NEWSABOUTFESTIVAL EXHIBITIONS X EVENTS MARINA VICULIN AWARDPROJECTS


2018
REFEST — Images and Routes on Refugee Routes


REFEST gathered 4 organizations from different countries managing small-medium-sized festivals in 3 main fields of artistic expression: photography (Balkan Photo Festival – BiH, and International Photography Festival Organ Vida – HR), illustration (Festivalito de Villaverde – ES), and essay-writing (Passagi Festival – IT). The objectives of the project are to expand and diversify the audience in 4 festivals by widening the spectrum of their cultural proposals and to address public perception on refugees in public opinion through artistic representation of the material collected and elaborated during the itinerant program which will gather 32 artists.
The REFEST project was realised with the support of the Creative Europe Program, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Zagreb (City Office for Programs and EU Projects) and the Office for Associations of the Republic of Croatia.

Exhibition REFEST Images&Words on Refugee Routes
The exhibition, created as the result of the project was part of the 10th International Photography Festival Organ Vida. Due to austerity measures and the cumulative effect of the recent years of recession hitting festival-goers, festivals struggle against market saturation and competition of other festivals, resulting in a decline in visitors and revenue. This has caused a negative effect on the quantity and quality of the sponsors which, in turn, has contributed to further decrease the available budget. These organisations have therefore decided to put their heads together in order to find a shared solution to rupture this vicious circle, keep their cultural offer competitive while further enhancing the quality of their artistic proposal and the socio-cultural role they have hardly established during the past years. A special goal within the project was to try to give an answer to the public opinion about refugees through an artistic presentation of research materials and new works created in the process during the residency programmes. The artists worked together to create new modes of artistic and cultural expression while investigating a thought-provoking issue affecting the political debate, such as that of refugees. On the base of these considerations and of the useful suggestions from the artists, exhibition blends the 3 disciplines.
The project selected artists through a Call for Artists at a national level, the selected professionals then formed 4 multidisciplinary transnational working groups in each country. Each group investigated a topic of their choice linked to the main theme (refugees) and to the location of the four residences (Spain, Italy, BiH and Croatia). Their final works circulate in the 4 festivals. The exhibition was presented in Madrid, Fano, Zagreb and Sarajevo.

Artists – participants in the project:
Passaggi Cultura (ITA): Anil Alessandro Biswas, Maria Grazia Calandrone, Emmanuel Di Tommaso, Loris Ferri, Franca Mancinelli, Flavia Novelli, Alessandra Racca, Guergana Radeva Sacheva
Balkan Photo Festival (BiH): Imrana Kapetanović, Vanda Kljajo, Amer Kapetanović, Armin Graca, Midhat Poturović, Armin Durgut, Mitar Simikić, Alma Mujanović
Organ Vida Photo Festival (HR): Katarina Zlatec, Dea Botica, Maša Bajc, Vedran Janković, Borko Vukosav, Davor Konjikušić, Matija Kralj
Festivalito de Villaverde (ESP): Maria Peña Coto, Natalia Albeniz Fernandez, Montserrat Piñeiro Torres, Maria Belen Soto Cachinero, Ishara Solis Rodriguez, Isabel Maria Mercado Gomez, Sara Santana Lopez, Carlos Garcia O’Dowd