Ghosts

Cities, nations and identities

At the core of the project stand three main collaboration partners, three neighborhood partners and three title themes:

Ghost city – 5th Floor Cultural Group – Armenia with Turkey
Ghost nation – geh8 Kunstraum und Ateliers – Germany with Poland
Ghost identity – färgfabriken – Sweden with Norway

The idea is to use these themes as starting point for the collaborative working process, projecting each aspect on a specific impact of the geopolitical transformation in these tree countries in their regional context of neighbouring countries and cultures. In this way we expect to simultaneously detect related phenomena in all three countries as well as general phenomena applicable on other situations in other places.

Ghost city – urban space of an outdistanced order
The initial starting point for the theme “ghost city” is the two satellite cities on the outskirts of Gyumri in Armenia “Mush” and “Sheram”. The planning constructions of theses satellites were initiated after an earthquake in 1988 and still during the time of the Soviet control of the Armenian territory. As a result of the Armenian independence in 1991 the construction works were cancelled and the satellite cities Mush and Sheram were left behind in an uncompleted state. In this way the appearance of these areas establishes a direct reference to the geopolitical transformations following on 1989. Within the regional, context the theme “Ghost city” will be paralleled with the city of Ani in Turkey which also turned into a Ghost city within geopolitical transformation.

Ghost nation – non continuous territories
Starting point for the theme “Ghost nation” will be reminiscences of spaces, artefacts and buildings produced in the former GDR territory between 1949 and 1989. As an extreme contrast to the long continuity of the Armenian culture, existing over hundreds of years without an independent national territory stands the temporary existence of GDR for 40 years. A territory without historical relevance and cultural background, an almost accidental geopolitical agreement, resulting in an interim state dissolving as a result of the geopolitical transformations following on 1989. Within the regional context the theme will be mirrored by the neighbour nation “Poland”. Here the reception of common culture and territory was over and over again forced into complex processes of geopolitical strategies and transformations.

Ghost identity – reinventing relevant identities
Starting point for the theme “Ghost identity” will be a visual investigation on the transformation of self-perception in Sweden related to the dissolution of the cold war order.
Sweden developed in multiple aspects an image and self image as an ideal neutral political and social model system, beyond capitalism and communism. Geographically situated as a spatial buffer, together with Norway and Finland, between “east” and “west”. The geopolitical transformation following after 1989 didn’t affect Sweden in a direct way, but produced basically a new geopolitical surrounding. Thereby defining a new order and establishing new parameters for the Swedes and the Swedish nation to relate to. In the regional context this will be paralleled by similarities and differences in relation to ideas of identity developing in the neighbouring country of Norway: In some aspects this common identity seems to be directly based on the in-dependency after 1907 as the Swedish governance came to an end.

The idea is to realize cross border collaboration on these themes, heading for the production of artworks which are based on an orientation of content, emanating as a result of the collaboration itself. During preparations of the project, methods and ideas will be developed in order to find a balance between unbound artistic creative processes and simultaneously acting with a defined orientation for artistic production.

Written by: Nilsson Samuelsson