< Back Astrobus Ethiopia 2021 | Omo Valley Southwest Ethiopia 11 May 2021 Forward Astrobus Ethiopia 2021 Omo Valley Southwest Ethiopia We invite you to join us on our journey of learning and unlearning that has already been underway for the past year with Astrobus-Ethiopia through the curatorial inquiry of As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future. Astrobus was initially established in 2017 to reach students across Ethiopia with the aim to inspire, connect, and empower. In previous editions, scientists, astronomers, artists, writers, and filmmakers alike have hopped on the bus in Addis Ababa to embark on this journey of knowledge sharing. The previous year moving into 2021 has been unlike the years we have all personally experienced before. As Ethiopia continues to undergo an unceasing rise in covid cases (with a 1 in 4 infection rate), challenges have arisen regarding how to maintain distance with ones communities while still making a difference in localities who remain somewhat digitally estranged. How do we keep communities safe? How may we keep caring? How do those of us who are far from Ethiopia, with no connection to the knowledge of Astrobus, actively support, learn, and empower this kind of work, grounded in our interdependence in Ethiopia. How may we overcome physical separation but also transport this knowledge and care into our own immediate communities? In February earlier this year, the co-founders of Astrobus-Ethiopia, Yabebal Fantaye and Sinkneh Eshetu (who also make up one of the many partner cells of our project), conducted their first research trip to Omo Valley in Southwest Ethiopia to better understand the conditions under which this year’s Astrobus may happen. They visited several places with the aim to locally situate their intention – to not only understand local needs but to also explore the multitude of possibilities of what an encounter may be. More on the research trip can be read about here. In an interview with Yabebal Fantaye, she describes this year’s research trip: [The] ambition of Astrobus-Ethiopia is to reach students from all corners of Ethiopia through its series of events. In the past, the team has travelled to the north and the south of Ethiopia. This year, the team plans to travel to the Lower Omo valley, the south west of Ethiopia, which is known for its extraordinary cultural diversity; approximately 8 ethnic groups; and ecosystems including grasslands and pristine forests, and other natural wonders. Omotic-speakers are endemic to the south Omo and include the Ari, Maale, Daasanach, and the Hamar-Banna. The region is home to the vast omo park, and the massive Gibe III dam built on the Omo river. The full interview can be read here . From May 10th, the activation of Astrobus 2021 will begin and will continue for six days. We will find ways to follow their activities on daily basis and to share their experiences with you. After the project ends, we will continue to share the accumulated knowledge of Astrobus to our local communities, to actively learn from their mode of working. Saving you a seat on the bus, Biljana Ciric The team for Astrobus-Ethiopia 2021 includes: Science & Technology Team: Yabebal Fantaye, Sinkneh Eshetu, Redeat Asefa, Bezawit Tesfaye, Alemiye Mamo, Shambel Sahlu, and Eyerusalem Tamirat. Art & Innovation Team: Yeabtsega Getachew, Michael Abebaw Felleke, Efrata Birhanu, Kalkidan Taddesse, Betelhem Abebe, Lidiya Zelke, Robel Kiros, Tinsae Tsegahun, Yidnekachew Weldesilase (ይድነቃቸው ወልደስላሴ), and Abiy Hailu Astrobus 2021 has been supported through As you go..roads under your feet, towards the new future inquiry and CURTAIN with Rockbund Art Museum. The inquiry is composed of research cells including What Could Should Curating Do (Belgrade), Moderna Galerija (Ljubljana), Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai), Guangdong Times Museum (Guangzhou), ArtCom (Astana), Robel Temesgen and Sinkneh Eshetu (Addis Ababa), and The Public Library (Bor). The first stage of the project has been supported by the Foundation for Arts Initiatives, CURTAIN (Rockbund Art Museum), Austrian Cultural Forum, Curatorial Practice (Monash University Art, Design and Architecture), and the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Local partners of Astrobus 2021 include: Ethiopian Space Science & Technology Institute (ESSTI), Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS), the University of Arbaminch, and the University of Jinka. Previous Next

Educational Program  Educational Program Lecture Series Participant Activities Educational Program WHAT COULD/SHOULD CURATING DO?—WCSCD was initiated in 2018 in Belgrade as an educational platform focused around notions of the curatorial and is a registered civic association. WCSCD’s education program has been run on an annual basis every year since 2018. Till 2022 it was organized as a three-month program for practitioners situated in Belgrade. From 2023 program is organized as biennial working with program participants over longer period of time. Our participants were young practitioners from different parts of the world including the Balkans, EU, Asia, Central Asia, Russia and Latin America making it a unique program in Europe. WCSCD educational program has been learning through recent years to think what kind of citation could actively produce.Through carefully created mentorship program we are committed to think and practice what kind of knowledge we consider worth and how it gets prioritized creating new citations from the margins. [1] [1] Sara Ahmed, “White Men,” Feminist Killjoys Blog, November 4 2014, www.feministkilljoys.com/2014/11/04/white-men < Mentors Educational Program Menu >

< Back History and stories from Lake Balkhash 15 Jan 2021 Aigerim Kapar Roads From the capital, the way to the city of Balkhash and its lake lies 600 km through the steppes of Central Kazakhstan and the uplands of Sary Arka ([the] Steppe and lakes of Northern Kazakhstan). Whenever I find myself in the Steppe, my imagination always starts to play. Like the hostage of an “epistemological gap”, I try to recall the cultural landscape of a rural space filled with herds of horses and sheep, yurt auls, and Arka songs – which though the home and birthplace of my grandmother, remains unfamiliar to me. Today Central Kazakhstan is an industrial belt, modernized by the colonial administration of the USSR. The pipes and mines of Temirtau, Karaganda, Dzhezkazgan, and Balkhash rise oddly above the steppes to smoke the “sky pastureland” of Tengri (the god of the sky in Turkic mythology). Central Kazakhstan, Temirtau city, photo by Aigerim Kapar An artist, Syrlybek Bekbotayev, and I visited Balkhash via a road known mainly to local residents. Running through the settlement of Aktogay, it lies in connection with the reconstruction of the main highway – intended to connect the new capital with Almaty by a high-speed autobahn, within the framework of the “Nurly Zhol” kazakh state Infrastructure Development Program, associated with the “New Silk Road” initiative of the Chinese government. We crossed the steppe following the course of the Tokyrau River, previously abundant and a significant contributor to the formation of Balkhash Lake in the 8th and 9th centuries. The deltas of the Tokyrau river from the northern coast, and the Ili river which originates in China from the south, meet to form an isthmus along which lie the routes of the ancient Silk Road (which integrated Eastern and Central Kazakhstan in trading systems, and nomadic cultures with the sedentary and agricultural South Kazakhstan). During the 11th-13th centuries, the water in the lake increased as a result of climatic and geological processes. The isthmus flooded and was divided into two parts by the Saryesik peninsula, forming the Uzyn Aral canal where the western half is fresh and shallow and the eastern half is deep and salty. This cut off the South Balkhash region from the North, and consequently disrupted trade routes. [1] Today, socio-economic and infrastructural relations in the region are limited to [the] military training grounds leased by the Russian Federation (8.6 million hectares, for $20 million USD) [2] , including the Sary-Shagan testing ground centered in Priozersk, which until 2010 was a closed military city. In 1928, a route beginning from Karkarly before moving along the Tokyrau stream, was followed by geological prospectors, led by soviet geologist Mikhail Rusakov (who discovered the Konyrat deposit), who later became the first builders of the copper smelter and the city of Balkhash in the 1930s. Taken over two weeks, this journey involving the transportation of construction materials and equipment on camels and horses, led to a strengthening of the Russian Empire. Memories of one of the explorers who made their way to Konyrat, saw a tablet with a message left by their colleagues near the sacred mountain Bektau Ata: “Compatriots! No more water, no grass! Go back! Otherwise, you will disappear with the cattle you have!” [3] This is often cited as evidence of the lifelessness of the territory and the severity of the conditions in which the builders of communism performed their feat. It is not surprising that it is difficult for an uninformed person in the Steppe to find water, especially in a dry, hot summer, since the Northern Balkhash region was a wintering place for the tribes of the Middle Zhuz (the Kazakh tribal system), and in the summer season, they would migrate north to summer pastures. History Lake Balkhash is 35,000 years old. Shaped like a crescent, it is surrounded by the Saryarka, Dzhungarian Alatau, and Tarbagatai ridges. The inner western region stretches to the Betpak-dala desert (named the “hungry steppe” by Russian royal colonial researchers at the end of the 19th century). Balkhash is an endless reservoir, with 80 percent of the water coming from the Ili River, which begins in China (Ili-Kazakh Autonomous Region of Xinjiang). There is a rich history around the lake, always being a place of attraction, as evidenced by archaeological sites, rock paintings, ancient settlements and medieval cities. “Entire medieval urban complex of Northern Tienshan (1-20th AD): settlement location, size and type”, image Renato Sala [4] The first mentions of Balkash Lake were found in Chinese written sources dating back to 126 BC, where it is called “Si Hai” – the Western Sea. It [also] had [a] fixed Dzungarian name: “Balkhash-Nor”, of the nomadic Oirat tribes (who were of Mongolian origin) who lived south of the lake. In the fertile delta of the Ili River, the Dzungars (among other [living] things) were engaged in flood agriculture, mainly growing wheat and building irrigation systems. It wasn’t until the Dzungar Khanate was finally defeated by the Qing Empire in the 18th century, that the Oirats were exterminated and dissolved as a state union. The territory of the Khanate was subsequently divided between the Qing and Russian Empires, and the Kazakh tribes returned to the remainder of the deserted territories. 100 years ago, nomadic and semi-nomadic cattle breeding were the primary and traditional types of farming. The tribes who inhabited these vast territories – of harsh climates and drought-ridden landscapes – moved with herds of animals, developing the only possible type of activity and lifestyle which would continue to take shape over the coming centuries. Alongside adapting to the ecosystem, they also developed their own economy, traditions, culture, and collective memory, shaped by a co-dependency with nature. The history of metallurgical activity in this region also goes back thousands of years. Since the early Bronze Age, Nomadic tribes possessed “primitive” technologies for smelting ore in such a way where the ore – rich in non-ferrous precious metals – would often be laid out on the surface. For several centuries, neighboring nomadic tribes of Kazakhs and Dzungars had disputes over pastures, territories, and resources but they did not carry a purposeful destructive character – contrary to how it may have otherwise been presented in the history of Kazakhstan, which was written during the Soviet period. [5] The demonization of the Kazakh-Dzhungar relations was beneficial to the historians of the Russian Empire and the USSR, justifying the colonization of the Kazakh steppes as protection from the Dzungar raids, calling it a “voluntary annexation” of Kazakhstan to Russia. In our meeting, historian and researcher at the Balkhash Museum of Local History, Daulet Kozhakhmetov, said: “we are indebted to the Dzungarian people, that at the cost of their lives, a buffer was created against Chinese aggression.” Modernization The Soviet policies for the development and modernization of the steppe and desert expanses of Central Asia were based on an intensive exploitation of natural and human resources; and a disregard for Indigenous traditions and ways of life, the environment, and ecology, all the while armed with the slogan: “man will conquer nature!”. The dark side of this modernity was quick to appear to the Kazakh people. The 1920-30s, characterised as a period of forced sedentarization, dispossession and resettlement of nomads, resulted in the creation of an artificial famine: “Asharshylyk”. It was also a period of time marked by a genocide in which almost 40% of the population died, and more than 1 million people migrated through China to Iran and Afghanistan. More than 12, 000 people left their native lands in the Balkhash region. As a result, the livestock population in the Ili-Balkhash basin reduced by 75%-100% – a dire situation for nomadic life where animal breeding was a critical source of support. Unused pastures degraded, which contributed to the desertification of a third of the territory in the Ili-Balkhash basin, and the continued disruption of its ecosystem. [6] Workers from all over the USSR were resettled in Kazakhstan to places of Indigenous people for the implementation of great economic plans (of five-year projects) – but as well as this, some of them were also deported and exiled to the camps of the Gulag system (Karlag, Balkhashlag, Steplag, etc.). Repressive colonial policies, irrational management, and misuse of natural resources led to both human and environmental tragedies. The Aral sea was drained over several decades, the river system was disrupted by anthropogenic interference, and the water was depleted for the irrigation of moisture-loving crops (namely cotton and rice, which are not suitable for cultivation in the arid climate of the steppe landscape of Central Asia). After 30 years of independence, governmental powers and economic systems have not yet been rebuilt. Kazakhstan continues to bear the burden of its raw material base, having its success measured against the formerly implemented five-year plans [of] exploiting the subsoil and insisting on forgetting pre-industrial period and culture. Syrlybek Bekbotayev, “Five-Year Plan”, 2019“Re-membering. Dialogues of Memories” Exhibition in memory of victims of political repression, curated by Aigerim Kapar. TSE art Destination, Astana, 2019. Photo by Zhanarbek Amankulov Balkhash Lake Along the shores of a picturesque lake, lit with glittering emerald water, the smoking chimneys of the Balkhash Mining and Metallurgy Plant create a surreal scene and evoke a sense of unease that such a unique corner of paradise continues to be extensively exploited and polluted. During the Soviet period, economic and industrial development, and the use of natural resources in the region, were carried out without considering the ecological capacity of the basin’s ecosystem. This was aggravated by the construction of artificial reservoirs and the Kapchagai hydroelectric power station built on the Ili River in 1967, which has been filling the basin for over 20 years. According to the resolution of the International Forum Balkhash held in Almaty in 2000, the situation of the Ili-Balkhash basin was recognized as critical due to the unstable water levels – a key indicator of the basin’s ecosystem. [7] As a result of the II International Forum “Balkhash-2005”, [an] Alakol Basin Inspection was established to regulate the use and protection of water resources. Lake Balkhash, photo by Aigerim Kapar Today, Lake Balkhash remains devoid of state care or any global environmental programs to save its ecosystem, and the lake and basin are left in a state of ecological and socio-economic disaster. A quiet tragedy, unfortunately, does not arouse attentive interest nor the adoption of effective measures that may prevent a repetition of the tragedy of the Aral Sea. Modern industrial, infrastructural, and economic programs – in particular, the program of OBOR and Nurly Zhol – (just like during the socialist regime of the USSR) don’t take into account the ecological burden on the environment in the region. These programs don’t consider resolving issues of transboundary rivers, water security, or access to water for local communities as a guarantee of sustainable development for the region or the success of the implementation of long-term plans and cooperation. According to the McKinsey expert group, by 2045 Lake Balkhash may lose up to 86% of its water. [8] The threat of an environmental catastrophe is mainly attributed to the growth of economic affairs, climate change (resulting in the melting of glaciers), and industrial pollution. In the columbine area of the Ili River basin, China is cultivated by [the] irrigation of 1 million hectares of cotton. Water reservoirs have been built and hydroelectric power plants are operating, and an increase in water intake by 10-15% threatens to lower the water level in the lake to a critical condition. Within the region that lies in Kazakhstan, more than 90% of water resources are used for irrigated agriculture, mainly for growing rice and cotton, continuing the USSR’s methods of extensive production and capitalisation without any considerations to the land and the environment. Of these exploited water resources, 60-70% of which is inefficiently used and seeps into the sands through outdated irrigation systems. The main industrial environmental pollutant in the region is the Balkhash copper smelter, built on the lake shore in 1938, 10 kilometers from the Konyrat mine, which became the backbone enterprise of the Balkhash city. Checkpoint of the Balkhash copper smelter. Banner caption: “Let’s build the future together!” Photo by Syrlybek Bekbotayev Today it belongs to the Kazakhmys Smelting Corporation. According to official data for 2018, the harmful emissions into the atmosphere amounted to 72,899 tons – for which the company pays to the state budget of 3,083,699 KZT per year. [9] In settling on the surface of the lake, toxic substances penetrate the water. The indicators of heavy metals in the water grow each year and exceed permissible standards, negatively affecting the biodiversity of flora and fauna. Anthropogenic interference has also affected the species composition of the lake’s fish, where endemic species lie on the verge of extinction, and fisheries are in crisis. We met with researchers from the Committee of the Research and Production Center for Fisheries in Balkhash, who monitor the rational use and reproduction of fish stocks, and issue annual forecasts of fish catch volumes. The committee is also looking for new opportunities for the preservation and development of fisheries, but their activities are limited by financial and other resources. Gas emissions of the city-forming enterprise are a great sore spot and the most difficult problem for the townspeople, city administration and the plant – a situation which has not been resolved for several decades. [However], Rymkul Belyalovna, a local ecologist who has worked for many years in the department for the protection of natural resources, spoke of a (far from perfect) system for assessing material damage and paying compensation for atmospheric emissions to the residents, in the case of complaints. Pipes of a copper smelter and thermal power plant, Balkhash city. Photo by Syrlybek Bekbotayev. In September, plant workers posted a video on social media showing faulty pipe filters which elicited a great public resonance. The plant was only fined 1,000,000 tenge – by comparison, a beauty salon that violated quarantine work restrictions was fined 600,000 tenge. [10] In news from Balkhash – which also currently holds the status of being the most polluted city in Kazakhstan – plans of the local authorities to develop the tourist potential of the lake, without eliminating the source of pollution, are seen as difficult to implement. Alongside this, the Ministry of Ecology launched a project for a roadmap of environmental problems in the Karaganda region this year, which plans to reduce emissions of harmful substances and modernize mining enterprises in the region. “This is my city, my combine, my factory” We received a dedication to the gas of a copper smelter upon [our] arrival late in the evening. On that day, the wind blowing from the direction of the plant was especially felt in the air. Aizat, our hospitable guide through the city and its senses, and a student of the Kazakh language and literature, says that her mother is kidding: “nevertheless this gas kills all harmful germs in the body”. Bertys bay, view of the city of Balkhash. Photo by Syrlybek Bekbotayev. Geologist Mikhail Rusakov received an award for the discovery of “blue hill” [11] a trip to the USA to study new technologies in the mining industry. Upon arrival, he was sentenced to 25 years in a prison camp under espionage charges. After 5 years he was rehabilitated and returned to Balkhash, where he discovered several more deposits. The town of Balkhash grew out of the workers’ village in Bertys Bay (as One tooth), fuelling the industrial development of the Konyrat mine since 1930. The mine was developed by the labor of workers from all over the USSR. The city was built by the forces of prisoners of camps and Japanese prisoners of war. The policy of the Soviets forced the nomads, who were left without resources to sustain their own livelihoods, to be hired in industrial enterprises. My grandfather’s family from the Madeniet (Culture) auyl of Northern Kazakhstan were forced to work through severe hunger while working at the factories of Magnitogorsk. Palace of Culture of Metallurgists named after Magaui Khamzin on Lenin Street. Photo by Syrlybek Bekbotayev. After 90 years, mining at Konyrat has finally stopped. The “blue hill” disappeared and became a gaping crater – a model of which can be viewed in the local history museum of Balkhash, where in its halls of exposition, the entire history of Kazakhstan is presented in an attempt to revise itself from a decolonial position – though this position barely touches the history of the factory or the construction of the city. Model of the Konyrat mine, Balkhash Local History Museum. Photo by Aigerim Kapar Soviet propaganda and its methods have been minimally criticized or rethought, and so continue to manifest themselves on the city streets and public spaces. It is not enough to replace monuments on pedestals and rename streets to create a “new” history and future. Monument to Agybai batyr (1802-1885), Independence Square. Photo by Syrlybek Bekbotayev In his book “The Pride of Balkhash” (2010), historian and factory veteran, Sovet Kaukerbekuly, denotes his belonging to the place with the words: “This is my city, my factory, my combine”, effectively omitting the lake and its importance in the context of the city. Rather, the stories, hopes, and destinies of the people who built the “bright future” are what is woven around the plant. Today Lake Balkhash remains “invisible”. Its physical scale is not proportionate with the space occupied in the minds of people, the cultural landscape, public agenda, or the policy of the authorities, despite its value for the entire ecosystem of the region, the country, not to mention, the planet. Sadly nothing alarmingly new, this sentiment is a general reflection of the alienation of man from nature in the Anthropocene epoch, and his attitude and interaction with the environment. Aigerim Kapar, Almaty 2020 Aigerim Kapar is an independent curator, cultural activist, founder of the creative communication platform «Artcom» . [1] Stasiv Igor, “On the origin of Lake Balkhash and the Balkhash-Alakol depression”, 2018 http://sci-article.ru/stat.php?i=1523036452 [2] Dinara Kuatova, “8.6 million hectares of land leases for military training grounds Kazakhstan”, 2019 https://inbusiness.kz/ru/news/8-6-mln-ga-zemli-sdaet-v-arendu-pod-voennye-poligony-kazahstan [3] Sovet Kaukerbekuly, “The Pride of the Balkhash”, Karaganda, 2010, p. 38 [4] Renato Sala “The medieval urbanization of Semirechye”, 2010 https://www.chikyu.ac.jp/ilipro/page/18-publication/workshop-book/workshop-book_individual%20files/2-1_Aubekerov.pdf [5] Radik Temirgaliev “Dzungars in the history of Kazakhstan”, 2007 https://zonakz.net/2007/03/26/джунгары-в-истории-казахстана/ [6] Zhuldyzbek Abylkhozhin, “Study of the ecology of the Ili-Balkhash Region in the Soviet Period”, 2010 [7] The International Ecological Forum “Balkhash-2000”, http://kazneb.kz/bookView/view/?brId=1169574 [8] Dr. Bulat K. Yessekin,“Ecosystem management in Balkhash Lake basin as a model of SDG localization in Kazakhstan and Central Asia region, 2020 https://www.es-partnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Ecosystem-approach-in-Balkhash-Lake-basin-Kazakhstan-China-002.pdf [9] Unified ecological resource of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources, Kazakhmys Smelting LLP Balkhash Copper Smelter, 2018 http://prtr.ecogosfond.kz/2019/12/04/too-kazakhmys-smelting-balhashskij-medeplavilnyj-zavod/ [10] Balkhash Copper Smelter was fined one million tenge https://24.kz/ru/news/social/item/426189-balkhashskij-medeplavilnyj-zavod-oshtrafovali-na-million-tenge [11] Sovet Kaukerbekuly, “The Pride of the Balkhash”, Karaganda, 2010, p. 40 Previous Next

About educational program Introduction of program 2018-2022 About Lecture Series Participant Activities About educational program Introduction of program 2018-2022 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. < Mentors Educational Program Menu >

2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 < Participants Educational Program Programs >

< Back NETWORKING THE PERIPHERIES: LOOKING EAST FROM THE EAST 15 Oct 2021 Jelica Jovanović Adding or Subtracting, Multiplying or Dividing: The Equations of the 17+1 Initiative While writing this entry, I am waiting for my Covid-19 booster shot, just like circa half a million of my fellow citizens in Serbia, which means that it would be the third jab that I will get this year. Meanwhile, I was infected with corona virus in May and had mild symptoms of the disease, but this had happened after I got vaccinated with two doses of the Vero cell / Sinopharm vaccine by mid-February. This situation sums up briefly the dubious situation that Serbia is currently in. While the citizens of many countries of the world are waiting for their first jab and will most probably continue to wait at least until 2022, Serbia has different set of problems. Serbian government obtained enough jabs for the country’s population very early in 2021. However, due to widespread disinformation’s of the anti-vax movement and general distrust among the citizens, the estimations are that around 40% of citizens are vaccinated in Serbia, which is not enough for the collective immunity, and leads to further spread of the infection and potential appearance of new mutations of the virus [1] . Earlier this year, the mass vaccination with Vero cell / Sinopharm vaccines in Serbia raised many questions: how much it costs [2] , under which circumstances was it registered and approved [3] and whether Serbia’s mass vaccination program is in fact the third phase trial of the vaccine efficiency [4] . The doubts have further increased since the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is still reviewing and has not approved the Sinopharm vaccine, while the procedure commenced in May 2021 [5] . However, the fear of disease and death seemed to have trumped all the above mentioned legal and formal concerns, as the global race for vaccine was gaining traction. At the beginning of vaccination process in February 2021, Serbia had second highest rate of vaccination in Europe, just behind United Kingdom. Today, as I am writing, the country is ravaged by the virus, with more than 50 deaths and more than 7000 infections per day, which is among highest infection rates globally [6] . New cases and deaths from Covid-19, JHU CSSE COVID-19 Data, accessed 21.10.2021. Vaccination rollout for Covid-19, Our World in Data, accessed 21.10.2021. Although the modus operandi of Serbian government regarding the purchase of the vaccines was criticized, especially within the context of the geopolitics of Serbia’s cordial relations with PR China and Russian Federation while accessing European Union, many countries were looking (South)East and seeking ways and means to follow the example of Serbia. The prime minister of Hungary declared that he was waiting to see how the vaccination plays out in Serbia [7] , but Hungarian government had announced that it is not going to wait for Brussels but start the procurement procedures for Chinese vaccines. Western media wrote about the “healthcare Silkroad” of the Chinese government as a way of salvaging the ruined initiative 16+1 with the “mask diplomacy”, and how the loyalty of Serbia – unlike the other members of the initiative – actually paid off [8] . As the process of vaccination in European Union got off to a rough start in December 2020, the discrete signals were sent by European Union high officials that they too are open to diversifying the sources of vaccines, and not opposed to Russian or Chinese companies providing them [9] . Painfully aware of the country’s peripheral status, Serbian government diversified the suppliers from the onset, and even started negotiations to produce the Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines [10] . Source: Covid: How Serbia soared ahead in vaccination campaign, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55931864 , accessed 10.2.2021. But what is this Initiative 16+1 and how is it currently related to Serbia? In 2012 the initiative 16+1 (also known as Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEE, China-CEEC) was kick-started by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This initiative was formed as a as a transnational cooperation forum, which should’ve brought together the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe on one side and China on the other side, in various cooperation projects within the Belt and Road Initiative. The following countries are members of this initiative: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. With the entry of Greece in 2019, the initiative formally changed its name to 17+1. This cooperation platform between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and China was formed after the China-Central and Eastern Europe Economic and Trade Forum was held in Budapest in 2011, and every year since then a meeting was held in one of the member states [11] . Every member state has national coordinators, while the secretariat is situated in Beijing. The meeting planned for 2020 was supposed to take place in Beijing, but was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic, which was seen as an opportunity to launch activities and interventions to counteract the projects that have been either negotiated or considered within this initiative: in Czech Republic China’s General Nuclear Power was excluded from the bidding for the expansion of Dukovany nuclear power plant [12] , in Croatia a 50-years concession for the port of Rijeka was halted as it became clear that the consortium of Chinese companies offered the highest bid [13] , Romanian government decided to bar Chinese companies from the public infrastructure projects, namely, highroad constructions which was extensively done by Chinese companies like Synohydro and PowerChina [14] , while one of the last moves of the previous US administration was to halt the construction of the Huawei’s 5G telecommunication infrastructure in the Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. However, Serbia seems unfazed by these events, and although the government signed the agreement in Washington to forbid the use of a 5G network procured from unreliable customers – the so called “clean 5g network initiative” [15] – this did not prevent Huawei from opening the Center for Innovations and Development in Belgrade mid-September 2020 [16] . This is not the only project undertaken by the Huawei in Serbia: the company participated in the setup of the broadband infrastructure of the state telecommunication company, installed surveillance systems in streets of Belgrade, participated in setup of the data center in Kragujevac, development of the infrastructure for the public communal and educational services [17] . Furthermore, the government continues to sign more and more contracts worth billions of dollars for various infrastructural developments and redevelopments, such as the construction of the new metro system in Belgrade, construction of wastewater treatment plants and sewerage networks in 65 municipalities, rehabilitation and/or construction of six regional landfills and planned construction of 7 powerplants, financed by the loans from Chinese banks. [18] The criticism regarding – what seems to be – preferential status of Chinese capital in Serbia, which is coming from the western countries, is dampened by opening and diversifying the market for similar agreements with companies and banks coming from the West – loans for high ways, direct foreign investments for companies from West subsidized by Serbian government etc [19] . Having in mind which are the projects of Chinese companies in Serbia [20] , the pattern is clear: while China is mostly focused onto the sectors of telecommunications, traffic and mining, on the other hand Serbia is (re)constructing its most robust metallurgical industries, proverbially labeled as long-time losers and the sores of the country’s economy, as well as decrepit traffic routes and nonexistent sub-structures which are neuralgic points of the communal organization and sanitation. Leading Investors by number of projects (%). Source: RAS, 2021, https://ras.gov.rs/uspesne-price , 21.10.2021. Debt Trap, Deathtrap, Something Else? Interpretations of the Presence of Chinese Capital in Serbia. An inconspicuous office building in New Belgrade Block 21, recently turned heritage site, was leased to the Bank of China, which started its operations in Belgrade in 2016 [21] . The bank is working with the legal entities only, primarily oriented towards corporate customers and entrepreneurs. However, its presence is considered a token of China’s benevolence towards Serbia, or at least the pragmaticism regarding the servicing of the loans that Serbian government and corporate sector had taken from China’s central bank. The loans were not as high until recently: Serbia was the top borrower among the Balkan countries, but the overall numbers were not as dramatic as the media outcry made it look: 1.3 billion Euros was but a portion of external debt, and most of it was aimed at reconstructing the large infrastructural systems – the country’s decrepit railroad, for which it wasn’t possible to borrow from other sources, or the procedures were deemed complicated, because of the lack of prepared technical documentation from Serbia’s part and the restrictions regarding the direct bargaining [22] . China’s investments in the Western Balkans region, https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/srbija-kina-rudnik-bor/30266925.html , accessed 20.03.2021. However, the situation with the neighboring Montenegro could shed some light onto the narratives regarding the situation: the construction of the highway Bar – Boljare, worth 809 million EUR was funded by 688,2 million EUR loan from Exim bank. The road ‘from nowhere to nowhere’ matures mid-2021, and the government seeks assistance from EU in breaking the debt trap of China by helping finance the return of the loan [23] . Similar narrative is present around Serbia’s situation, but rather amplified, as Serbia took several loans during 2020 and early 2021, and the total public debt of the country amounted to 28,161,393,966.75 EUR by 15th of March 2021, while the government continues to issue Euro bonds. The loans have been aimed mostly at traffic systems’ construction and waste management, while very little has been put towards investment into productional cappacities of the country. Meanwhile, the question of how any of the loans will be returned, as the economic basis of the country has been riuned during the wars and the exhausting transition, while the government is almost exclusively relying on direct foreign investments stimulated from the state budget – either from East or West, is put aside. The state of the public debt of Serbia on 30th of November 2019 was 24.521.726.735 EUR, while the unsecured debt of the local governments is 401.508.234 EUR, http://www.javnidug.gov.rs/lat/default.asp?P=46 , accessed 31.03.2021. Preliminary balance of the public debt of the Republic of Serbia on March 15, 2021. amounted to 3,308,448,330,691 RSD (28,161,393,966.75 EUR), Public Debt Administration of Serbia, http://www.javnidug.gov.rs , accessed 24.03.2021. Share of investments by sectors by number of projects (%), Source: RAS, 2021, https://ras.gov.rs/uspesne-price , 21.10.2021. The industries that are being revived by loans from China, however, are almost all considered to be so called ‘dirty technologies’ – either investments into mining, both the existing capacities and creation of new ones, or revival and expansion of fossil fuel industrial capacities, either in field of production (rubber, tires, plastics) or energy (thermal power stations). Many experts agree, Serbia has electrical energy mostly owing to its capacities that are depending on coal, and needs to act very soon, if it were to achieve the goals of decarbonization and transition to renewables and needs to do it now in order to avoid paying penalties for the stalling and disruption of the process, as well as the pollution created in the production and consumption process [24] . However, the patience among the citizens seems to have been exhausted, as the rising number of ecological initiatives and associations are demanding action. Furthermore, the problems with mining companies in Serbia, Zijin and Rio Tinto being the most prominent and most visible publicly, are raising questions regarding Serbia’s role in the global tech lust, as well as the global displacement of dirty technologies [25] . Serbia seems to be in the center of these tendencies, as in the recent farewell visit Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, bluntly explained: to reduce Germany’s industry’s dependence from lithium mined in China, Germany and EU are very much interested in Serbia’s allegedly high reserves of borate and lithium ores [26] . Meanwhile, to offset the negative marketing of these projects and reduce the potential for insurgence in the places where these mines were planned to open, the government is shyly announcing subsidies for individual households for the upgrades of fenestration, thermal insulation, and purchase of efficient boilers, even new regulation of prosumers’ role in energy production, which has been problematic over the course of last several years [27] . The politicians are also stating as a subtext that Serbia would have to import photovoltaic technology (as well as other ‘green technologies’), which is strange having in mind that opening of the factories for producing batteries – presumably out of locally mined lithium – was promised [28] . SOURCES 8th Summit of Central and Eastern European Countries & China, https://www.ceec-china-croatia.org/en/about-cooperation/ , accessed 31.01.2021. https://china-cee.eu , accessed 20.10.2021. https://www.mfa.gov.rs/lat/spoljna-politika/bilateralna-saradnja/kina , accessed 20.10.2021. Конференција „Појас и пут: балканска перспектива“, https://fb.bg.ac.rs/2018/08/03/konferencija-pojas-i-put-balkanska-perspektiva/ , accessed 20.10.2021. II Међународна конференција БАЛКАН НА НОВОМ ПУТУ СВИЛЕ, https://fb.bg.ac.rs/2017/11/23/ii-medjunarodna-konferencija-balkan-na-novom-putu-svile/ , accessed 20.10.2021. ПОЈАС И ПУТ: Србија и Иницијатива 16+1 (искуства, достигнућа и перспективе), https://fb.bg.ac.rs/2019/04/10/11108/ , accessed 20.10.2021. Научна конференција „Кинески социјализам и модерни светски поредак (Сто година од оснивања Комунистичке партије Кине)“, https://fb.bg.ac.rs/2021/08/20/naucna-konferencija-kineski-socijalizam-i-moderni-svetski-poredak-sto-godina-od-osnivanja-komunisticke-partije-kine/ , accessed 20.10.2021. Jelica Jovanović is an architect and PhD student at the University of Technology in Vienna, working as an independent researcher. [1] Poverenje u vlast i vakcine – kako su tri države EU ukinule sve mere, https://www.dw.com/sr/poverenje-u-vlast-i-vakcine-kako-su-tri-države-eu-ukinule-sve-mere/a-59229591 , accessed 20.10.2021. [2] Šta se zna o Sinofarmovoj vakcini koja je u milion doza stigla u Srbiju, https://www.danas.rs/drustvo/sta-se-zna-o-sinofarmovoj-vakcini-koja-je-u-milion-doza-stigla-u-srbiju/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [3] Dok Agencija za lekove ćuti, antivakcinaši urlaju, https://www.istinomer.rs/analize/dok-agencija-za-lekove-cuti-antivakcinasi-urlaju/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [4] Serbia to participate in the third phase of testing Chinese vaccine, https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2020/09/08/serbia-to-participate-in-the-third-phase-of-testing-chinese-vaccine/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [5] EMA starts rolling review of COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell) Inactivated, https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-starts-rolling-review-covid-19-vaccine-vero-cell-inactivated [6] Korona virus: U Srbiji se epidemijska situacija ne smiruje, iz SZO kažu da će pandemije biti i sledeće godine, https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/srbija-56839529 ; https://covid19.rs , 21.10.2021. [7] Za Orbana Srbija „predsoblje“ za kinesku vakcinu, sad i Mađari najavili kupovinu, https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/za-orbana-srbija-predsoblje-za-kinesku-vakcinu-i-madjari-najavili-kupovinu/ , Commission: Hungary free to buy Chinese vaccine, https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/commission-hungary-free-to-buy-chinese-vaccine/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [8] Frankfurter algemajne cajtung: „Zdravstveni put svile“, https://www.dw.com/sr/frankfurter-algemajne-cajtung-zdravstveni-put-svile/a-56499471?fbclid=IwAR3lMALuFDKafr9KOQnQD1Fp4ToUj9IgwV4LocR8drucBEX4HTFfs8uNJ34 , accessed 9.2.2021. [9] EU open to Chinese, Russian COVID-19 vaccines: media, https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-02-04/EU-open-to-Chinese-Russian-COVID-19-vaccines-media–XBBI8P1phm/index.html , It’s Time to Trust China’s and Russia’s Vaccines, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opinion/covid-vaccines-china-russia.html?fbclid=IwAR3Ky2b0h5VW7bOos2lQDgi5-H7wtkKjsTX9i-FnYGIgg_2uUT1Q1vbAONE , Zarobljeni u geopolitici, zagledani u Srbiju, https://www.dw.com/sr/zarobljeni-u-geopolitici-zagledani-u-srbiju/a-56530912?fbclid=IwAR0jsc_c-6hbxt3pllxcksiqhmjI9_li4NsGNTOzh0MY—ZqxijLVddyL0 , accessed 11.2.2021. [10] Serbia to start producing Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, https://www.euractiv.com/section/china/news/serbia-to-start-producing-chinese-sinopharm-vaccine/ ; Počela proizvodnja vakcine ‘Sputnjik V’ u Srbiji, https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/sputnjik-v-torlak-srbija/31291004.html ; Lončar: Od oktobra proizvodnja kineske vakcine u Srbiji, do kraja godine oko šest miliona doza, https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/loncar-od-oktobra-proizvodnja-kineske-vakcine-u-srbiji-do-kraja-godine-oko-sest-miliona-doza/ , accessed 21.10.2021. [11] In Dubrovnik (2019), Sofia (2018), Budapest (2017), Riga (2016), Suzhou (2015), Belgrade (2014), Bucharest (2013) and Warsaw (2012). [12] POWER PLAY: RACE FOR CZECH NUCLEAR PLANT STIRS GEOPOLITICAL STEW, https://balkaninsight.com/2020/06/26/power-play-race-for-czech-nuclear-plant-stirs-geopolitical-stew/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [13] “NAJBOLJA PONUDA NA TENDERU” Mediji: Kinezi NE ULAZE u riječku luku zbog PRITISKA Evrope i Amerike, https://www.blic.rs/vesti/svet/najbolja-ponuda-na-tenderu-mediji-kinezi-ne-ulaze-u-rijecku-luku-zbog-pritiska-evrope/seyy0tn , accessed 9.2.2021. [14] Romania moves to bar Chinese firms from public infrastructure projects, https://www.neweurope.eu/article/romania-moves-to-bar-chinese-firms-from-public-infrastructure-projects/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [15] Srbija i Kosovo potpisali sporazum o normalizaciji ekonomskih odnosa, https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/kosovo-srbija-hoti-vucic-sjedinjene-drzave-tramp-potpisivanje-bela-kuca/30820416.html , Ko je u Evropi podržao inicijativu za čistu 5g mrežu?, https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/čista-mreža-5g-evropa/30913291.html , accessed 9.2.2021. [16] Srbija i Huawei: Intenziviranje saradnje uprkos sporazumu iz Vašingtona, https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/srbija-i-huawei-intenziviranje-saradnje-uprkos-sporazumu-iz-vašingtona/30840366.html , accessed 9.2.2021. [17] Poslovi kompanije Huawei u Srbiji, https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/30825582.html , accessed 9.2.2021. [18] China and France agree $5bn plan to build Belgrade metro, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u24Py5JKO0&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR31KHyDxDbPhJwjAT3T-rDJ2ObJZwl0P8u0h0hNY757K5x3OiS6_-GQnhQ ; Kineski CRBC dobio posao od 3,2 milijarde evra za otpadne vode, deponije, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/kineski-crbc-dobio-posao-od-32-milijarde-evra-za-otpadne-vode-deponije/#comments , Coal in the Balkans, https://bankwatch.org/project/coal-in-the-balkans#1503303885469-aa188fed-71ee accessed 9.2.2021. [19] https://www.putevi-srbije.rs/index.php/sr/ ; Počev od 2007. godine, Srbija je privukla preko 34 milijarde evra stranih direktnih investicija, https://ras.gov.rs/uspesne-price , accessed 20.10.2021. [20] The first project of the 16+1 inititive in Serbia was the Pupin Bridge in Belgrade, followed by the contract for railroad reconstruction on the Corridor 10. Within the last 3 years Chinese companies have also proceeded to take over the core heavy industries in Serbia, such as steel mill in Smederevo with a branch in Šabac and two ports in Smederevo and copper and gold mines in Bor and Majdanpek, as well as construct a tire factory in Zrenjanin (which is connected to the recent revitalization of the nearby synthetic rubber factory in Elemir, https://ilovezrenjanin.com/vesti-zrenjanin/ponovo-radi-elemirska-kaucukara/ , https://www.hip-petrohemija.com/press/vesti/uspesno-pokrenuta-proizvodnja-u-hip-petrohemiji.n-623.45.html , accessed 9.2.2021.). [21] https://www.bankofchina.com/rs/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [22] https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/podrška-eu-modernizaciji-pruga-u-srbiji/30801551.html , accessed 9.2.2021. [23] EU “čula” Dritana: Nudi pomoć Crnoj Gori oko duga Kini, https://www.bizlife.rs/eu-cula-dritana-nudi-pomoc-crnoj-gori-oko-duga-kini/ ; Crna Gora: Autoputem u dužničku klopku Kine, https://www.dw.com/sr/crna-gora-autoputem-u-dužničku-klopku-kine/a-55936310 ; Srbijablizu dogovora sa Kinom da otkupi crnogorski dug za auto-put?, https://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2020&mm=09&dd=21&nav_id=1736205 ; Raste kineski uticaj u Crnoj Gori: Ogrlica od bisera i omča od dugova, https://www.vijesti.me/vijesti/ekonomija/524949/raste-kineski-uticaj-u-crnoj-gori-ogrlica-od-bisera-i-omca-od-dugova , accessed31.3.2021. [24] EPS: Elektrane konzervirati i držati u rezervi, https://novaekonomija.rs/vesti-iz-zemlje/eps-elektrane-konzervirati-i-držati-u-rezervi , 21.10.2021. [25] Eco-imperialism: the global relocation of pollution, https://amplitudemagazin.com/eko-imperijalizam-globalno-izmestanje-zagadjenja/ , accessed 9.2.2021. [26] Merkel: i Nemačka zainteresovana za litijum u Srbiji, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/merkel-i-nemacka-zainteresovana-za-litijum-u-srbiji/ , Akademik Stevanović, SANU: nepovratne posledice u slučaju izgradnje rudnika litijuma, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/akademik-stevanovic-sanu-nepovratne-posledice-u-slucaju-izgradnje-rudnika-litijuma/ , accessed 21.10.2021. [27] Iz ličnog iskustva – Šta vas sve čeka ako u Srbiji želite da postanete prozjumer?, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/iz-licnog-iskustva-sta-vas-sve-ceka-ako-u-srbiji-zelite-da-postanete-prozjumer/ ; U Srbiji sve lakše korišćenje solarne energije – šta treba daznate ukoliko želite da sami proizvodite struju?, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/u-srbiji-sve-lakse-koriscenje-solarne-energije-sta-treba-da-znate-ukoliko-zelite-da-sami-proizvodite-struju/ , Srbija usvojila uredbu o prozjumerima: u tri koraka do struje iz solarnihpanela, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rs/srbija-usvojila-uredbu-o-prozjumerima-u-tri-koraka-do-struje-iz-solarnih-panela/ , accessed 21.10.2021. [28] Vučić: Pravićemo najuspešniju fabriku za litijum baterije, https://biznis.telegraf.rs/info-biz/3274005-vucic-pravicemo-najuspesniju-fabriku-za-litijum-baterije ; Vučić Rio Tintu: Pazićemo na ekologiju, uz rudnik da bude i fabrika za baterije, https://biznis.telegraf.rs/info-biz/3345675-vucic-rio-tintu-pazicemo-na-ekologiju-uz-rudnik-da-bude-i-fabrika-za-baterije , “NEMAMO MORE, ALI IMAMO JADARIT” Vučić: Imaćemo najveću fabriku baterija za električna vozila, https://www.blic.rs/biznis/nemamo-more-ali-imamo-jadarit-vucic-imacemo-najvecu-fabriku-baterija-za-elektricna/bwvjh4q , Vučićeve fabrike baterija i automobila – velelepne i neostvarive, https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/vuciceve-fabrike-baterija-i-automobila-velelepne-i-neostvarive/ , accessed 19.10.2021. Previous Next

< Back On Not Hearing the Gunfire 20 Aug 2020 Su Wei In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, January of this year marked the beginning of social distancing which was to last for months. During these months, China’s cities, towns, and villages were subjected to a strict system of control initiated and implemented by its bureaucratic institution. This system monitored citizens’ life and activities on social media, with the help of so-called grid management, big data, and a large number of officials “sinking” into the local community. This approach, on top of the voluntary self-surveillance of the public, did help to effectively stem the spread of the virus. Nonetheless, at the same time, inter-personal relations built upon local neighborhoods and communities—which had already been tenuous and fast-disappearing—were destroyed in the process. The virus has confined people to their homes. In metropolises such as Beijing, such a singular state of affairs has turned the pandemic into an “information war”, as people are wrapped up in a world constructed by mobile phone screens. WeChat , a social media platform recently sanctioned by the U.S. government and long monitored by the Chinese government, has become the main channel for people to learn about the outside world and to express their complex emotions surrounding the pandemic. Because the platform itself can be both official (almost all official media has public WeChat blogs) and private, all the while being censored, public and private life become very closely intertwined in a bizarre and unsettling way. Covid-19 Nucleic Acid Detection in a University campus, photo credit: Su Wei This situation continues today, even while the pandemic has been declared to be completely under control in China. It is a moment in time when the world in your phone and your everyday life have truly collapsed into one another. Not only do you have to produce your “health certificate” on your phone whenever you go into a public place, but you also have to make conscious—even strenuous—efforts to discern valuable ideas and judgements from the more perilous ones when confronting messages and discussions on your phone from different friends and fields. Such discernment can be very difficult, even sometimes, schizophrenic. At the end of January, and almost at the same time the outbreak of the epidemic hit its peak, I officially resigned from my job as a senior curator at an art museum in Beijing, in the hopes of rediscovering the fields beyond the staged scenes of power struggle. For a long time, I couldn’t leave my mobile phone either, although I knew how one-sided and biased the observations through it can be, and how expressions made through it could not avoid being performative, let alone being mostly improvisational and opportunistic by nature. The art world has been squirming in pain after Chinese New Year. This pain first came from the capital world as well as the art market, and the online fair of Art Basel, Hong Kong matched this mood. The art world then brimmed over with discussions under the aegis of “art and pandemic”, with all kinds of undigested online creations and lecture series, each proposing new ways of thinking about our current context. To be fair, the art community has always shown a spirit of dissatisfaction with the status quo, albeit a spirit that is also sometimes rare, and has been consistently on the wane since the year 2000. Nevertheless, some of the recent creations and opinions continue to deeply reveal our misconceptions about contemporaneity, as well as how untenable this fragile, short-lived sense of the contemporary actually is. In other words, our sense of the contemporary cannot stand even the slightest interrogation, be it humanistic or that about the actual logic behind knowledge production. What really gave me a strong sense of crisis was the outbreak of the BLM campaign. It spread across Chinese social networks at a lesser speed and with weaker intensity than the civil protest movements did several years ago, including the Wall Street movement, Hong Kong’s Occupy Central and the yellow umbrella movements. To explain our lukewarm reaction to the campaign, we need more than the simple fact that local social media platforms, such as WeChat, have not played an important role in China’s social life for very long. Not sufficient, either, is the fact that Facebook and Twitter have been banned for a while. Rather, the steep decrease in the communication effect of the BLM campaign reflects a change in people’s mentality. The Chinese cultural scene caught in various discourses of state, individuals, nation, imperialism, market, freedom, etc. is inevitably falling apart, and the once shared feeling for the oppressed has been substituted by that of defending national interests. In China, people have long regarded the race issue as a product of the United States, ignoring its pervasive presence among themselves. Moreover, debates about justice and equality have faded into the background, along with those between the New Left and liberals back in the 1990s – those debates have now rendered themselves footnotes to nationalist contentions where racial issues are concerned. The racist “scenes” and “misunderstandings” we all experience abroad are often reduced—in an alienating way—to “common knowledge,” and are often dismissed as irrelevant, as if they “only happen to other people.” It so seems that the issue of race is much less important than that of class, which apparently concerns more Chinese people. The value of such names as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and George Floyd invariably seem to be of secondary importance here. Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement, 2014, photo credit: Su Wei As the confrontation between China and The United States—which began last year—has recently been radically escalating, a division between the left and the right is gradually revealing itself in the cultural sphere. Such a schism, however, was otherwise disappearing in the context of the neoliberal economy. The professedly more critical left constantly draw upon the historical legacy of the “first thirty years“ (1949-1979) in their interpretations of today, whereas the liberals are having difficulty negotiating a space amidst the ideological struggle between China and the Western world. Both sides are engaged in a tightrope-walking practice, the dangers of which, however, are again obvious: one either skids to the nationalist left or hits the nihilist right. Meanwhile, at the public level, nationalism has reached its zenith with government support, while the recent military confrontation between China and the United States only further aggravates the situation. What is emerging in the cultural and public spheres imposes a strain on China’s art world. Admittedly, art inevitably exists in the world, but what better describes the situation is that the art community in China have been passively mobilized at this time – their motivation and self-awareness subsequently still subject to scrutiny. The nationalism and nihilism of the country as a whole have penetrated the art world on all fronts. Despite the fact that the Chinese art community does not often reveal their political stances—not an entirely conscious choice, though, since such practices can also be gestures of withdrawal—a certain collective unconscious is indeed being fashioned by the radical changes in the cultural and social realms. Globalization, though long proven to be problematic, remains the ultimate faith of many because it is so difficult to confront the local situation squarely – we find ourselves in desperate want of courage, motivation, and appeals when facing the local. Though there are yet more problems. When immersed in the world within their mobile phones, the Chinese art community (unsurprisingly) shows yet again, a certain ‘bluntness’—or rather an insensitivity to the reality. Private conversations on WeChat or its more secure alternatives (sometimes one must avoid Wechat censorship) are often characterized by opportunistic arguments that can constantly shift grounds from the left to the right. Such arguments can hardly leave space for future thoughts and are often no more than vehicles for one’s moral superiority, and obsessive confidence in one’s own knowledge. For the art practitioners who are already safely middle-class, and even part of the high society, they are equipped with a strong sense of reality as a result of their frequent travels between East and West: their friendships with Western art institutions; their expensive apartments and cars in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai; the education privilege their children would enjoy; and not least of all, the skyrocketing costs of artistic creation in recent years. Nevertheless, in the meantime, the truly complex battles in the real world have been telescoped, and the struggles of real people in faraway places are condensed into manageable sizes. Such a simplistic approach to reality also leads to an intentional oversight or partial sight when it comes to value judgements: they would hold fast to a value that they identify with, such as “freedom” in abstraction. Such is the art world in the cell phone. Self-proclaimed liberals spreading around excitable gossip about authoritarian governments. Some fantasize that they belong to the White middle-class and thus venerate the unfavorable coverage of China in the Western media. The more ambitious, on the other hand, fantasize that they are the country per se and earnestly devise all kinds of solutions to remedy the status quo. There are also many nationalists in the art world who embrace the “local” and “grassroots”, and regard them as localization enterprises – as a result, fully accepting the value system they entail. But there is no protest. I do not mean protest in the sense of the dissent. We do not even need to mention the risks it involves to be a dissenter. I mean instead, that we lack the kind of thinking produced right in the middle of the quagmire named reality, and that we lack, even more, the ability to look squarely into the clues that has helped fashion today’s reality. Perhaps the present art community in China should first learn how to go to the streets: to participate in movements, to debate with others in complex contexts, to create tools to resist police assaults, and to put down their cell phones. We can only point out, in a way that is rather pessimistic, that the art world in China teems with all varieties of performativity. The sense of the contemporary has not been fully internalized, yet one is already eager to demonstrate one’s superior knowledge. Such piecemeal knowledge, adulterated by various motivations and sophistication, are however not solid grounds for discussion. Behind such knowledge demonstrations are one’s appeal to power. One is adept at using one’s moral stance as a banner, or wielding it a weapon in attacking others. One sometimes does it with a loud battle cry, while at other times deliberately concealing one’s real stance. One can be good at posing as either politically correct or incorrect, depending on the situation, to enchant or to mislead younger art practitioners. One masquerades as a student in front of one’s seniors to gain resources, while acting as the authority in front of their younger peers to obtain power. All of these have been undermining the already rarefied atmosphere of art discussion. A Studio exhibition in Beijing, 2020, photo credit: Su Wei Some artists, however, chose to quietly rise against this absurd reality in the Chinese art world. Their agenda focuses on more physical participation, and seeks to carve out a space to think by giving away part of one’s self. Wu Wenguang, an independent documentary filmmaker, has been continuing his decade-long Folk Memory Project during the pandemic. The project titled “Passing Through,” registers the process in which Wu, in Yunnan, experiences a special period together with other filmmakers located elsewhere, with whom he has been working for a long time. The way they experience this together is called “online yoga”: they share their experience within a day, read poetry, or communicate other reading experiences and document their “time together” through film. Other artists, who may not have been well known in the Chinese art world, and who lacked exhibition opportunities, did not give up their artistic creation because of the pandemic or the pressure brought about by the survival pleas prevalent in the art world. Some of them work with a simple attitude and do not deliberately avoid real-life pressure. They polish their work in their own studios and through studio exhibitions initiated by artists themselves, thus finding a balance between art and reality. It is easier to experience a moderate sense of honesty, as well as palatable performativity, in such creations – especially when they are compared with certain works and exhibitions too eager to engage with reality. In addition, within the past few years there has been a number of artists and groups guided by left-wing ideas, who have used practices that intentionally provoke officialdom to give a voice to marginalized groups, and to find creative impetus in the private sector. Creations of such are promising, though they may still seem to lack a clear methodology and are not as satisfying in terms of artistic quality and creativity. Outside of the art world, the online community Douban ( www.douban.com ) presents the convergence of diverse experiences and reflections of young Chinese from China and around the world. The vibrance it promises seems a world apart from today’s feeble and arrogant art world. Some cultural figures are also taking action. The official media ThePaper took the bold initiative to host a column dedicated to the BLM campaign, in which all points of view (including those by researchers) are cited and set to contest one another. Other media platforms such as Jiemian and Economic Observer’s Book Review (which have long been known for their focus on contemporary cultural changes and marginalized groups in China), have also endeavored to stage valuable discussions despite the atmosphere of intense political pressure. These rare and precious actions salvage from the reality, a little space for the future. We cannot hear the gunfire from the battlefield, but we must understand that the gunfire is already everywhere. Su Wei is an art writer and curator based in Beijing. Previous Next

< Back Virtually Driving Back in Time? 10 Sept 2021 Sinkneh Eshetu In May 2021 I Joined the Astrobus Ethiopia, on a driving trip across different regions in the country, on a project aiming to empower and connect young learners with science, art, and technology. This marked the third trip for Astrobus Ethiopia, and we journeyed to my home town – giving me the opportunity to rediscover cultural landscapes and reconnect to my fond childhood memories. All the three places targeted were special to me: Konso is my birthplace, Jinka is where my early childhood memories were moulded, and Arbaminch is a place I spent my junior and high school times. screenshot, May 14 2021 This is southern Ethiopia. This is a place of natural and cultural diversity. It is called by some a mosaic of culture for housing about 25 of the 81 ethnic groups in Ethiopia. That implies so much diversity in the ways of exploring and knowing, perceiving and expressing, valuing and living our shared reality. Here, one feels, time is not flat but as ragged as its landscapes. Some live on the hilltops, others at the hill bottom, still others in the valleys, the forests, the prairies, or deserts of the landscape of time, where times past, present, and future are superimposed. See there? An earth-bound-looking bushman, apparently alien to the whims and fancies of modernity, is talking to someone with a mobile phone. Did this mobile influence the way he sees the world? Does he know how his voice travels in space and time to link him with his distant friend? Very unlikely. I read somewhere what an anthropologist did a few years back at this very place. He showed the community a picture of their late relative. Everyone was excited to find a ‘proof’ that their late father or friend is invisible but still in existence. ‘This is his shadow;’ they reasoned. ‘If the shadow exists, the person responsible for the appearance of the shadow must also exist.’ The technology only served to reinforce their traditional belief in the existence of the soul after death. With the mobile, they might have found a proof for the way a human spirit transcends space-time boundaries, who knows. Among the central objectives of Astrobus are fostering critical thinking and exchange of worldviews. What does that mean? I was wondering how each member of the Astrobus team might be seeing these people and places. These are favourite destinations of cultural tourists and anthropologists. That makes you wonder why tourists, most of whom are from technologically advanced societies, are attracted to these communities. Could it be that they consider their coming here as going back in time to their origins as homo sapiens? Probably they have read the works of the historian Yuval Harari and believe in his theories: Homo Sapiens, originating in this part of the world, succeeded in conquering and ruling the globe with the strength of their stories. They may then assume that these people of the so called the Land of Origins loved the stories that showed their compatriots of 70 000 years past conquering the giants of Eurasia, the Neanderthals. So, they did not see the point in changing that story, hence their archaic-looking way of life. They may also predict, taking for granted that the coming of Harari’s Homo Deus is going to be a global phenomenon, these people may then be riding straight from the Era of crop or animal husbandry to the Era of Cyborgs, without having to traverse, like them, the twisted and tangled paths of feudalism, capitalism, socialism or a cocktail of these isms. I would not be surprised if they think so. For here, it is easy to assume that these traditions, having come thus far apparently resisting change, may continue to do so for years to come only to eventually submit to the irresistible global force. What would become of their stories and their worldviews then? Astrobus has made it clear that it is here to foster exchange of worldviews and not to change any. Still, each member of the travelling team might have his or her own view of these target communities and the aspired exchange. I did not ask, but it would be interesting if anyone of them might be thinking this trip as a virtual journey to our collective past. Our first stop was Arbaminch, a place noted for its landscape beauty, traditional weaving and music. Though things seemed to be disorganized at first, because the local volunteers who promised to help us organize were busy mobilizing people for the 6thnational election, we eventually managed to reach three schools in a day. That was a very empowering first experience for the travelling team. Next, we drove to Konso, my birthplace. This is a community of industrious people known for their terrace-building and settlement patterns that reflected their social organization, registered as UNESCO’s Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site for that reason. My fascination with the folktale of the Konsos gave birth to my first anthropological novel, Searching for Ella: Crocodile College , that explores how folktales, indigenous belief systems, and rituals could help ensure the resilience of people at the face of disruptive changes. Here, some of the travelling team members were hoping to stop by one of the traditional villages to get a glimpse of the highly esteemed traditional culture. With the interest of time, however, that idea had to be dropped. Where the Astrobus team had its event, the school’s science club also demonstrated its works – some herbal medicine and models of machines. That was underlined as a form of the aspired give-and-take. screenshot on may 15, 2021 Our last stop was Jinka. It was here that I had a hilarious childhood experience about film. It was a dark countryside evening. There was no power then. Except probably for the flickering stars and the distant glows of moonlight, all was dark. Once in a while, a strong light is turned on and off from a truck standing with its rear end facing an eager crowd of kids like me and no-less-eager adults. Three or four people, carrying a feeble flashlight, were struggling with a strange object on the truck, which I later learned to be a film projector. I was 9 or 10. That day in school, we were told that a film would be shown at the town’s marketplace at night and we should all be there. A film! I had no idea what that was. I do not remember even hearing the word before that day. Being a loner, I did not ask anyone what was going on. I strained my eyes staring on the truck and on the wheeled machine the people were fumbling with, hoping to see something interesting. I now guess the people had difficulty making the projector run. But then I thought that object, the projector, was ‘the film’ we were supposed to enjoy. My interest faded away quickly and I returned home soon not to anger my mom by staying out too late watching that boring staff. Later that night, my siblings who stayed behind spoke excitedly about the amazing things they saw in the film. I was mad to have missed the opportunity by mistaking the projector for the film. When that same film, which was on wildlife, was shown again six or so months later, I was awestruck. I thought film was some kind of magic. That experience was so enduring that it found its way to my latest novel, Catch Your Thunder: Rendezvous with the End – the film as a modern miracle local magicians must beat in order to keep on holding the upper hand in the market of miracle-making. Jinka did not change much from those old days. Yes, a few modern-looking buildings have made their appearance in town. TV and mobiles have long been commonplace and the internet is accessible for those interested and are cyber-literate. Certainly, there is no magic in films and pictures anymore. Though the workings of the technology might still be mysterious for many, nearly everyone knows that one can make his or her own ‘film’ or picture with a mobile. Jinka even boasts its own university now. However, if one drives a few kilometres to any direction from the town, one will find people living the most natural way, some even walking naked, apparently keeping their promise to their ancestors who went away eons ago to conquer the globe. This is the background that formed the student body Astrobus engaged with in Jinka. I was thinking of my first experience with film in this very town when a group of students talked about the films they were trying to make at the booth the filmmaker among us made them try their hand on a professional film production. I can only imagine what an impression this engagement might have created on the young learners privileged to attend the event. Exchange of worldviews? I am not sure how much of that happened. Generally speaking, most of us, even artists, went there with thoughts and tools refined at the background of a worldview that compartmentalizes reality with its fast-changing knowledge system. And these indigenous cultures see reality holistically with the lens of their slowly accumulated, millennia-long experience. If worldviews were demonstrable like paintings or telescopes, the difference would have been stunning. This would have been especially so if we had the opportunity to go to local communities with our high-tech tools and arts, as many of the team members wished to do. Unfortunately, however, that was not possible mainly because of financial constraints. In our preliminary survey tour, we managed to visit half a dozen indigenous communities. After visiting the Dorze and the Konso villages well known for their art of weaving, construction, and social organization, one team member asked, ‘why did they stop here instead of pushing boundaries to propagate their amazing ways of life?’ And one of us answered, ‘maybe they didn’t see the need to do that.’ That may not be a choice in this era of rapid globalization. It seems every indigenous culture must strive to be heard telling its own stories in order to survive as a culture and identity. Otherwise, its age-old stories would be lost for good in the noisy tale of money, science, and technology. Sinkneh Eshetu (penname: O’Tam Pulto) is a published author and landscape architect. Previous Next

Tīna Pētersone < Back Present Perfect Continuous Tīna Pētersone Imagine you are an actor in some theatre play. You sit somewhere in the foreground of the stage, totally absorbed by the character you ’ re playing. Then, driven by some arbitrary impulse, you give a cursory glance around and realise that all set decoration has disappeared; even worse — you suddenly have found yourself in a completely different play. That ’ s how I feel about my recent weeks, trying to find a new orientation in time and space. On some sunny March morning I was running across a local park in South East London, not having the slightest idea that just twelve hours later I will run through it once again, though, by force, not a choice to leave everything — my flat, my friends, the life I have built there — to catch the last minute flight back home. Borders were shut the day after, and many of my friends were trapped where they are without a chance to leave. I got lucky. Since the day I arrived back home, I haven ’ t been outdoors for 762 hours and 53 minutes. Hours quickly turn into days, coalesce into weeks and surely will stretch into months. As the days go by and I’m still trying to adapt to the new reality, I cannot help but think about lines from ’ The Waste Land ’ by T. S. Elliot. He writes: ‘ The past should be altered by the present as much as the present is directed by the past ’ . [1] Suddenly new conditions have changed the meaning of beliefs that seemed solid: time passes faster in stillness, negative results bring success, rapid developments don ’ t translate into progress. In some strange way, I have learnt to live with the immobility and accept it as my ‘new normal’ now. Needless to say, I am fed up with the self-isolation and I terribly miss human interaction (as I reckon, most of us do), but I have grown to see being by myself as a valuable opportunity to work on various forms of self-care: self-discipline, self-initiative, self-reflection. A couple of days ago I watched a rousing TED conversation with an American author Elizabeth Gilbert, she seemed so sagacious and radiated an air of serenity. A sentence she said got me thinking: ‘Presence is a gift and challenge in this time. ’ [2] Indeed, these recent weeks have let me discover a new perspective on ‘ presence ’ and how multifaceted this concept is. Strangely, in contrast to many people, online house parties, live yoga classes, DJ-set live streams, Netflix communal watching and collective Zoom calls don ’ t cheer me up, rather deepen my longing for real-life experiences. Though, pondering upon the future, it has prompted me to ask — what are the facets of ‘presence’? How can we think of presence as a powerful quality for professional and personal development? Presence as the state of being present. What I appreciate the most about the prolonged seclusion is the time to think. Engross into things that truly matter and enjoy them wholeheartedly without distractions; fully embrace moments of aloneness and use them for introspection. The essence of an independent curator is a cosmopolitan one. Hopping between cities and countries comes along with a constant shift between realities and temporalities. To get a foot in the door of the highly competitive field of arts, one has to ‘master the art ofliving with a chronic instability’. [3] Although the pursuit of curator ’ s career teaches mental flexibility, it also forces to do everything ‘ in time-lapse’ — forbidding to delve deeper into a single activity and, instead, hastily jump onto the ‘next big thing’. The crisis has forced me to press a ‘pause’ button and push myself into a self-prescribed self-immersion therapy. Getting to the root, feeling the flow, letting inner consciousness lead the way. The highly praised, so-called, ‘superstar curators’ and ‘artist-entrepreneurs’ have implanted in us the harmful ideal to have something ‘going on’ all the time: let it be doing research, writing proposals, seeking for funding, visiting studios or negotiating with exhibition venues. I hope the moment of solitude will help us — curators, artists, creatives and society overall — to shed this destructive pressure and follow your own vision. Presence as the immediate proximity of a person or thing. Geographer Yi-Fu Tuan has rightly pointed out: ‘ What is there in a culture that is not a form of escape? ’ [4] Paradoxically, in times of crisis, while culture comforts us and helps to deal with everyday life, it is the first to experience financial cutbacks. Which seems even more duplicitous, considering that artists are the ones cultivating nation’s heritage and cultural scene. Our ability to build a more healthy and equitable art world lies in the power of joint effort. We have to learn to be more open and accepting to wider audiences, but first of all — build trust and cooperation among each other. In countries where the contemporary art discourse is still in a relatively early stage, there’s only a small circle of people who do art, curate art, observe art and write about art. I see this tiny ‘art bubble’ as very discouraging for constructive discussions and critical thought development within the local art scene. I ’ m tired of conversations that just state how bad the situation is, but don ’ t provide any solutions, just leave me with a bitter aftertaste. I think we can grow much more, both collectively and independently if we put an effort into nurturing and establishing networks. Be friendly, but keep a professional relationship. Support each other, but give honest feedback. Be responsive, but focus on our individual thing. Presence as personal appearance or bearing. Crises shape history, and I believe that we, curators, have power in our hands to shape it for better. We could say we are creators whose material is the work of others — but in any case, the role of a mediator is inescapable. If we go along with the infamous curator’s Harald Szeemann ’ s idea of ‘ artists as the best societal seismographs ’ [5] , curators, similarly to seismologists who study earthquakes and their waves, cross-examine ‘movers and shakers’ of the social and political climate. This unprecedented time has taught me to not to underestimate the power of change in the society. I often wish I had more courage to do what I wish to do and take part in shaping public thought. Once and for all it ’ s time to get rid of the paralysing fear of failure. Fear of being judged, being seen, being public. Instead, learn to be self-sufficient without a necessity to prove anything to anyone. We can make a difference. We are needed. Take time. Take as much as you need. But make good use of it. Tīna Pētersone is an independent curator and a writer based in London/Riga. [1] Eliot, T. S. (1999). The waste land: and other poems . London: Faber and Faber. [2] TED. (2020). It’s OK to feel overwhelmed. Here’s what to do next . Available at: https://youtu.be/oNBvC25bxQU . (Accessed: 21 Apr 2020). [3] Gielen, P., & McGregor, C. (2010). The murmuring of the artistic multitude: Global art, memory and post-Fordism. Amsterdam: Valiz. P. 38. [4] Sugar, R. (2019). The Great Escape . Available at: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/8/7/20749177/escape-room-game . (Accessed: 11 Jan 2020). [5] Carolee, T. (2009). On Curating: Interviews with Ten International Curators . New York, NY: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers. Previous Next

< Back As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future | Symposium 2 Mar 2021 Main symposium presenters: What Could Should Curating Do and Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia Organized by Biljana Ciric DATES: March 22nd – 31st 2021 TIME: 11am Ljubljana time / 9pm Melbourne time / Addis Ababa 1pm / Shanghai, Guangzhou 6pm / Astana 4pm Live stream via WCSCD / Moderna Galerija / Artcom platform / Rockbund Art Museum / facebook and YouTube www.wcscd.com http://www.mg-lj.si/ March 22nd Day 1 March 23rd Day 2 March 25th Day 3 March 26th day 4 March 30th Day 5 March 31ST Day 6 Participants: Zdenka Badovinac (curator, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana); Robel Temesgen ( artist, Addis Ababa); Larys Frogier (director, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai ); Sinkneh Eshetu (writer,Addis Ababa); Marija Glavas (sociologist, Ljubljana); Berhanu (anthropologist, Canberra); Aigerim Kapar (interdependent curator, Astana); Jelica Jovanovic (architect, Belgrade); Hu Yun (artist, Melbourne); Jasphy Zheng (artist, Xia Men); Dragan Stojmenovic (Public Library, Bor); Nikita Yingqian Cai (chief curator, Times Museum, Guangzhou); Robert Bobnic and Kaja Kraner (researchers, lecturers Ljubljana); Aziza Abdulfetah Busser (architect and academic, Addis Ababa); Alex Ulko (artist and researcher, Tashkent); Brett Neilson (professor Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University); Ash Moniz (artist, Cairo); Yabebal Fantaye (Astrophysicist and a data scientist, co-founder of the 10 Academy initiative, Addis Ababa), Salem Makuria (independent writer, producer, director, videographer, and retired professor or professor emerita from the Art Department, Wellesley College), Biljana Ciric (interdependent curator and founder of WCSCD) As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future symposium is the first public moment of sharing not only our research, but also our mode of working based on relationality and interdependence that we bring with us as we move forward. As you go… roads under your feet, towards the new future is a long-term project and research inquiry that reflects on the Belt and Road Initiative and how it will alter the aesthetics and practices of everyday life in different local contexts of Ethiopia, Serbia, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, China, Kazakhstan. Many of these localities situated on the margins of the global economy re-gained a momentum of visibility through geo-political conflicts when the BRI entered a sphere of interest of other global powers. Could a new visibility and set of geo-politics create alternatives to our existence, or will it uphold the extractivist capital logic done for so many years by Western European modernity are some of the questions that we try to unpack through research case studies. BRI defined as a major infrastructural project through out 2020 has proven to be very dynamic. Since the pandemic started BRI is slowly transforming defining new direction focusing on digital services and public health and these transformations we will continue to research and understand in the year to come. The project started in February 2020 just before the pandemic was announced, and since then, we have continued to work, learning how to co-exist under our new living conditions. The current conditions transformed the project into much more than just examining the BRI. It became an examination of our own existence, the way we walk with in the world, how we practice inter-dependence, and stretch existing institutional structures through which we as practitioners navigate. Our walk opens up the question of whether this new cold war slowly unfolding in front of us – caused by pandemic – can create and foster connections that no state can control, but which we need and are truly ours. Throughout 2020 we needed time and space to practice intimacy between cells and create a safe zone for sharing. What we learned is that rather than visibility, what is needed is opacity. The intimacy that arose from this defines how ideas are shared with others and to what extent what we create together stays within the cells or is shared further. Being in project for a year, together we have experienced civil unrest in most of the localities, researchers falling ill due to covid (and thankfully, recovering), civil war in Ethiopia that escalated in November 2020, our colleagues losing their positions, our partners’ funding being taken away. This project stretches out our emotional capacity, and our endurance is challenged on a daily basis. Still, we continue to walk together. Research quietly continues, acknowledging the importance of being together and creating some things during this separation being imposed on us. Throughout the year we have practiced our right to opacity, and only gave visibility to the research happening through our online journal which follows works and research in progress. This journal has served as a tool in responding to crises within the contexts we are caring with. Since April 2020 due to pandemic we have employed strategy dig where you stand and we have working with fifteen researchers across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, Serbia, Slovenia, and China. The research inquiry has been developed trying to listen local urgencies and learn from them. They are writers, anthropologists, artists, architects, and activists, and we will continue to work into this year as well. Acknowledging and reflecting on our previous way of working, we have employed a dig where you stand strategy, where a number of case studies had been formulated and from here, local research has been conducted. This symposium will share thinking with and walking with or partners cells, as well as researchers through six days symposium that will be available through live stream. A tool kit created together with researchers and cells that would allow for deep listening with all five senses, challenging visual aspects and presence through Zoom. Researchers and cells were invited to provide tools for listening, seeing, smelling, touching, and tasting that could overcome our physical distance. Please experience tool kit through this link . Tool Kit should allow us to grasp physicality of places we will be sharing research from. — What Could/Should Curating Do and Moderna galerija also extend their thanks to the efforts of their technical and support team, who have helped make this symposium possible. Associate Editor: Beatrice Rubio-Gabriel Designer: Toby Tam Technical Support: Aleksandar Kogoj Jr. and Rok Hvala Coordinator (Moderna galerija): Adela Železnik And the team from the Moderna galerija: Tomaž Kučer, Ana Mizerit, Tamara Soban, Monash Museum of Art, Bianca Winaputri, Warisa Somsuphangsri Following our recent As You Go… Symposium, we present a series of documentation by Beatrice Rubio-Gabriel, tracking 6 days of research presentations and discussions. Beatrice developed set of experimental transcriptions of marks composed of voice notes, key words and statements, and visual cues. Link to Transcription here Programme DAY 1: 11am– 13:30pm CET Introduction — an introduction to the project and its mode of working during the pandemic as a proposition towards interdependence by Biljana Ciric and Zdenka Badovinac. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQdcqo7-61k Screening of the film Awra Amba’s E(u)topia by Salem Mekuria — 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. Presentations by Robel Temesgen The Addis Newspaper Marija Glavas THE CULTURAL INTERWEAVING OF CHINA AND THE BALKANS — Abstract – This research focuses on the cultural exchanges between China and countries from the Balkan region under the Belt and Road Initiative. It begins with a systematic examination of these exchanges, and continues with exploring their potential in this specific spatial and temporal context. This potential is juxtaposed against classical national narratives, with Slovenia used as a case study examining the dangers national narratives can bring. This concludes with a proposed textual analysis to further explore whether these international exchanges live up to their potential of shifting away from national narratives to create new futures. Q&A from audience DAY 2: 11am– 13:00pm CET Disjointed Images from Afar and Fragmented Stories in Proximity Intro — Convened by Nikita Yingqian Cai, this day of the symposium resists the single narrative of transformation that the regions As You Go… are engaging with are undergoing. Joined by artists and filmmakers, Salem Mekuria, Hu Yun, and Alex Ulko, this seminar proposes to capture and unfold the personal and collective memories we share in our current moment, to better realise the path we may create for the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocZGg_X6BxE Moderator: Nikita Yingqian Cai Presentations: Alex Ulko: Seeing the Invisible: Documenting and Interpreting China’s Cultural Presence in Uzbekistan — Abstract – This presentation begins with a close look at the Soviet, Russian, and Central Asian past and present, with an exploration of the overlapping post-Soviet and post-colonial identities, as well as the role of Uzbekistan, in the global system. From previously submitted personal recollections to the As You Go…Journal, I will then use my own sketches, drawings, stories, photos of household items, etc. to speak to the perception of China by my peers and myself throughout the 1970-80s to demonstrate how this incomplete and distorted anecdotal information created the basis for the imagination of Chinese civilisation within the USSR and Uzbekistan. Accompanying this is a short video discussing the Confucius Institute in Samarkand, located at the city’s historical centre on the grounds of Samarkand University. This video will explore the institute’s physical and historical environment, as well as the programmes the Institute is carrying out, and the soft power they project. I will conclude with the acknowledgement that the situation is changing, before making some predictions about the possible developments in cultural relations between China and Uzbekistan. Hu Yun: Untitled — Abstract 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. Salem Mekuria: Spacial and Other Memories: Maskal Square’s contribution — Before this panel please view Square Stories Trilogy: https://vimeo.com/413415836 Abstract – 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. Discussion: Q&A: DAY 3: 11am– 13:00 CET Alternatives to new forms of geo-political and economical administrations of localities and people: archiving, reacting, creating. Intro — Convened by Larys Frogier of Rockbund Art Museum, with Jelica Jovanovic and research group, Artcom, along with Sinkneh Eshetu, Berhanu, and Aziza Abdul Fetah this panel will focus on three study cases: Zijin Bor Mining complex and the infrastructure throughout the Balkan region; Lake Balkhash and its geo-political positions and water management; and the Addis Ababa Riverbank project. Interrogating the highly criticised Chinese (economic) presence in these localities, this seminar reveals the complexities of each local context and gives insight to new positions the geographies of the margins can take in this new cold war era unfolding before us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4tYBgEnePA Moderator: Larys Frogier Presentations: Jelica Jovanovic: Infrastructuring the Region. Materiality and Intangibility of the New Silk Road in Serbia — Abstract – Since the Belt and Road Initiative first formalized in 2012 through the establishment of the “16+1 Initiative” for cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC), Serbia has slowly but steadily been emerging as the lead partner of China within these initiatives. Various projects, executed either as concessions or infrastructural development via bilateral agreements (propped up by the generous loans from Chinese government), as well as direct investments into production facilities in Serbia, and most notably the current healthcare and vaccine diplomacy, are all physical manifestations of the BRI in the Republic of Serbia. The research is interested in these varied projects undertaken by Chinese companies within Serbia, with its main focus on the large-scale industries and pieces of infrastructure which have been previously (actively) neglected over the last 30 years, though are now miraculously revamped through lucrative international agreements and bilateral cooperation. The cases of Bor Mining and Smelting Basin, as well as the developments done by the China Road and Bridge Corporation on the railway reconstruction of the Serbian portion of the Pan-European corridor E75, are rebuilding and restoring these formerly robust yet decrepit structures, thus materializing a new relation between the two countries. The research also examines the historical components of these structures and relationships, and based on familiar scenarios from the other (neighboring) countries and Serbia’s own past, speculates on their possible futures. Sinkneh Eshetu, Berhanu, Aziza Abdul Fetah: The Danger of Ambition and Neglect: The Case of Beautifying Sheger Project — Abstract – ‘Beautifying Sheger’ (Addis Ababa) is a three-year long project to rehabilitate two tributaries of major rivers in Addis Ababa, Kurtime and Bentyiketu, which though aims to enhance the green coverage and beauty of the city, urban tourism, green economy and flood control, and is applauded by many, has already brought criticism for prioritising the development over people by the residents affected. This research project aims to study the impact of the landscape design under implementation on the livelihood of the people dependent on the rivers, focusing on urban agriculture and its contribution to the urban food system […] it will strive to suggest better design alternatives that may enhance the natural ecosystem and human-nature integration in the continuing phases of the Beautifying Sheger project. Aigerim Kapar: The many secret scapes of Balkhash Lake: a travelogue of the crossboundary contexts, communities and ecosystem — Abstract – This contribution discusses the research process and preliminary results of Artcom’s study on how the local values of Balkhash Lake impact local livelihoods; and how the local imagination is/can be connected to Balkhash Lake in relation to existing (trans)disciplinary studies, national and crossboundary dynamic, and environmental and cultural policies. 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 future long term research inquiry. Discussion: Q&A: DAY 4: 11am– 13:00pm CET Situated Research, Situated Practices Intro — Convened by Aigerim Kapar of the collective Artcom, this seminar utilises Donna Haraway’s 1988 essay: Situated knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective as its point of departure. Joined by Robert Bobnic and Kaya Kraner, Yabebal Fantaye from Astrobus-Ethiopia and artist, Jasphy Zheng, this panel will further explore the situatedness within their local contexts (and newfound global ones), and the practices embedded within these to explore what it means to be connected to a place and ultimately, to one another. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEbeNSlOPus Moderator: Aigerim Kapar Presentations: Robert Bobnic and Kaja Kraner: Bor is burning: From mining to data mining in socialist Yugoslavia — Abstract – Located in the southeastern part of Serbia, Bor was one of the iconic places of Yugoslav industry, and consequently one of the mythological places of proletarian and industrially induced socialist culture. After the anticipated future bloodily collapsed during the 90s and the land was deterritorialized, the Bor mine was sold to the Chinese state-owned Zinjin corporation in 2017 as part of the Chinese investment in the Balkan region. Indeed, Bor, where copper and gold mining dates back to at least 5000 BC, is a place of particular synthesis between the geological past and technological future, being the perfect example of Yuk Hui’s concept of cosmotechnics. Cosmotechnics can be understood as a means of reaffirming relations between nature, culture, technics, and cosmos, stating that technical and scientific thinking have always emerged under cosmological imagination in the relation between humans and their particular milieus. Our aim is to question the supposedly uniform development and understanding of technology in the modern western context based on the case study of Bor. Focusing on the concept of work as a cosmotechnical activity of the extraction of nature (including human nature) and the construction of society, this research engages with (1) Marxist anthropological understanding of work as a mediation between human and milieu and (2) with the understanding of technics in the Yugoslav self-management system as a particular cybernetical system, wherein computer technology mainly took an instrumental role for the purpose of organizing socialistically understood social relations, paradoxically obstructing a more differentiated socialist – or in a more cosmotechnical way, Yugoslav – understanding of technology. Yabebal Fantaye: Astrobus-Ethiopia: A dynamic response to fast changing challenges and opportunities — Abstract Astrobus-Ethiopia: A dynamic response to fast changing challenges and opportunities – Astrobus-Ethiopia is a mobile science-art-innovation initiative that is carried out by driving a vehicle across different locations in Ethiopia. The program’s ambition is to stimulate critical thinking, whilst also supporting the country’s social and economic development. Combining engaging activities across science, art, and innovation, Astrobus-Ethiopia promotes education and cultural connection, and encourages curiosity of artistic, technological, and scientific practices. Additionally, the project produces educational materials in local languages and shares them on its website in order to allow for accessibility. The next Astrobus-Ethiopia event will take place in the first week of May 2021, with a successful research trip having been carried out to learn how to safely implement the event in the conditions imposed by the pandemic. This presentation will discuss previous events hosted by Astrobus-Ethiopia and will also forecast upcoming events and the possibilities of how they will present themselves as the initiative moves forward in this COVID-19 era. Jasphy Zheng: Stories from the Room – — Abstract – As a response to the state of our global isolation and the collective pause we shared due to the outbreak of the pandemic, I initiated Stories from the Room to collect personal writings from across the world, to build a growing archive and house it in various countries. By exhibiting the archive in both physical and imaginative spaces, connecting online and offline worlds, I am exploring where the notion of “universality” begins and ends, and extending empathy when the sentiments of ”we are in this together” fails. Discussion: Q&A: DAY 5 The importance of Ports Intro — Convened by Sinkneh Eshetu with researchers, Nikita Yingqian Cai of Times Museum and Brett Neilson from Western Sydney University, this seminar explores the complexities of Maritime Roads, as they were then and as they are now, and its narrative as told by different agents through different cultural structures. From the different ports within China’s coastal cities to the ports of Piraeus, Kolkata and Valparaiso, these presentations unpack ports and their geo-political importance as imbued through technology and infrastructure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5untpq1xYTw Moderator: Sinkneh Eshetu Presentations: Nikita Yingqian Cai: Performativity of a Guarded Globalization – How is the Maritime Silk Road represented in China’s Public Museums? — Abstract – Based on a field trip to three public museums in former treaty port cities in China (Ningbobang Museum, Quanzhou Maritime Museum and Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum), this research examines how the historical concept of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, coined by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen and sinologist Roderich Ptak, are represented within museum displays and institutional narratives to perform an up-to-date globalization as supported by the state whilst guarded by national ideologies. One important aspect of the Ancient Maritime Silk Road (9-14 CE) was freedom and autonomy of navigation, which made indigenous trade routes and the exchanges of peoples and cultures between the South China Sea and Indian Oceans possible prior to the region’s integration into the global hierarchy of imperialism, the emergence of sovereignty over territorial water, and the formation of nation-states. While alternative historiographies and cartographies, and relational narratives and subjectivities are usually marginalized within public museums, the revival of the Maritime Silk Road in relation to urban gentrification, free trade, and free port is promoted through the reproductions of historical materials (archives, imageries, situations, and figurations) to connect the long line of maritime history with the emergent middle-class audience. The curious confounding of speculation and historiography registers the conundrum of state performativity and subjects negative spaces for artistic interrogations. Alongside this will be a short video of the paracuratorial field trip of Times Museum in 2020, which documents how artists, folk scholars, and museum practitioners came together as engaged observers to challenge disciplinary boundaries between museology and contemporary art. Brett Neilson: Logistical Worlds, or, Research before the Pandemic — Abstract – Logistical Worlds: Infrastructure, Software, Labor was a project conducted across the ports of Piraeus, Kolkata and Valparaiso in the period 2012-2017. The research explored logistical techniques and technologies in ports and hinterlands where Chinese investment was underway or expected at the time of the project’s initiation. Begun before China announced the Belt and Road initiative, the realities and hypes surrounding this program of infrastructural expansion altered the stakes and direction of the research. This talk engages these changes, reflecting on how circumstances can shift the dynamics of knowledge production. In particular, I consider the complexities of working across sites in three different continents, the question of funding, and the trickiness of orchestrating contributions from academics, activists, and artists. To conclude, I note that the pandemic has shifted conditions in ways that would preclude this research, and ask what knowledge production strategies might enhance an understanding of how COVID-19 has changed China’s international logistical engagements. Ash Moniz: Untitled — Abstract – As the extraterritoriality of logistics carves out geographies of supply chain infrastructure, it also molds the spatial constellations of logistics workers’ solidarity networks. In my research, I have found that workers at many ports each have their own unique port allies who organize in correspondence with their struggles (eg. between Sokhna and Mumbai, or Istanbul and Rio De Janeiro). The nuances of historical reasoning behind these nodes often show cartographies of solidarity that expand beyond geographical or corporate proximity. I would like to contribute to the Maritime Portal residency by experimenting with different cartographical possibilities for representing geographies of solidarity, and how directionalities of social relations interweave with those of cargo. I am building off of an ongoing independent archive that compiles materials from dockers’ strikes internationally, that I have collected over the years. This also includes materials from research on container ships and in ports (Singapore, Sokhna, Port Said, Beirut, Tripoli, Athens, Istanbul, etc.), and shared video-archives from transport workers unions, etc. I am interested in the modes of literacy that dictate inventories of supply, and the forms of representational leverage that shape logistical negotiations. In investigating how tacticality takes form, my work situates the temporal loss of supply-chain interruption within both logistical time and historical time, mapping the lost possibilities of past struggles. Presentation of researcher from digital residency: Discussion: Q&A: DAY 6 How we work together: a round table discussion of partner cells Intro — The symposium will come to a close with a roundtable discussion between partner cells: Moderna Galerija, Times Museum, Rockbund Art Museum, Robel Temesgen, Sinkneh Eshetu, Artcom platform, What Should Should Curating Do, Public Bor Library. Together, they will discuss their modes of working as built on interdependence, the right to opacity, and horizontality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5GI_BdSFJU Participants: Zdenka Badovinac, Nikita Yingqian Cai, Larys Frogier, Sinkneh Eshetu, Robel Temesgen, AIgerim Kapar, Dragan Stojmenovic, Biljana Ciric As you go…roads under your feet, towards the new future initiated and conceived by Biljana Ciric. The inquiry research cells include What Could Should Curating Do (Belgrade), Moderna Galerija (Ljubljana), Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai), Guangdong Times Museum (Guangzhou), ArtCom (Astana), Robel Temesgen and Sinkneh Eshetu (Addis Ababa), and The Public Library (Bor). The first stage of the project has been supported by the Foundation for Arts Initiatives, CURTAIN (Rockbund Art Museum), Austrian Cultural Forum, Curatorial Practice (Monash University Art, Design and Architecture), and the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Previous Next