FREIRAUM I
2017-2019
A project by Goethe-Institut

"Freiraum" is a project of the Goethe-Instituts in Europe in cooperation with 53 actors from culture, science and civil society. For almost two years, around 40 European cities explore the issue: What is freedom in Europe today? Where is it endangered? How do we strengthen it?

In the beginning of the project, participating institutions were invited to pose more specific questions on the topic of Freedom, approached from a local perspective. In the first assembly in Warsaw, tandems of two partners each were created. Each tandem developed a programme of common activities, in a collaborative effort to explore local issues from an international perspective.   

Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and ArtBOX worked together with AWAZ Cumbria (Carlisle UK) and Goethe-Instituts London and Glasgow, as well as in collaboration with ArtBOX's LABattoir programme and the Artecitya programme of Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and Helexpo.
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[Collaborative Project] [Long term]

FREIRAUM / FREE ZONE

About Freiraum & the topic of Freedom

Europe is poised to change. Populist and nationalist parties are gaining support in many countries. Scepticism towards the EU, such as was expressed in the Brexit referendum, for example, is not confined to Great Britain. Drastic austerity measures afflict Portugal, Spain and Greece. And the process of integration proceeds at varying speeds, so that countries like Romania or Bulgaria find themselves playing a marginalized role. In short, Europe is facing challenges on many levels and is in quest of solutions.

The Goethe-Institut sees itself as an Institution with a European mission. It stands for a vision of European integration, propounds a common European cultural space based on multicultural diversity and autonomy, and is committed to a corresponding set of values embracing inclusiveness, openness, generosity and justice. At the same time, it is conscious of the processes outlined above and the present situation, widely felt to be critical. Against this background, clinging blindly to the erstwhile narrative of European unity can easily be taken for a denial of reality. Europe has got to rise to this challenge, and in the same way, the Goethe-Institut must stress its continuing Euro-political commitment. Naive enthusiasm is not enough; we must be guided by a willingness to undertake productive discussions, fraught with tensions though they may be.

One contribution to this new orientation is the important "FREIRAUM" project planned for 2017, 2018 and beginning of 2019. Its focal point is the concept of freedom which, ever since the Enlightenment, has been vitally relevant to European cultural history and the European sense of identity. But the promise behind the concept has lost its lustre. Its ambivalence today is becoming increasingly plain, and not by any means only because in some countries, such as Hungary and Poland – just those countries where close ties with the Soviet Union belong to the recent past – an anti-liberal political style prevails. In the face of such developments, many of the Goethe-Institut's partners feel insecure, and some are genuinely under threat. For them, the Goethe-Institut wishes to constitute a platform for dialogue and a solid, reliable partner. It is also looking for new target groups, whether marginalized young people from migrant backgrounds, or those who regard this Europe with a sceptical and critical eye, but are still open-minded enough to enter into a dialogue. Lastly, it also seeks to motivate those who are receptive to Europe and the European Union, but take it for granted and do not make their voices heard.
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The basis of the project is the network idea which essentially governs the work of the Goethe-Institut. To enable it to come to fruition in practical terms, the institutes concerned will work in pairs, each one involving the other in the process. Between now and the end of September 2017, each participating institute, in collaboration with several local partners, will formulate a question related to the concept of freedom, a question which will cover the topic areas mentioned above and thus identify the problem situations of special relevance to that particular place. To give shape to this question, each institute needs to undertake an intensive process of research, for example, by setting up a workshop with partners and outside experts; during which the question will be developed and refined – also, and in particular, bearing in mind that the aim is to establish relations with new partners, and with them, new target groups. The participants in the workshop need not necessarily be subsequently involved in the project. 

Thessaloniki-Carlisle Programme 
[in reverse chronological order]

From Berlin to Thessaloniki​
​Exhibition and short movies screenings
18-24 May 2019

Freiraum returns to Thessaloniki. 

With the completion of the first phase of the program last March, 6 of the 40 projects were selected and presented in Berlin. Among them, the collaboration between Thessaloniki and Carlisle (England) returns to Thessaloniki, at the Old Municipal Slaughterhouse - headquarters of ArtBOX's LABattoir project.

The exhibition "Freiraum: from Berlin to Thessaloniki" includes original artworks made specifically for the Freiraum Thessaloniki-Carlisle, a creative documentation of common actions between the two cities, as well as the artwork created for Freiraum Athens by the Temporary Academy of Arts .
Through a process of mutual exchange and participatory design, joint actions were planned and implemented, including: the creation of artistic projects - channels of communication between citizens of the two cities, workshops for young creators, educational activities for children of different origins and a poetry evening which was live broadcasted in both cities, thanks to Media Lab team, powered by Labattoir.​

In the exhibition, four new short films are presented For the first time, which also emerged through Freiraum's collaboration with LABattoir program. During the Media Lab: Exploring New Video Formats (December 2018, February 2019), under the guidance of film specialists, the participating artists created these four films on social isolation, an issue proposed by Carlisle. The films premiered in Berlin in the presence of the creators, with the support of the organisation.
The artists Evi Karathanasopoulou and Thomas Koch were invited from the beginning of the program to open a channel of communication between the two communities in Greece and England and to amplify their voices to the rest of the world. To achieve this, they used different technologies - radio sound, Evi Karathanasopoulou and user immersion (video 360 and three-dimensional sound), Thomas Koch. The artworks were developed through the collaboration of Freiraum with the Artecitya program of the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and the LABattoir program.

Also, the Temporary Academy of Arts - Despina Zoukili, Giota Ioannidou, Elpida Karaba, Glykeria Stathopoulou and Konstantinos Hatzinikolaou - edited and directed the Freedom cinema project within Freiraum Athens. The PAT worked research, talked with artists, researchers, historians, organized workshops, made a traveling trip to Slovakia, members shared material and tested different methodologies for documenting, writing theory, filming, interpretation and performance. The final product of the film, consisting of three parts, is an effort for a film-exhibition on the cinema screen. The film is accompanied by a version of the OLMPOS editions.

Exhibition & Workshops in Berlin

12-17 March 2019
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Freiraum is going to Berlin from 12 to 17 March 2019. In association with the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics and the Mercator Foundation, selected Freiraum tandems will present the results of their exchange.The programme includes an exhibition of videos and installations as wellas film screenings, discussions, performances, and concerts.The Mercator Foundation is hosting a so-called “Open Situation Room”, an experimental event in which German and international experts, Freiraum partners, local activists and politicians will discuss various aspects of freedom.

Workshops: Exploring New Media Formats

2018-2019
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Mentors: Adrian Kelterborn and Martin Schaffner.
Participants: Menippos Αrapis, Panos Boudouroglou, ChrysoulaChatzicharalampous, Zoi Dalaina, Dorothea Kalogianni, Marilia Mavrikiou, Nectaria Panagiotou, Vasilis Polymeris, Marina Rebekka, Annie Tsevdomaria, Angelos Tsompanidis, Christos Vasileiadis, Marianna Xynia.

POST_BORDERS / Speakeasy
​Performances & live-broadcast

Thessaloniki-Carlisle
9 December 2018

A multiple and modular poetry performance, two cities, 20 artists uniting their voices in an open event live broadcasted in both cities, Thessaloniki, Greece and Carlisle, England, which for a few hours were mirrored, through speech, language and image, voice and hearing.​
Thessaloniki
Carlisle

Youth Zone - Workshops for Children

Thessaloniki-Carlisle 
November 2018
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Children’s workshops in the two cities lifting the boundaries between children of the local and refugee communities; they build their own imaginary cities and join hands.

FREIRAUM at THE NEW NEW - Art Science Technology Festival

Thessaloniki, HELEXPO
8-16 September 2018
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Freiraum is a programme by Goethe-Institut that focuses on the concept of Freedom in Europe, activating a network of 42 Goethe-Instituts and their partner institutions, cultural and civic.

​In this context, Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki, London and Glasgow, in collaboration with AWAZ Cumbria (Carlisle, UK), ArtBOX (Thessaloniki) and the project LABattoir of the Municipality of Thessaloniki focus on two issues that shape our personal perception and expression: our social and cultural identity and the way we interact with each other and the world via technology. ​

Artists Evi Karathansopoulou and Thomas Koch use different sound and image technologies in order to touch upon this issues, bringing in contact people from Thessaloniki, Carlisle and other parts of Europe, forging a network of communication and transmitting their voices to the world. In Spring 2019, the two artists works will be presented in Berlin, along with other works and projects selected among the Freiraum network.

Working Meeting in Carlisle, UK

April 2018

Engaging with Minority Communities & Socially Marginalised Groups to create Freiraum (Spheres of Freedom) in Thessaloniki

17 April 2018, 14:00-18:15
Hosted by LABattoir at the Old Slaughterhouse of Thessaloniki
Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki, London and Glasgow, in collaboration with ArtBOX (Thessaloniki, GR) and AWAZ Cumbria (Carlisle, UK) built a project that targets two aspects connected to our personal conception and expression, professional life and social / cultural identity, through the perspective of minorities and socially marginalised groups. In order to highlight these issues, artists Evi Karathanasopoulou (UK) and Thomas Koch (DE), as residents of the Artecitya by Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki programme, forge a dialogue between different social groups and minorities from the two cities and transmit their voices to the world.     
 
The panel discussion “Engaging with Minority Communities & Socially Marginalised Groups to create Freiraum in Thessaloniki” aims at: a) sharing good practices from our partner institution in Carlisle, AWAZ Cumbria; and b) introducing the mapping of the situation in Thessaloniki, in order for the project to respond to that and to the needs of the groups whose voices we intend to spotlight. This is a first step in the process, that will be followed-up by the two artists during their stay in Thessaloniki in the following months and will lead up to the final presentation of the project in Thessaloniki and Carlisle by the end of 2018 and in Berlin in Spring 2019.
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Pre-Workshop in Thessaloniki: Setting the local framework
October 2017

During the first phase of this project each participating location developed a question and a video related to the concept of Freedom seen from a local perspective.

In Thessaloniki, the question and video were conceived during a 2-days workshop at Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki, with the participation of invited expert Thomas Koch (Berlin) and the Media Lab team - a group of young creatives, with the contribution of Dr. Rudolf Bartsch (Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki Director), Aris Kalogiros (Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki Head of Culture), and the ArtBOX team - Christos Savvidis, Dr. Sotirios Bahtsetzis, and Lydia Chatziiakovou. 
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Freiraum Launch: Meeting in Warsaw
​3-6 December 2017

Speed dating, suspense and the luck of the draw: at the inaugural meeting of the Freiraum (“Free Space”) project in Warsaw in early December 2017, 38 participants were randomly paired off to form 19 tandems. They now have a year and a half to trade points of view and grapple with their partner city’s problems.

Aftab Khan may well have to range the farthest afield. He is the head of the Awaz Cumbria organization in Carlisle, a small city in northern England that gained fame for having the highest percentage of local Leavers in the Brexit vote. Many residents of Carlisle feel forsaken and left in the lurch by UK policymakers. “How can we understand and overcome isolation” is the question Aftab Khan is asking Christos Savvidis, the director of the Artbox arts centre in Thessaloniki, to grapple with next year. “We’re both going to put together an exhibition about the situation of our cities,” Khan and Savvidis announced after their first tête-à-tête.

​by Uwe Rada
German author and journalist
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Images below: ©  Goethe-Institut / Foto Adam Burakowski.

Phase One: 2017 - 2019 
The 'Freiraum' project focuses on the concept of freedom which ever since the Enlightenment has been vitally relevant to European cultural history and the European sense of identity.

Phase Two: 2019 - 2020
More details here
 FREIRAUM @ CARLISLE
 FREIRAUM @ THE NEW NEW FESTIVAL
From Berlin to Thessaloniki​ on TV100
Freiraum in Carlisle is the result of a close collaboration between AWAZ Cumbria, Carlisle Youth Zone, the Frieraum in Carlisle curator Jane Dudman, and ArtBox Creative Arts Management,Thessaloniki, Goethe-Institut (London/ Glasgow / Thessaloniki).