly its ownership and use— de Appel takes curatorial practice as a means of commoning. Curatorial projects referenced during the talk engage with co-ownership, both as a structure and a concept, by learning from the diverse experiences, practices, and perspectives of/with lumbung. It further questions how crises of land and housing engage with an art institution, and asks: how could we co-own a place? How might an art institution practice co-ownership, both practically and poetically? In principle, de Appel anchors its inquiries in curatorial work: How can we curate exhibitions today in relation to concerns about land and urban crises? How might art institutions contribute to social housing movements and struggle against land grabbing and individual ownership? The public lecture by Marina Christoulidou is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgrade. — Lecture by Toby Upson A practice of Artwriting Time October 3d, 2025, 19:00 Venue: SKUP Novi Sad Folding A.V. Marraccini's approach to criticism into Anne Carson’s notion of desire as well as Bruce Hainley’s practice, Toby Upson lecture will explore 'commensal' approaches to writing. Rather than a mode of writing 'about' a thing, 'writing to' or 'with' a thing, this approach recognises the innate agency of a thing, asking a writer to enter into a relationship with it and to write that space. < Mentors Educational Program How to Apply >

< Back Partner Cells in Co-Immunity 15 Nov 2020 Conversation between Zdenka Badovinac, Director of Moderna Galerija (Ljubljana), Larys Frogier, Director of the Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai), Nikita Choi, Chief Curator of Times Museum (Guang Zhou), Aigerim Kapar, founder of Artcom platform (Astana) and Biljana Ciric, founder of WCSCD and initiator of As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future . Conversation conducted through zoom on August 26th, 2020. Robel Temesgen and prof. Sinkneh Eshetu (Addis Ababa) were two partners also intended to be present though were not able to be. A reminder that our basic functionality is not same for all of us within this project, as we continue to learn how to respect urgencies of the cells within their situated context. Even if only through the small gesture, such as this exchange, of finding a way to listen. From where I am sitting, this conversation was conducted very late in the evening. The evening always seems to somehow spell magic for ideas – but being together in a liminal space of existing in an everytime was even better. It was some kind of wonderful to be connected across the globe, to hear these artists, curators and researchers be united over this beautiful mission to find a way to relate their urgencies to one another – and then from themselves to the rest of the globe. The effects of this pandemic, and the urgencies that are now impossible to ignore, have not been lost on any of us. It is clear that a greater efficacy and criticality is required of our modes of working and the conceptual relevancies we will proceed (or be expected) to put forward. This idea of the intimacy of strangers, the power of the small, and the insistent call of unlearning, are perhaps not entirely new ideas, but throughout the life project, has shown itself to be an extended consideration of care that I’ve yet to see be engaged in such a way. Although we are maintaining our communication, we dwell within different modes of existing, and there were those intended to be present but were not able to be. From them, we have requested responses to this transcript. Robel Temesgen and prof. Sinkneh Eshetu were two such parties. Watching Robel intermittently cutting in and out of the call was a very clear indicator that within this digital sphere, sometimes absence is not a choice. Upon asking him to respond to the transcript of the conversation, he generously re-situated himself within the context. I have maintained these above in italics to expand the framing and possibilities of this dialogue. Prof. Sinkneh, who is currently away, I’m sure shall also see his responses make their way into this conversation, expanding the dialogue once more. This interview, and the project at large, is continuously growing. As we adapt to the world, we also adapt to one another, and if indeed we can talk about dreams publicly, then I would like to hope that the strength of this co-immunity transcends the virus that seemed to give birth to it, and lives on in its own working methodology of care and solidarity. – Ed. Biljana Ciric (BC): Since the project started in February 2020, we have been meeting every two weeks, but this is the first time that we are all meeting together afterwards to have [a] conversation [with the] partner institutions I organized in Addis Ababa in February this year. Some of us had a chance, as a partner cells, to spend time together – to walk and work through the Addis that today, seems very far away. During this month, we learned that the partners, or the cells – I call us “cells” of the project – are not only institutions, but [are also] individuals producing differences within the context situated in. Being already half [a] year into the project – [which] was postponed and had very fragile moments – this conversation serves as a platform where we should look at that half year we spent together, [where we] started as a strangers, [to look at] how this intimacy of strangers as cells can become a productive force. Some of the partner cells are private institutions, some public, some are [single] person institutions, but what is very important [is] that being together today within this project is driven by a personal decision of addressing and reflecting on issues that we all find relevant and [hold] in common, rather than repeating professional modes of working within [the] contemporary art world. As I said, we went through half a year of uncertainty and fragility with this project, and we were all strangers within [it]– well my position was slightly different because you [all] came aboard the project upon my invitation – but through sharing and recognising urgencies that I’m trying to address through this project, I’m hoping [we] can create [a] co-immunity in the times to come and the times of separation we are entering. This conversation is meant to help us reflect on the projects: where we are and [on] the pandemic [which has also] shifted the project – but also addressing your own position within the project, and how you see yourself within the group and things like that. Maybe because Zdenka and I are the only ones who [were] together in Addis Ababa, where we established [the] commonalities of the project that we are trying to work through, I would like to ask [Zdenka] to reflect. Zdenka Badovinac (ZB): Oh okay, shall I start? BC: Yes…the conversation is [being] recorded just to let you know. ZB: Oh, okay. So I very [much] like being [a] part of the project, and that our institution, Moderna Galerija can contribute, at least a little, on the Balkans – from how the new economic influences reflects in our culture, [but] also the social and political issues here. [In] the beginning with Biljana, we decided that our roles would be related to our [respective] regions. I also went to Addis Ababa with Biljana [where] we met extremely interesting people: we learnt a lot about this context that is completely different from ours, but at the same time in Ethiopia, we found part of our former country, Yugoslavia. Ethiopia was a member of the Non-aligned Movement; and business corporations, artists and cultural workers also went there – there were sculptures all around the city built by Yugoslav sculptors, with traces of this also [in] the architecture. You [begin to really] see how the distant past can somehow make the world smaller again. It isn’t only [the] internet, but also history, which reconnects us. After we came back from Ethiopia, the pandemic started soon after – at least, here in Europe and China, [as] it [was already] happening beforehand. It was also [a] very important lesson for our project, for [the] four of us [to realise] how this small virus could affect the whole world. This is [an] important lesson that is based on economic dominance, but also [a] different kind of communication. [You have] this global world with different powers who fight for dominance, and then suddenly you have [this] small, invisible virus that has an influence [on] the economy, politics, the existing power relation[s] – and this is new. Before the world was globalised, the small and invisible – the local – couldn’t influence the world as heavily as [it does] today. This is [a] very important lesson and Biljana, [along with] all the collaborators, decided [on] how [to] follow the developments [that] resulted from the alternatives. And of course, the pandemic that is everywhere (and I think Biljana was just saying that she’s in Melbourne and [in] lockdown), probably [gives us] more time in this world for [a] different kind of online communication. This is important because she [is also] somehow pushing us – at least like us in Ljubljana, for us/art and apparent normality’s sake but you know, it is only an illusion. We don’t know how long it will last and we need to learn how to stay connected – this is very important – and how to reflect from another perspective: [this] new force which [has] homogenised the world. It is not economic or political, but [instead], comes from nature. Nature that has been affected by humans – the result of the Anthropocene. It is very much about rethink[ing] the forces of different commonalities, and this project is perfect [for] it. [But it’s] also how to reflect [on] the non-human aspect of colonialization. I think here, traditional knowledge [or] pre-modern knowledge, is also important. Because modernity is very much about the fast, about progress; and the virus is, of course [the] result of it. Now here we have different localities very much into something pre-modern, and where we can learn from them. Although these pre-modern aspects are somehow also in danger. So it’s a question [of] how to relate the dialogue without being exotic or without romanticising the past. This is something [that] I [also] think [is] very important. Of course, the Balkans is, at least it was, very distant, from Chinese economic influence – but now, we are living in a completely new global situation. There are also, as in [the] Balkans, former Yugoslavian territory [that] was heavily influenced by [Chinese economic powers]. For example, there are investments from China that [are] in power, in infrastructure (like railway roads, highways), and there is a priority at the moment to connect Greece via Serbia to Europe. In the past this route was via Hungary, not via Croatia or Slovenia, so the former infrastructure between Ljubljana and Belgrade in the times of Yugoslavia which lasted 6 hours, for example, takes 11 hours today, because of the bad condition of the railway. It was not modernized for at least three decades. So you can see how the new economic influence and new powers indirectly organises life in the Balkans. I am very much looking forward to collaborating with all of you [in] the near future, and there will hopefully be a symposium in Ljubljana in Moderna Galerija, in March or April, where all the contributions will be presented and where hopefully, we will [finally] meet in real world. Larys Frogier (LF): I am truly happy and honoured to join this project, that has a lot of meaning, from the Rockbund Art Museum context in Shanghai and China. What I find extremely precious in this research project is the concept of the cells: something small that can grow by connecting with, what we call, strangers – and I think we are all strangers to each other, which I also find very beautiful and very constructive, in a way. The As You go… research project also raises the following question: what is a locality today? In a global remapping of the power structures framed by different forms of occupations, Imperialisms, economical warfare, legal warfare, cultural warfare, we need to reinvent other networks and methodologies of connecting and working with each other…Of course, the current context is very violent, in relation to the above mentioned issues and especially to the pandemic. But because each context has different, [has] layers of histories and very specific contemporary challenges, I am very interested in the small for major changes in the future. Instead of working on and raising a big topic, I truly believe that change today comes from the small – maybe even invisible at the beginning, and on the surface – but extremely incisive and powerful, for implementing possibilities to foresee the future, and invent new forms of solidarities which go beyond the concept of domination or occupation. I also truly believe that this research is a way of curating. That is very important for me working inside an institutional framework (as if we are locked down in a museum). It’s how we can question our own institutions in relation to our local contexts, to broaden [into] escaping dominant areas and narratives. Often from Mainland China, when we talk about the international, we always talk about the relation between the west and the east, but these kinds of dichotomies are very reductive for me; building a lot of stereotypes, generalizations, misunderstandings. That is why this project is crucial in the way we can really raise different problematics and new forms of collaboration; learning from our different localities [of] the violence, the inhumanity, [and] the oppression that each of us are facing from our own context, and in the same taking the risk and the desire to step out of it towards constructive contradictions and the unknown. This requires humility at the same time it requires us to take radical constructive positions. As you go… is very meaningful, because it goes in-between the meta-narratives we can find in the economy, in the politics, but also in the art market. We can thus build a research program that gathers together different practices, individuals, and organizations – which could it be artists, anthropologists, scientists, curators and so on. I truly believe that this kind of format fits the implementation of change and cooperation. I believe that we are all connected in a way, even if we cannot travel. Even if we cannot meet each other. I like the concept and the practice of friction-opposition-contradictions. It means not only trying to endlessly talk about colonisation or big histories, but trying to really create the conditions of how we can infiltrate these big narratives and be critical, engaged, and supportive to each other in such difficult contexts. That’s also why this project is meaningful. Now, about the specific context between Mainland China and the rest of the world: I love this country, I love its people, I love where I’m living. It is just that the political and economic system today is extremely problematic to face, and according to myself, no longer valid. So I think this project can also contribute to bring within China more complex angles and richer perspectives – and at the same time, contribute to real, sincere, and multiple engaged voices to the outside world. I think [it] is important to learn from this and go deeper into [what] the details mean across the various and very specific localities both in Mainland China and globally. For me, localities are made of tradition – that is very important – but it is also a practice that is not only tied to something from the past or to a fixed and frozen context. We need to avoid romanticis[ing] and ideologizing these histories and these localities. [The] Locality is made up of different layers. Multiple on-going combinations. Last but not least, we are trying, here and now, to create something that is very valuable for the art scene, and I also hope the professionals [may] engage closely with more human values – but not like humanism as the west and the new eastern powers used to define what humanism is, with all the violence and the colonialism that it engaged with. Art has the power to remake histories, bringing more criticality and more complexity to what we are doing. Nikita Choi (NC): Do I need to have my camera on? BC: It would be great to see you! I haven’t seen you for a long time. NC: Okay…Hello! Okay, so. [We were] interest[ed] to join the As you go project as a cell, largely [inspired by] the project we launched three years ago (the All The Way South Project ) where we worked together with [the] artist to revisit what is currently happening [with] the supply chain between China and the rest of the world (but mostly related to the Souths of the world) [which] was also informed by an early history of trading, even dating back to some colonial history when European empires arrived at the border of [the] country [and at] Canton and Macau. I think [what] would be great is to also expand this trajectory of research, and the geographical imagination related to the migration of labour – but not only restricting [it] to what we think of as objects or materials, colonial goods, or what we are now [calling] consumer products – and what has been underrepresented in history (in other cultural forms or in the arena of contemporary art – this so-called economic purpose of trading). But another thing is [the] trajectory of subaltern migration, and the migration of labourers intertwined with the fluidity of materials, goods, and objects. I think after[wards], in response to the urgency of COVID-19, one thing we [will] probably have to learn from the ongoing crisis is the vulnerability of our existing structure of globalisation. I think we all know that contemporary, or Chinese contemporary art – or China in general – benefitted from globalisation – [saying this] as a member of this community and as someone whose personal trajectory also actually benefitted from that. But now it’s not going to be the same globalisation we recognise – so what [becomes of] our position? We also realised, by working with artists and other researchers over the years – heard a lot of individual stories, and precarious voices – [that] local or empirical knowledge can also be filtered by ideological constructs and power relations. Part of it, [and] I also agree with Larys’ critique of [the] institution itself, is the lack of critique about the Euro-American canons of institutions or exhibition-making in China; and we have to further interrogate the dominance of art markets after the shock of the pandemic. As an institutional practitioners and cultural makers, we should think beyond the current hegemony and divide, and really try to stay connected with people. The last thing is about the crisis of exhibitions and what curating means. What we used to think of as the norms of curating might not be possible. So how do we think of other disciplines, or what curating might be? What about audiences and communities? What is the relationship between locality and physical proximity? Can we also cross media or disciplines, and reach out to other kinds of communities and audiences? BC: Aigerim? Aigerim Kapar (AK): Thank you. So actually, the Artcom platform and I just joined the project and I’m very glad that we have this opportunity to participate in something so interesting. I’m very interested to see how the project can really develop through our collaborations, and the way Biljana noticed the way strangers can become partners. Especially in this difficult and incomprehensible time, [which has] on the one hand divided [us], and on the other hand, made [us] closer through the online sphere and zoom meetings. It is really important for me that during the pandemic we stay connected and somehow productive. My interest in this project is immense due to [how] the ecological situation in Kazakhstan in Central Asia, and around the world is becoming more and more complicated and aggravated. This pandemic is also the result of these unresolved problems and [poses] a big challenge for all of us. Economical and transport projects and initiatives, like the BRI, will increasingly have an influence on the ecological and environmental situation. Significant for me within the project, is to focus on how art practitioners (artists, curators, researchers) can contribute to understanding or rethinking – or even creating – change, and finding ways to solve social, environmental challenges posed by our political and economic situations and frames. Robel Temesgen (RT): I also would like to say that, this project came in time for Ethiopia. As you have all witnessed, the connection with China is vivid but there hasn’t been a deeper analysis or intervention – especially within the cultural field (at least from what I know). So when I hear about the circumferences of the project from Biljana, it excites me for two major reasons. One is that this is not a sole intervention to investigate Ethiopia and China. This encompasses a broader range to cross check and learn from each other. With that, we all have to remember that it is not an institution, but rather an independent interest that has brought us all together. That is power. This has also been my sub-conscious interest to look into, though I never took action. Of course, there are many more motivations, but two is enough to mention [for now]. BC: Thanks. I mean, this project is actually [the] first curatorial inquiry of What Could/Should Curating Do, [which] is a small institution that I founded in Belgrade three years ago. It started as [an] educational institution running [a] curatorial program for artists and curators [who] focus on looking at curatorial practices on [the] margins of the global. Many of you today who are partner cells actually participated and shared your knowledge during these workshops. So the plan is to try to work throughout [this] inquiry on a longer term. To actually start [to] try [and] propose establishing different forms of relationships through slow modes of working. But what is really interesting within this, [is] that most of our contemporary art practices – and I think Nikita mentioned this a bit, specifically from [the] context of China which is very much Western European and American oriented – [is that] there has been very little contact with other parts of the world. I think it’s [also] the same with many countries within [the] Balkans, except specific cases like Moderna Galerija and the way Zdenka and her team work. Most of the contemporary art communication is through very short-term exhibitions, and [is] very much funding structure oriented – that again, I would say, is related to Western Europe. I think before we established this working platform, we actually knew very little about each other’s local contexts and the local practices, because there was actually no channel to do [so] – even though some really fragmented channels throughout history existed through Non-aligned Movements or early connections during [the] 60s and 70s. But one other thing that came out during our meetings, and maybe we can talk about this, is the aspect of visibility. What does that mean [for] the project? Because [this] project does kind of give visibility to certain local contexts in [a] different way and ambiguity of that visibility., even in times of unrest, and this is what we try to do through our online journal – reflecting on unrest that [has] happened in different places where the project is situated. So maybe if you have any notes to add about [the] importance of this aspect of visibility? Through the projects, especially in this time of the pandemic. ZB: I also think that we think visibility is positive thing. That we need to make more visible the marginal place: marginalised places, marginalised histories, neglected artists, subjects and so on. But like most other things, visibility also has [another] side. This visibility can also be something that, after certain types of art or cultural production has been somewhere, let’s say protected from instruments of the dominant art system, [that] it has more autonomy – at least in regard to broader power networks – in a way. As soon as something becomes more visible, it becomes also [a part of the] market. [The] market prioritises specific content, enforces the dominant epistemologies, artists, curators….And I think our group has this potential: to avoid the problems related to visibility, [since] we are of very different institutions [and] none of our institutions are [at] the centre of power. But I would say at the same time that we must all sustain critical thinking. The international art world is very much orientated to the unknown, so of course we will contribute to the visibility of our context, artists, and topics, but at the same time, I think we should be aware of the possible instrumentalization later. NC: I – Can I-? BC: Go ahead. NC: I also think as museums, institutions, or curators, [we might need to] shift from focusing on visibility to thinking about our roles in mediating the production and circulation of common knowledge. The divide of [the] infosphere, physical and ideological borders, makes it even more difficult and challenging for cultural makers to claim that, “something happened [in] a far-away community or [to] a strange individual, [and it] has something to do with me.” It’s becoming more difficult for people to think, “we are related,” even with the development of technology. That’s why we have to keep saying that we are all part of [this], even though [we’re] confronting the reality of isolation and separation. That was something I also recently picked up from a podcast between several young Chinese scholars, and how they think of the role of public knowledge. One of the interlocuters said [that] if you don’t try and provide a different perspective, other cultural products, such as soap operas or [other forms of] mainstream media, will occupy that vacancy of discourse, or manipulate people’s ideas – or as Zdenka said, use history as a tool. LF: To the question of visibility I would answer by one of invisibility… Indeed I strongly believe it is very precious and important to cultivate active strategies of invisibility today. As Nikita and Zdkena were saying, by promoting extra visibility we are either appropriated by the market, or we go into a formatted way of thinking and curating. Invisibility is a huge paradox, especially when you are working with art in a museum to curate exhibitions, to showcase artists, to display artworks, to promote art projects. But I truly believe today, in a society of extra surveillance, permanent self and political propaganda, overloaded mega art industries and markets, the most interesting artists and researchers today are the ones trying to dig deeper – escaping the surface of art and social media, exploring micro-dimensions, creating the conditions for new forms of creating and experiencing art. For our project, I think it is very important to raise questions and challenges that can challenge the dominant discourses and institutions: going step-by-step, learning deeper, not compromising, but also taking radical and decisive positions… Invisibility today is not to be inexistent, but is exactly the contrary. It is an act, a choice, a practice, a strategy of resistance and opposition that allows other forms of action and visibility. Invisibility today also touches the crucial notion and practice of time. It is no longer enough to only be visible once and then disappear (like many big exhibitions curated all over the world). Time is also linked to the practice of caring. This concept of caring is important to develop in this project that makes artworks and texts, and for me, is also related to sounds. I’m very engaged [with] music production in different parts of the world, and I look very closely [at] what is happening in the arts in different localities – to not only look from a Western or Chinese perspective. For example, if we take the momentum of Black Lives Matter (that is a very big topic at the moment), I think it is much more important to listen to artists like Robel [Temesgen], who are literally invisible within the political and art scene, but who are interrogating similar, if not much more important, forms of violence that are never talked [about] on the media. It’s the same when you see and listen to some people like the Aural Archipelago in Indonesia. They are going [to] different islands and archipelagos to record traditional instruments – because Indonesia is not only one country. [It] is made [up] of thousands of islands with different cultures, and these very small, tiny [communities] and contexts. So I think it is important to be invisible to embrace the multiplicity. But at the same time, of course, it is our responsibility find another modes of visibility as professionals working within institutions, or as independent curators and researchers. I just think it is important to keep ourselves safe from the big façade (or what we call here in China the “good face”). Frankly speaking, I just don’t care at all about this. My priority is to step out from this system in order to show the real face of the people [ laughs ]. It’s also the about the importance of trying to unveil and reveal our own monstrosity as individuals and societies, because we need to face this. As you go… has the capacity to reveal what is constructive [within] these unexpected interconnections between different people and areas that we are trying to understand, to learn from, and to develop. I believe this is also something that will make a change. Not in a spectacular way, but in [the] long-term. Such [a] project can decisively contribute to a better understanding and constructive way of working in the art field. RT: I view this aspect of visibility (for the sake of this conversation), as a person living in Ethiopia. [A] few weeks back, [the] internet was shut down throughout the entire country and it made me realise, even in somewhere as unexposed as Ethiopia, that little visibility still matters. It made me realise how important it is to be passively visible and seen. I was so focused on how I was missing out on what was going on around the world, but [I realised] to be visible and maintain accessibility to others, plays a great role when it comes to artistic production and interactions at large. BC: Aigerim, would you like to add something? AK: Yeah, maybe some small things. Art, artists and curators are less visible in Kazakhstan – our voices do not sound from the main news or information platforms. Kazakhstan, and the entire Central Asia region as a whole, are not visible in the world. Especially today, when it is completely impossible through [the] news and media, or social media, to clearly understand what is really going on somewhere. Visibility is becoming a challenge. There is so much online, [that the] noise of information does not allow [us] to put together a reliable picture. The online journal As you go… and our meetings made it possible for me to establish a connection with regions and localities involved in the project through these alternative ways, to see your situations and hear the voices of local people and communities. AK: And there are always both sides : positive and negative. Visibility also entails [a] manipulation of information, and sometimes it is really destructive. BC: Larys, do you want to say something? LF: I am just interested in knowing how each of us can engage [as] we are developing this research. Because for me at the beginning, to take the metaphor of water again, it was [a sort of] “floating” process. But I also like this feeling of not knowing what the big topic or big question is. The more I delve into this project, the more I’m excited [by it], the denser and richer it becomes. So I just want to [understand] the feelings of each of you – how do you believe in this project? ZB: That’s a nice question for the end. BC: Beautiful end [laughs]. ZB: I think it has its own life, this project, and I always like projects that are not too structured in the beginning. That [are] informed by social experiences, and changes within its own duration, and this is what is happening with our project. The pandemic happened during the project, and so what would [it] be if this started with a very structured frame? We would lose very important historical moments. It’s very exciting to be part of it, and who knows where the project [will] lead us. It’s very unpredictable, and I am very happy to be a part of it. LF: Yes. NC: I think for me, being part of the project is really to unlearn what we have learned. Especially because the majority of the education that I had within China’s educational system [made me] aware of how uneven, or asymmetrical the narrative of history [is] and how it is dictated by national ideology, and all [of] that. So it’s really important for me to unlearn that. But also in terms of curating and what we think of contemporary infrastructure – I myself don’t know much. Don’t know enough…beyond Euro-American contacts and references, so it’s very inspiring for me to go outside of our usual comfort zone. Another thing is to find a way out [of] this trap of [contemporary art], because contemporary art [has] always had this cosmopolitan vision – but how to do we, especially now after this pandemic, navigate a way between this dichotomy of the universality and the particularity? And what has also probably been mentioned before: globalisation and the global. The global and the local used to be such an important or heated topic, I think in the 90s and early 2000s, but the context has [now] changed. This optimism, and what we are now negotiating within…we should remind ourselves not to fall into the traps. So that’s why I believe in being [a] part of the project: it will open up different paths. AK: I’m also excited by this project and inspired by our way of working. I have a deep interest in the regions which are connecting through this project. I really believe in these aims of knowledge production, and how we will think about our commonalities and features, and futures. RT: The belief in this project from my side also came from a short, but physical, conversation I had with Biljana. I wonder if I would have been equally interested or as happy to be involved if the initial conversation was virtual (or at least textual). Because for me, what I see in this project is that there is also (to an extent) emotion. That is the drive I believe in to help structure the ‘bigger question’ within this independent and collective interest. BC: What about you Larys? LF: We don’t know where we are going, but at least we are going out. We are stepping out of something. So it’s a very constructive way for me as an individual, and also [as] someone who is in charge of curatorial projects. I think this research program is also about substance, right? It’s about what we call substance, today. It isn’t only [about] a program of exhibitions. It’s not just a program of education activities. It’s something that is much more related to its content, and brings us together today. [It’s] about how can we have a voice. Yes, we talked about invisibility, but this project also has the capacity to raise multiple voices from those who are often forgotten, or excluded and invisible. This makes it very important work, at least from my own position. It’s something that is very precious for me [with]in the institution: to try and develop this other way of working and thinking, to actively try and support artist’s projects. But I believe nowadays, even artists are not enough anymore. This [project] is also about people looking [at] climate change, or [a] female working in Asia related to agriculture – all developing new projects that very much remain invisible. All [of] this for me is very important. BC: Yes. I mean of course these long-term projects are about establishing deeper relationships and connections, but [it’s] also [a] steady dynamic in response to the world and change, and how [the] world truly [has] greatly changed in a last half a year. There is a big structure [in] three years, but what I am hoping is maybe we [can] have this exercise: of three years of knowing [each other] and understanding each other’s urgencies, to establish a long-term relationship and [a] different horizontality [of] how we can work together within the places that we’re situated in. [In] the back of my [mind], there is this great example that Zdenka initiated in the LInternationale European museum confederation , linked to this unity [that had been] successful for ten years and produced some really important knowledge, as a contribution to the global from their own specific contexts. My dream, if we can talk about dreams publicly, is to walk towards [the] possibility of working together through our set of different commonalities and [this] established network. BC: But this is [for] something that is after three years, let’s say – after [the end of the] project. NC: I think three years is a beautiful commitment. Based, or working, in China, it’s really hard trying to imagine such [a] long-term commitment. So I like that thought. BC: Yes. I know…for all of us, I think it’s hard to imagine what will happen in the next three years, no? LF: Yes. BC: I guess we have to – NC: But when you…the age thing also. When you were younger it’s easier to imagine. You’d think, “oh! [I] know what’s going to happen ten years later!” [ laughs ] BC: [ smiles ]. Okay, I think we should call it an end here, but thank-you for your time today (it’s been very long). Sinkneh Eshetu: When this conversation happened, I was in the Gamo Highlands celebrating maskala – a pre-Christian holiday (New Year) – of the indigenous Gamo People. It is labelled, however, as a Christian holiday: Maskal (the finding of the true cross). This is how easily naming can lead or mislead, denote identity or deny voice. The landscape is as ancient and natural as the holiday. Upon first sight you would be sure you could breathe freely out there. The political turmoil agitating the government and the people in Addis seem to be very far away. Concerns over Coronavirus and the over-saturation of information seems to be non-existent here. Not seeing anybody observe the officially enforced anti-Corona procedures (that once used to send you to prison for not wearing a mask when walking alone), would almost lead you to suspect that no one here had heard of the virus. When you start to breathe free and deep, however, some thoughts begin to infiltrate your soul and disturb your peace. You have heard and seen that churches and houses are being built on the sacred lands androutes of indigenous communities. You have also seen a sacred tree, considered the node of the Gamo universe, dried up, with the people denied permission to replace it. You have heard that there is a huge drive to urbanize these places, mainly to keep the transient political machine humming. Mobile phones and Coca-Cola drinks are becoming part of the people’s everyday life. All of these make you worry over how long tradition will be able to preserve itself. When I was preparing to travel to the Gamo Highlands, I had imagined Wi-Fi would be unthinkable there (which I communicated to Bilijana). However, I saw an Oxford professor who was accompanying us, one of the few Gamo people who were able to access an education, order a Huawei Wi-Fi router in a town there. The drive to modernize is very aggressive. It’s making life, politics, and the economy transient. You can see the impact of this transiency on the environment as well as the culture. But whatever the change and whoever its author, you can’t help but see it as a threat, for speed is often alien to the natural flow of things. You want to act fast and speak loudly to make people aware of what is at stake, but with everyone caught in their urgency to have a voice and be heard, the noise becomes deafening. Humanly and ecologically sensible songs and poems can easily go unheard. This makes artistic endeavours such as As you go …, and the curatorial inquiry that birthed it, very crucial. It gives you the confidence that, although alone you are a chirping cricket whose song is swallowed by the croaks and crows everywhere, together we are roaring lions who could move slumbering hearts. Alone, you are a helpless breath that could hardly flip a dried leaf. Together we are the surging wave of an ocean that could move mountains. The symbolism of the cell makes so much sense with this regard, for it is with other cells that you can become a recognizable organism. I was fortunate to be present when Biljana and other “cells” of this project gave a presentation at Guramayne Art Gallery in Addis. I must admit I didn’t quite understand it. However, I had an opportunity to meet the group again and discuss the project at Zoma Park the next day. That gave me the chance to learn more about the project and think aloud on how I could be a part of it. Perceiving this is as an art project, I was proposing ideas that I thought were “art-like”. I guess then, the ideas I raised did not fall in line with the objective of As you go… During our break, I was walking with Biljana in the park when I mentioned my concern over the river restoration project that our Prime Minster initiated. That caught Biljana’s interest and it was then I easily became a part of As you go… However, it made me wonder, and I am still wondering, how that research project could be art. This marks the second time I am part of an art project. The first was for the Travelling Communique on the Non-aligned movement, organized by the Dutch Art Institute and Belgrade History Museum. I remember then that I did not feel I was making art. I just wrote a proposal. I have the same feeling this time, too. I am so busy with my personal projects that I am finding it hard to focus on this project to the extent that it remains inspiring and enjoyable. “Is that my fault or the nature of the project?” I wonder. Still, I see the importance of being a part of As you go … for I believe it will enable the research we are doing to be heard – to influence future decisions locally and globally, saving river ecosystems from irreversible destruction. I hope that with my research partners, Aziza and Berhanu, whilst adjusting the communication and other issues within our work, that we may ultimately deliver on our objectives. This response was written following the original conversation on the 16th Oct 2020. Click to read Russian and Kazakh version of the conversion. Previous Next

Alumni Alumni Lecture Series Participant Activities < Mentors Educational Program Menu >

About educational program Introduction of program 2018-2022 Alumni 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 Due to the lack of formal education related to curatorial and artistic work in the Balkan region (while in the former West there has been a proliferation of MA and PhD programmes in curating and artistic research), WCSCD was initiated with the goal of fostering the new generation of curators and artists as well as to raise awareness of the importance of curatorial and artistic knowledge and positions when thinking of art institutions and their role within the larger social context. The intention is to bring together key international and local figures engaged in decolonizing curatorial and artistic discourse, who are specifically able to offer diverse knowledges to the program participants. Through the program, we invite mentors from non-western contexts, local practitioners and also colleagues from the former West. In the last three years our participants were young practitioners from different parts of the world including the Balkans, EU, Asia, Central Asia, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America making it a unique program in Europe. Due to very limited funding structures for the arts within Serbia, funding of the program was dependent on the support of cultural institutions. The program has also charged a participation fee in line with the monthly salary of the country from which the participants is a passport holder. This was an attempt to generate more equal access to participation for everyone who applied. We also offer special grants for colleagues in need and in 2022 we have granted program access to the colleagues from Russia. Furthermore, in collaboration with Kadist Foundation in 2022 we have enable grant for practitioners from the region in order to participate in the program. The program is intensive, with daily programs of workshops, writing sessions, studio visits, and research trips in the region. Some of the research trips we have done so far include: Kosovo, Bosnia, Romania, Slovenia and Austria. Every year the program would accept up to 15 participants. Besides closed-door workshops for participants, all invited mentors would present public lectures to the larger cultural sector, sharing their ways of working and instituting. From 2023 educational program will be biennial and spread across two years in order to facilitate deeper and longer research of program participants. < Participants Educational Program Programs >

Walking as a Way of Knowing – Belgrade This spring and summer, the WCSCD program is set to unveil a captivating series of events in Belgrade, offering unparalleled experiences that blend culture, history, and architecture. From March onwards, we invite you to join the "Walking as a Way of Knowing – Belgrade", a series of walks within the city, which will be presented each season. These unique explorations are led by local artists, curators, and architects, designed through their own research interests, providing different pulses of Belgrade. While drafting these walks, we had in mind Donna Haraway's thinking that only a partial perspective promises an objective vision. (Haraway, Situated Knowledges) These walks are designed to showcase the multifaceted Belgrade, revealing its marginalized histories, and vibrant multicultural identity through the senses and insights. As Australian thinker Stephen Muecke argues that there is a need to study specific, local places in order to “put things more on the scale of everyday living.” [1] Hence, our first season of walking together started in March, and it will continue until the end of June. Each walk will have its own unique focus on the diverse and ever-changing city landscape and show how we can experience it through different senses. Visual artist and poet Dea Džanković will lead a walk that is deeply attuned to the city’s evolving environment, showing hidden gems of the city. Jelica Jovanović , an architect and a member of Grupa arhitekata, will take you through the topographic history of the Non-aligned movement, a platform for the countries, predominantly situated in the Global South, which refused to enter alliances with either of any major dominating blocs. And finally, freelance journalist and artist, Dunja Karanović will uncover some of the marginalized aspects of Belgrade’s recent history related to feminist activists, their anti-war protests, calls for solidarity, and artistic interventions in urban spaces. All walks in May and June start on Saturdays at 4:00 pm. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your walk. Pre-booking is required via email or instagram Send us your full name and title of a walk Please note that all group walks have limited capacity Price tickets: 1,760 dinars We do not accept debit or credit cards [1] Muecke, Benterrak and Roe, Reading the Country , 21. 1) May 11 Poetic Nostalgia with Dea Džanković Language: English Duration: 2 to 3 hours Walk starts at 4:00 pm Meeting point: Kralja Petra 82 (corner of Kralja Petra and Cara Dušana street) It’s a walk through Belgrade that is deeply attuned to the city’s evolving landscape. As a passionate artist and observer, I grapple with the city’s swift gentrification and the relentless march of uninspiring modern architecture erasing its historical essence. While many of Belgrade’s iconic landmarks and streets succumb to change, scattered pockets of poetic nostalgia endure in secluded corners, passages and buildings. This tour will showcase these overlooked gems, weaving tales that capture the authentic heartbeat of old Belgrade amidst its transforming skyline. Dea Džanković is an interdisciplinary artist based in Belgrade, Serbia. She holds a BA degree in Media and Arts production from the Academy of Arts in Belgrade (2014), and two MA degrees in Visual Arts, first being from Sabanci university in Istanbul (2016), and latter from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. As of 2022, she became a finalist of the Mangelos award and a member of the new media section of ULUS. Her art practice spans various mediums, including performance, installation, photography, filmmaking, music, and text. Her artworks are inspired by the societal constructs, taboos, and boundaries of her environment, exploring the effects of social conditioning on the individual and collective psyche. She aims to involve the viewer in a transformative experience, enabling them to engage with the artwork on a personal level by creating spaces for intervention, where one can expose, examine, and hopefully transcend the imposed conditioning. @deadzankovic 2) May 18 The Non-Aligned Movement with Jelica Jovanović Language: English Duration: 2 to 3 hours Walk starts at 4:00 pm Meeting point: Obelisk of the Non-Aligned Countries near Branko Bridge In September 1961 Belgrade was the host of the first summit of the "non-engaged countries" which would later become the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): the platform for the countries, predominantly situated in the Global South, which refused to enter alliances with either of the two dominating blocs. There are many material landmarks all over Belgrade, commemorating the events and people of the Non-Alignment - some are more, some are less obvious. We will start our tour at the Obelisc near the Branko's bridge, which was built to commemorate the 1961 Belgrade conference, and continue towards New Belgrade, to explore some of the more intangible memories of the NAM in one of its founding places. From Obelisk we will continue towards New Belgrade, and observe the Sava Amphitheatre, which was once planned to be the Friendship Center of the Non Aligned Movement, and then when we cross onto the New Belgrade side we will continue our walk through the Ušće Park and towards the Friendship Park, a unique memorial park of Belgrade which is a living monument to the NAM diplomacy of the socialist Yugoslavia, where all the foreign high officials visiting the country would plant a tree. Jelica Jovanović is an architect, architectural historian, heritage preservation professional and researcher. She is a PhD student at University of Technology in Vienna, working on thesis on preservation of mass housing of Yugoslavia, graduated from Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade with a revitalisation project of the Museum of Yugoslavia History. She is a founding member and president of the NGO Grupa arhitekata, within which she organizes summer schools and workshops revitalizing vernacular architecture in Serbia and works on architectural heritage and sustainability related research projects. She is a founding member and former secretary of Docomomo Serbia, within which she works as the digitization coordinator and on documentation projects. She was coordinator of the project “Unfinished Modernisations: Between Utopia and Pragmatism” for Association of Belgrade Architects, coordinator of the regional platform “(In)appropiate Monuments”, curatorial assistant of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) for the exhibition “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia 1948–1980”, coauthor of the platform “Arhiva modernizma”, coauthor of the research project and the book "Bogdan Bogdanović Biblioteka Beograd". 3) May 25 Feminizing the city with Dunja Karanović Language: English Duration: 2 to 3 hours Walk starts at 4:00 pm Meeting point: Studentski Kulturni Centar, Kralja Milana 48 As Rebecca Solnit put it, names subtly perpetuate the gendering of a city. The 1990s conflicts in the ex-Yugoslav region have prompted a re-traditionalization of gender roles and spurred nationalism that has become increasingly evident in present-day cultural policies and public spaces. Street names, squares, and monuments reflect a revisionist, one-sided understanding of history that celebrates violence and oppression. The aim of this walk is to map out and uncover some of the marginalized aspects of Belgrade’s recent history – the names and actions of feminist activists, their anti-war protests, calls for solidarity, and artistic interventions in urban spaces. By naming, remembering, and walking in the footsteps of Žarana Papić, Borka Pavićević, Women in Black (Žene u crnom), and other women who shaped and imagined a more peaceful and inclusive Belgrade, we can start collectively creating an alternative map of the city. Dunja Karanović is a visual artist and journalist based in Belgrade, Serbia. She holds an MA degree from the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management at the University of Arts in Belgrade and an MFA from the China Academy of Arts. In her practice, she explores ways of bridging cultural policy, theory, and practice through interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches that foster radical friendship and collective care. Her research is focused on mainstreaming care in cultural institutions and reimagining them as slower, softer, and more inclusive spaces. She is a regular contributor of Liceulice magazine. She is passionate about feminist art histories, embroidery, the small, and the marginal. @dunja_karanovic

< Back Life ‘After’ the Pandemic: Ethiopia’s Response to COVID-19’s Paradoxical Effect 15 June 2021 Naol Befkadu It is a conspicuous fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in worldwide lockdowns. But before COVID-19 caused forced lockdowns, Ethiopia was already in a fragile economic state. Moreover, beneath its shaky economic state, the country was fracturing along ethnic and political lines. COVID-19 was not just bad news for the country, it was more like a typhoon or a thunderstorm fast destroying an already fractured building. Both as an ordinary Ethiopian and a medical professional, looking back at the effects of the pandemic on the country, I am left with conflicting views. One is that the supposedly coming typhoon did not happen as was expected, medically speaking, at least as compared to the West and now, the East. Intense restrictions did not last more than six months. Schools opened and government employees returned to their normal work schedules sooner than many nations. Ethiopians started talking about the lockdown as ‘during COVID-19’ and the current time as ‘after covid’ as in, a post-covid era. I work in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, the largest hospital in the country, which returned to its full function long before vaccines arrived in Ethiopia. Just after the pandemic began, our wards were evacuated and we were told to treat patients via telemedicine. Our medical school, which is by far the largest medical school in the country in terms of both staff and students, was closed two weeks after the onset of the pandemic in the country. We expected nothing less than a plague. Fear and anxiety surfaced within the hospital leadership and our senior physicians. Well, this too didn’t last more than six months—from April to August 2020. Our hospital returned to its full function, the medical school was opened and life continued just as it had before the pandemic, only with a few measures such as wearing masks and using hand sanitizers. Life post-covid seemed to be happening. The other observation I would like to make is that in other aspects, the consequences of the pandemic on the country were astoundingly immense. Although the people did not feel the medical effect of the pandemic as in the Western world or in Asia, the effect of the pandemic was beyond description when other aspects of life are considered. We felt as if the pandemic had mercy on us, but ‘life post-pandemic’ was nothing but a defense mechanism to conceal the damage and the challenges the pandemic posed for the individual as well as for the socio-economic and political situation in the country. This article is a summary of how Ethiopia responded to the pandemic both from a medical perspective and from social, economic and political perspectives. The Ethiopian Ministry of Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic It was shortly after her appointment that Dr. Lia Tadesse, the State Minister of Health, was faced with one of the deadliest pandemics in history. Dr. Lia, specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, succeeded Dr. Amir Aman, at the time the youngest minister to lead Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health, which takes “Healthier Citizens for a Prosperous Nation” as its motto. When the first case was announced on March 13, 2020, Dr. Lia became the headline of local and national television news. Since then she and the office she runs have been updating the daily cases of COVID-19 in the country. [1] Tikur Anbesa Street, Addis Ababa When the first case was announced by the then mayor of Addis, Takele Uma, the news was disturbing to all of us, especially to the residents of Addis Ababa. The city was gripped by a huge fear and depression. Everyone started rushing home. Parents went to schools and nurseries to take their kids home. Government employees stopped their jobs and returned home. I remember being in a seminar with Professor Amha Mekasha at our hospital when the news of the pandemic was announced. Prof. Amha was presenting on the challenges of medical leadership and facilities in Ethiopia. Before he finished his presentation, he took questions from the podium. One of the participants raised his hand and said, “Sir, COVID-19 is in the country!” We all laughed but at the same time we were shocked by the alarm. COVID-19, as if a guest to be welcomed, was in the country already! Immediately on the same day, the prices of surgical masks rose from US$0.15 (5 ETB) to US$6.25 (208 ETB), a 4000% increase within hours. The situation was worrying after an image of people queuing to buy masks appeared on social media. With the rise in the price of medical equipment, economic inflation increased significantly in less than 24 hours. The value of vegetables and cereal showed 20% inflation. Increases are expected in such times, but not that high. The government immediately established a rapid COVID-19 Response Committee to quickly solve inflation and to distribute medical equipment. Within two weeks, schools were closed and working hours for government employees went from eight hours a day to six, with occasional days off and even whole weeks off. Initially, COVID-19 tests were administered at Bole airport after passengers arrived in Addis. That was how the first two cases were found. Testing was limited to the airport because it was thought that the only gateway for the virus was through air travel from countries that were already infected. A month after the first case was found, COVID-19 testing began in border areas, especially at the Djibouti-Ethiopian border where many cases were found. At the beginning, patients were admitted to Eka COVID-19 Hospital, which the Ministry of Health dedicated exclusively to COVID-19 cases. Later, Millennium Hall, the country’s largest public gathering place, was converted into a Covid center holding more than 1000 beds and an ICU with 10 mechanical ventilators. (Fascinating to many, the country had only 400 mechanical ventilators in total.) It is worth remembering that Ethiopia ranked 99 out of 103 on the UNDP Human Poverty Index. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s poorest states, with 45% of its 77 million people living below the poverty line. Hence, the only way the country could handle the crisis was through prevention. I believe that it is fair to conclude that the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) did an immense job in the health education and promotion, both in cities and rural areas in the country. Other health organizations also helped in educating people to prevent the disease. For example, the Oromia Physician Association (OPA) regularly held rallies (with social distancing) and other events to educate the people, especially those in the countryside, about how to prevent COVID-19 especially in Oromia, the largest region of the country where Addis Ababa, the capital city is located. In other parts of the country many public actors such as educators and influential people urged the people to take seriously the measures to prevent the disease. People Crossing the Roads in Addis Ababa The rapid response committee that was set up by the Prime Minister’s office soon established rules and restrictions that were supposed to be implemented by the police. Following the restrictions, all public gatherings of more than 50 people were banned. Nightclubs and public entertainment places were shut down (with religious people making an obvious commentary on this restriction as being ‘God’s hand’). Masks were mandatory outside of the house or there would be punishment. Religious gatherings were also prohibited. Mosques and churches were closed. Even the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the largest denomination in Ethiopia with over 40 million members, shut its cathedral in fear of the pandemic. Knowing the rules and regulations alone would not affect the population, many artists also gathered to make videos and music to teach people to prevent the virus and to stay at home. Religious singers also sang and taught people to stay at home. This is done mainly in Amharic language, the official Federal language of Ethiopia. But government officials, artists and other popular figures also regularly presented on television and on different media in Oromo and other languages to educate the people about the pandemic. The COVID-19 response team also managed and oversaw any unfair increase in the value of goods, especially in the city. The government was able to collect donations from local and international charity organizations. Religious ministries and parachurch organizations were able to collect cash and goods from their respective members and distribute them to the most vulnerable people and groups who were severely affected by the pandemic. While the health promotion and education was carried out by many public actors, as mentioned above, the country’s less than twenty thousand physicians were being trained online by the Ministry of Health in Covid Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and clinical management of Covid cases. As the disease progressed, every region set up its own Covid center. For a better description of the effects of COVID-19 from a medical perspective, I will use figures related to COVID-19 cases during the initial months and in various places. Bear with me. On Sunday April 5, 2020, 23 days after the first case was announced, Dr. Lia announced the first Covid related deaths in the country. At that time Ethiopia’s testing was limited to travellers passing through Bole airport. Hence, almost all of the reported cases had a travel history to or from a country that had high Covid cases. Very few cases had no travel history. By the end of April there had been 105 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 131. The death toll was 3. The number of recovered patients increased to 59, leaving 69 active cases. [2] This was very low compared to other countries at that time. For example, in neighboring Kenya, the number of confirmed cases had reached 396 by the end of April. There had been 17 fatalities while 144 patients had recovered, leaving 235 active cases at the end of the month. One thing to note here is that there wasn’t a significant testing difference between Ethiopia and Kenya at that point. Ethiopia has the third busiest airport in Africa, with around 6 million passengers in 2020 alone, followed by Egypt and South Africa who registered 5,537 and 5,647 total Covid cases respectively at the end of April 2020. One can say Ethiopia did a very good job in preventing the disease during this phase of the pandemic. However, the testing abilities of both Egypt and South Africa were far better than Ethiopia during this time. For most of 2020, the medical burden of the pandemic was not as huge as was expected. At the end of December 2020, the total number of confirmed cases reached 124,264. The death toll rose to 1,923. The number of recovered patients increased to 112,096, leaving 10,245 active cases at the end of the month. Ethiopia’s testing ability had also grown to 7000 people daily. In total, 1.8 million people were tested by the end of December 2020. 10, 245 active cases were managed both at Addis Ababa’s largest Covid center at Millennium hall and Eka Hospital and also at regional hospitals. Private hospitals also offered Covid treatment with a cost that was 100 times higher than the government hospitals. For example, patients who were treated at Hallelujah Hospital, a well-known private hospital in Addis Ababa, were asked for as much as 200,000 ETB (around $5,000) for their hospital stay, while government hospitals charged not more than 1,000 ETB ($25) in total. Since the country follows a mixed economic system, private hospitals are free to charge any amount. Following the ‘low’ infection progress of the disease, schools and universities were re-opened in October and November 2020. Life ‘after’ COVID-19 seemed to be underway. Government employees’ working hours were back to normal by early September. Many restrictions that were imposed by the COVID-19 Response Committee were lifted. Masks became non-mandatory and even government officials stopped wearing masks at gatherings. Public gatherings with more than 50 people were allowed once again. Churches and Mosques were opened. Theatres and cinemas returned to their ‘normal’ state. Nightclubs and other restricted entertainment places opened up again. To many, it seemed that Covid was just flu. Life continued. 2021: What’s New? The infection was expected to follow a similar course in 2021. At the beginning of 2021, this seemed to be the case, with an average of 400 daily cases out of an average 5000 people tested. The number of new cases in January 2021 (13,386) was a little less than in December 2020 (14,190). However, from February to April 2021, the number of cases and COVID-19 related deaths peaked. The table below summarizes the total COVID-19 cases and deaths from February to May 2021. From February to May 2021, the average daily testing was around 5,000 people with daily cases on average 1,500 to 2000 people. The graph seems to go down once again in the month of May, returning to January levels. At the time of writing of this article (June 2021), the average daily testing was nearly the same (5,000 to 6,000) and daily recorded COVID-19 cases were between 300 and 500. Vaccination Campaigns On March 13, 2021, Ethiopia launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign. [3] The Ministry of Health launched the COVID-19 vaccine drive in a high-level national event held at Eka Kotebe COVID-19 Hospital where frontline health workers were vaccinated to mark the beginning of the vaccination campaign. Following this, health professionals, government officials and influential people received the vaccine. [i] WHO Africa, 2020. https://www.afro.who.int/news/ethiopia-introduces-covid-19-vaccine-national-launching-ceremony (accessed on June 7, 2021) View of Addis Ababa from Mount. Entoto The AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) arrived in Ethiopia on March 6, 2021, through COVAX, which facilitated the procurement and shipment of the vaccines. It has been said that in total 7.62 million doses will be shipped to Ethiopia. China also donated over 300,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinopharm to Ethiopia. It has been said that China has been donating vaccines to 80 developing countries in urgent need, and has provided support under the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme. The AstraZeneca vaccines were distributed to every region in the country since they arrived in huge numbers as compared to China’s Sinopharm. Although different studies surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine say different things, the WHO has been recommending it. Hence, the Ministry of Health did not ban the vaccine from the country. The physicians and medical students at Tikur Anbessa Hospital were among the first groups in the country to take the vaccine. There was a fear as to how our bodies would react to the vaccine, due to a few people getting very sick after getting vaccinated. Myalgia (muscle pain), headache and other side effects were expected. However, thankfully we didn’t encounter severe reactions. In fact the huge challenge to the vaccination campaign did not come from medical studies related to the COVAX vaccines, but rather it originated in religious beliefs and conspiracy theories. Some believed that the vaccines had microchips inside of them which were thought to implant ‘the mark of the beast’. Other conspiracies include the belief that the vaccines were to be used by the West to enslave black people. Some are still saying that the vaccines were intended to limit the number of black people by causing infertility. Challenges to Full Scale Prevention and Control of the Pandemic Of course, since March 13, 2020, when the first positive case was announced, the pandemic has not been without its challenges. We can group the challenges faced in Ethiopia into three categories: the first is related to material and logistical issues. The second is related to the government’s implementation of the rules and restrictions set by the COVID-19 Response Committee. The third is related to popular beliefs and practices. With regards to the first challenge, as described earlier, Ethiopia is ranked among the countries with the worst medical resources. The country does not have the equipment to handle its 115 million citizens, who make it the second most populous country in Africa. The effect of this challenge was seen especially recently (Feb-April 2021) when there was a surge in COVID-19 cases. Critically ill patients were beyond the capabilities of the government hospitals and ICUs. Most patients couldn’t afford to be treated in private hospitals; hence, sadly the critically ill were left without help. Many deaths recorded in those three months have been attributed to this factor. Secondly, the government’s implementation of the COVID-19 related restrictions and laws did not have an entirely positive impact. For example, only a few months after the first COVID-19 cases were announced, the government postponed the election that was to take place in June 2020. This created huge doubts and concerns—especially among those in the countryside—that the disease was fabricated by the government so as to postpone the elections. This became a popular belief in rural areas especially in the Oromia region where a huge contest in the election was expected. On the other hand, the government also fell into the trap of immature and unscientific research, when it claimed through its Ministry of Science and Innovation that they had discovered the cure for COVID-19. [4] This was televised on national television channels and the people received the news gladly. However, the government couldn’t handle its findings leaving the people to take the ‘innovations’ as nothing more than a hoax. The other problem was that government officials themselves did not set good examples to their people with regards to keeping social distance and wearing masks. A photo of Takele Uma, the State Minister of Energy and Mines, went viral on social media. In the photograph, Takele Uma was the only person not wearing a mask, alongside five, mostly foreign nationals, who were all wearing masks. Other ministers and regional presidents appeared publicly without a mask or even held party rallies or meetings without social distancing measures. Thirdly, popular beliefs, originating in religion or myths, were also a hindrance to the collective effort of fighting against the pandemic. For example, in the earliest days most people believed that covid-19 was God’s punishment and if we returned to God the virus would disappear. The government gave free airtime to religious programs on national television every day. This is not just a spiritual explanation to a natural phenomenon, it was a spiritual solution to a natural phenomenon meaning that rather than believing in the preventive measures, people drew conclusions that religious dedications or other means would cure or keep the virus away. Incense was burnt on the streets and their smoke was delivered from trucks all over the city by Ethiopian Orthodox Church followers. Some protestant ministers especially those who claimed to be ‘faith healers’ sold ointments that would keep the virus away. Not only religious beliefs but also traditional myths were propagated by many people. Some believed that white onions would keep the virus away which resulted in the value of white onions skyrocketing. Further complicating the challenges were lower daily COVID-19 case numbers as compared to other countries. Everyone interpreted the lower cases and death rates in their own way. It is common to hear terms such as “government propaganda,” “God’s mercy,” and “God’s judgment” used to describe COVID-19. The Non-Medical Side Effects of COVID-19 in Ethiopia Alongside, or even more so than the medical burden, COVID-19 has affected the lives of Ethiopians in many other aspects. Just as it is true in many places around the world, COVID-19 affected Ethiopia in social, economic and political terms. Impact on Social Life Ethiopia is comprised of many ethno-linguistic groups most of whom can be described as having tight cultures. Mike Rainer, former Ambassador of the U.S.A to Ethiopia, described Northern Ethiopia’s culture as “uncompromising.” What he seems to be referring to is that societal ties and structures especially in Northern Ethiopia, which is dominated by Christians, do not easily welcome or adapt to the ‘foreign’ or the ‘strange’. The same is true for the Somali and other primarily Muslim cultures in Ethiopia who are characteristically described as having tight cultures. When the telephone was introduced in Ethiopia in the early 20th century, people denounced it saying it was a means of talking with Satan. Anyone who was seen talking on the telephone, including the then Emperor, was seen as talking with Satan. It took some time for the laymen and women to be convinced that telephones were not instruments of the devil. This is just one example. Many of our stories speak to the fact that Ethiopians are not early-adopters of a new thing, nor do we easily change our old traditions for something new. It is customary in Ethiopia, across its cultures, for people to hug one another when they greet. In some places, such as in Silte and Haddiyya, people hug more than three times in one greeting. While in the north they hug twice when they greet. Somalis and other Muslim cultures kiss each other’s hands. Touching one another during greeting is seen as honoring the other person. COVID-19 came to break this culture with social distancing. This cultural change was not accepted, as was to be expected. With conspiracies acting as fuel, many people in the countryside refused to give up this custom. People continued to shake hands and kiss cheeks and hands even after social distancing was announced. People waiting for bus in Addis AbabaPhoto by Medhanit A Moreover, social distancing did not seem realistic on some occasions. Looking at the cases of the polygamous groups in our country, social distancing was perceived not only as unrealistic but also offensive. 11% of married women in Ethiopia are involved in polygamous marriages, meaning their husbands have more than one wife. [5] A polygamous father could have as many as 50 children all mostly living under one roof. How can social distancing be implemented in such scenarios? How could a father be distanced from his children, or siblings distanced from each other? This might seem an exaggerated case but it is very real and was often faced. The case for the homeless is also another difficult sociological issue that was faced following the COVID-19 epidemic. There are more than 50,000 homeless people in Addis Ababa, most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 25. [6] Their lives are based on the streets where they beg and sleep. With the lockdown, the fate of these people was in question. The city mayor had already planned to move the homeless young people into a sanctuary where they would get the chance to get educated and trained in order to find a job. Some of those who passed through the process were able to find a job. However, treating all 50,000 homeless individuals, whose numbers increased daily, was a huge task for a country that ranks among the poorest on earth. Of all the groups that were affected by the pandemic, commercial sex workers based in Addis Ababa were the most severely affected. Prostitution is legal in Ethiopia and UNAIDS’s 2016 report revealed that there are around 19,000 commercial sex workers across major cities in Ethiopia, most of whom reside in Addis Ababa. [7] Following the pandemic many of those who work in prostitution lost their clients because of the lockdown. Charity groups, NGOs and FBOs were involved in reaching out to this population. However, since restrictions eased in September 2020, things seems to have returned to normal. At the time of writing this, the sex business in Addis Ababa is fully back with nightclubs, bars, restaurants and pensions once again fully functional. The commercial sex business also received many additional workers, with the return of many citizens who had migrated to Saudi Arabia. The returnees had lost their jobs because of the pandemic and most of the women were forced to enter into the commercial sex trade. [8] It seems that, foreseeing the huge economic crisis that was about to occur in a country of 115 million inhabitants, many chose to believe conspiracies, myths, pseudoscience or their traditions rather than committing themselves to the measures of prevention and control. This paved the way for the wrongly held, ‘life after COVID-19’ belief. The government’s mishandling of the issue also played an important role in aggravating this belief. The Economic Impact The other facet of the effect of Covid was economic. Ethiopia has been among the fastest growing countries in the world for the past decade. Even during the climax of the countrywide protests, Ethiopia maintained a growth rate of 7.7 as per the report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). [9] That seems to account for why the United Nations report on the impact of the pandemic on Ethiopia starts by acknowledging the country’s ability to maintain economic stability in spite of different challenges encountered over the years. [10] Practically speaking, the pandemic did hurt the country’s economy, and different groups were hit by the pandemic to different extents. The first days of the pandemic showed a marked increase in the value of goods. The Addis Ababa city government as well as the COVID-19 Response Committee tried to stabilize the inflation by taking several measures, the main one being penalizing stores that unfairly increased prices. Since the country follows a mixed economic model, the government had the mandate and the right to stabilize and set market values. This went in favor of the masses in most cases. During inflation seasons, the government intervenes to maintain the economy. Nonetheless, the government’s intervention does not reach all groups. The government’s economic interventions mostly focus on the urban areas particularly Addis Ababa, which has the lion’s share of the country’s market. While Addis Ababa was getting the government’s help over unfair increases of necessary goods by some business owners, other cities and rural areas did not get the government’s help immediately. This was because Addis Ababa took all the attention in the country because of the high rate of COVID-19 cases compared to other towns, with the exception of Dire Dawa, which had also displayed a higher infection rate due to migrants returning home from the nearby Djibouti city. Even in Addis Ababa, not all groups were affected by the pandemic similarly. While the government tried to maintain the economy for working class citizens, the jobless, immigrants and other businesses such as the commercial sex business and entertainment businesses were also highly affected. In order to maintain employment levels, the government’s COVID-19 Response Committee passed a regulation that prevented business owners from firing any of their employees until the COVID-19 State of Emergency was lifted. The State of Emergency (SOE), overseen by the COVID-19 Response Committee, lasted from April to August, totaling five months. This helped citizens working for private companies. The regulations also included the prohibition of rent increases and evictions until the end of the SOE. In the meantime, Ethiopia faced not only the pandemic in 2020 but also a desert locus invasion. The locust invasion has been the worst in 25 years, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It damaged an estimated 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) of land between January and October 2020, threatening food supplies. To better understand the significance, a single square-kilometer swarm can eat as much food in a day as 35,000 people. It was no less than a miracle to read the World Bank’s report on Ethiopia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which had slowed down to 6.1% in 2019/20 due to the pandemic. However, the country was still among the top growing economies in Africa and in the world. The World Bank’s account states that industry, mainly construction, and services accounted for most of the growth. In the meantime agriculture was not affected by the pandemic and, astoundingly enough, its contribution to growth slightly improved in 2019/20 compared to the previous year. At the time of this writing, the value of some goods have increased, or in some instances doubled, compared to just over a year ago. For example, one pack of pasta was 20 Birr when the pandemic began and for most of 2020. However, now it costs 41 Birr in Addis Ababa market. The recent rise in the value of goods can be attributed to many factors including the devaluation of the country’s currency which caused the value of imported products to increase. A year ago $1 was worth 35 Birr, but now it is around 43 Birr. Another reason for the recent increase in the value of goods is the ongoing war in Tigray and the conflicts that are happening in different parts of the country. IMF’s analysis seems also to side with this. [11] More or less, Ethiopia tried to maintain its economy amidst difficult situations with the pandemic, the desert locust plague and the humanitarian crisis that is happening in the country following different conflicts, including the Tigray war. No wonder the government has the power to dissect and heal the economy as well as control most of the aspects of the livelihood of its citizens. This leads us to the final impact of the pandemic on Ethiopians. Impact on Politics COVID-19 has been the most politically abused disease. The political issues relating to the disease have been manifesting in many distinct ways. From the controversial international tension between China and the rest of the developed world, particularly the U.S.A, to the ways in which national and local politics in almost every country have been both affected by the pandemic and used it to fulfill political agendas. Ethiopia was no different. In August 29, 2020, Ethiopia had planned to conduct its sixth national and regional election. It was the most anticipated event in the country, which according to Jawar Mohammed, the politician turned media guru, could make or break the country. Jawar’s analysis could be an underestimation of the situation that would follow the election. At this stage it would be necessary to give a little background on the recent political climate of the country before the pandemic. Covid-19 safety billboard in front of a condominium in Addis AbabaPhoto by Medhanit A In April 2018, Abiy Ahmed Ali, the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia, rose to power through popular struggle that forced former Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn to resign. Abiy Ahmed represented the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), the Oromo faction of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary and Democratic Front (EPRDF). After he came to power Abiy Ahmed made huge promises, most of which were fulfilled by him or his administration subsequently. He released imprisoned political figures. He allowed exiled political parties and figures to return to the country. Most of all, he vowed to undergo a free and fair election. Ethiopia has seen five national elections since the downfall of the military junta in 1991. All five elections were described as not credible, free or fair by the participants. The most notable being the 2005 election in which it was concluded that the ruling party EPRDF, committed voter fraud. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUD, ‘Kinijit’ in Amharic) won the election in the capital by a large margin, but the ruling party was not willing to give up power. Hence, some leaders were thrown in jail while others were exiled. Abiy Ahmed vowed to reverse this history by preparing a free and fair election in 2020. Many political parties including the Ethiopian Citizen’s Social Justice Party (EZEMA), the National Movement of the Amhara (NAMA), the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Prosperity Party (the reformed ‘EPRDF’) were making preparations for the elections. However, Abiy Ahmed faced huge challenges ahead of the election. The first was from his constituency, the Oromo people, because of other competing political parties who were thought to be on track to comfortably win the election, while Abiy’s reformed ‘Prosperity Party’ did not seem to be favored by the Oromo people. Secondly, the TPLF were also preparing to make a comeback using a loophole after they were pushed from power following the ascension of Abiy Ahmed into the premiership. Thirdly, the rise of the Amhara nationalist parties such as the NAMA, increased the tension between the Amhara and the Oromo, the two largest ethnic groups in the country. Fourthly, Abiy’s Prosperity Party (PP) was immature and not well established and clearly needed some time until a true ideological unity was formed. All these challenges made the sixth national election highly anticipated on one hand, and haphazard on the other. After the first COVID-19 case was announced on March 13, 2020, political parties were warning of a possible postponement of the election if necessary preventive measures were not taken. The government on the other hand, weighed up the necessity of taking preventive measures rather than focusing on the election. However, the issue of postponing the election was not an easy matter. The country did not have a history of postponing national polls. Moreover, the constitution said nothing regarding the authority and assumption of the governing body in the period between the original election date and the date to which it was postponed. Hence, the Council of Constitutional Inquiry (CCI) was established by the House of People’s Representatives (HPR). The Council of Constitutional Inquiry (CCI) is a body of legal experts the HPR established to make recommendations on constitutional interpretation requests to the lower chamber of parliament, the House of Federation (HoF). The CCI made an unprecedented public announcement on May 11, inviting qualified experts to submit to the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) written opinions regarding the interpretation of Article 54(1), Article 58 (3) and Article 93 of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE Constitution), in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the scheduled national election. Accordingly, many legal experts submitted their amicus curiae. [12] The submitted papers were presented to the CCI during a live broadcast. Different arguments were presented in the available time. However, with the election certainly postponed, none of the papers in support of an interim or transitional government ‘convinced’ the CCI. Hence, in May the sitting House of Representatives voted to postpone the election until 2021 and the House of Federation allowed the ruling government to continue in power until then. The ramifications of this decision is a huge topic of study on its own. As of the time of writing, the consequences of that decision is still not fully understood. Many political figures that were getting ready for the election a year ago including Jawar Mohammed and Eskendir Nega are now behind bars. The election is not as excitedly anticipated as it was a year ago. A billboard in Minnesota, USA, reads ‘Free Jawar Mohammed’ Meanwhile, it is also worth noting that Ethiopia was not the only country whose election was affected. According to IDEA, from February 2020 to June 2021 at least 78 countries and territories across the globe have decided to postpone national and subnational elections due to COVID-19, out of which at least 41 countries and territories have decided to postpone national elections and referendums, Ethiopia included. Hence, Ethiopia’s case is not unique. Despite the COVID-19 health education by the Ministry of Health, both the ruling party and other competing parties have held rallies and mass gatherings without the necessary COVID-19 protective measures. It seems Ethiopia has passed the COVID-19 season, living in a ‘post-pandemic’ state, although medical and other ongoing effects of the pandemic say otherwise. Naol Befkadu , MD, is a physician based in Addis Ababa. [1] Wuilbercq, E. (2020, May 4). Q&A: How Ethiopia’s health minister is preparing for coronavirus. Thomson Reuters Foundation. https://news.trust.org/item/20200504172943-5mjaz (accessed on June 7, 2021) [2] All covid-19 related data are taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/ethiopia/ (accessed on June 7, 2021) [3] WHO Africa, 2020. https://www.afro.who.int/news/ethiopia-introduces-covid-19-vaccine-national-launching-ceremony (accessed on June 7, 2021) [4] Ethiopia announced that it found traditional medicine for covid 19. Capital News. (2020, March 27) https://www.capitalethiopia.com/capital/ethiopia-announced-that-it-found-traditional-medicine-for-covid-19/ (accessed on June 7, 2021) [5] Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 2016. [6] International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies June 2015, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 42-50 ISSN: 2333-6021 (Print), 2333-603X (Online) Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. Published by American Research Institute for Policy Development [7] “Sex workers: Population size estimate (2016, November). UNAIDS. http://www.aidsinfoonline.org/ (accessed on June 7, 2021) [8] Wuilbercq, E. (2021, March 3). Thomson Reuters Foundation. FEATURE-Ethiopia’s migrants turn to sex work as pandemic sends them home. (accessed on June 7, 2021) [9] International Monetary Fund: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia: IMF Country Report No. 18/354 [10] United Nations Ethiopia: One UN Assessment: Socio-Economic Impact of Covid-19 in Ethiopia. May 2020, Addis Ababa. [11] International Monetary Fund: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia: IMF Country Report No. 18/354 [12] Kidanemariam, Mulu & Ghebregergs, Mehreteab & Hadush, Gebrehiwot & Hailu, Gebremeskel & Messele, Abraha & Weldeselassie, Gebreabeggi. (2020). Amicus Curiae on Election, COVID-19, and Constitutional Interpretation in Ethiopia (May 15, 2020). Previous Next

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