Sarajevo, June 25th-30th 2018
Application deadline: May 28th 2018
Kuma International, with the patronage of the Italian Embassy in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in partnership with the Bosniak Institute – Adil Zulfikarpašić Foundation, the WARM Foundation and Brodac Gallery, presents a one-week intensive course on contemporary art from Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing on visual art, design, photography, film and theatre from a post-conflict society. Participation is open to graduates and postgraduates from the relevant disciplines, as well as art historians, curators, artists and museum professionals, and all people interested in training and developing new skills while experiencing a new and exciting learning environment in Sarajevo, the vibrant capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kuma International Summer School
The first Kuma International Summer School focuses on the post-war artistic production from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Students will look at how artists from the region have been affected by the political turmoil of the 1990s and how they have processed the fall of Yugoslavia, the 1992-1995 war and its consequences through their art practices. Students will also have the unique chance to meet with local artists, explore the city’s museums and art galleries and visit artists’ studios. Addressing contemporary visual art produced in the context of conflict and trauma, Kuma’s first summer school and its local and international staff will provide a glimpse into the impact of war on local artists’ aesthetics and narrative. At the same time, the school will look at the phenomenon of a new generation of visual artists and cultural workers belonging to the Bosnian diaspora who have started to come back to their country of origin out of a need to reconnect with their homeland and elaborate their traumatic war experience through art.
Why study contemporary art production from Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Kuma International believes that studying the war and post-war Bosnian cultural production can offer valuable insights into the nature of conflicts. It also raises important questions such as: what can art contribute to our understanding of war and conflict? Can the production as well as the viewing of art inspire non-verbal reconciliation of past atrocities? Which role can artists have in the memorialization of the past? Will their work prevent further genocide and mass violence in the region and promote reconciliation?
Kuma International
Kuma International is an international research centre founded by Claudia Zini in Sarajevo in 2018. It is dedicated to visual arts and aesthetics in the aftermath of war and violence, war memories, trauma and identity from post-conflict societies, focusing mainly on Bosnia-Herzegovina and former Yugoslavia. The original approach of Kuma is the intersection between academic research and a concrete platform for exhibition projects and community engagement which creates a unique synergy between researchers, academics, curators and visual artists on one side and the local community on the other. Kuma is based on the idea of creating a safe environment for production and discussion, in which artists, researchers and members of the local community can connect and reflect on the role of art produced in the context of conflict and trauma. Kuma also has a particular interest in the Bosnian diaspora. It gives the opportunity to all Bosnian artists scattered around the world to gather in Sarajevo and to be supported in their artistic projects.
Partnerships
The WARM Foundation from Sarajevo is working on the world’s contemporary conflicts and is dedicated to war reporting, war art and war memory. Every year they organize a WARM festival which presents the best in journalism, documentary film, art exhibitions and research from conflicts around the world. The next WARM festival will run between June 27th and July 1st 2018 in Sarajevo. The full program will be soon available on the WARM website. Kuma’s students will have free access to all the festival’s activities (movie screens, exhibitions, talks, and much more). For more information, please see www.warmfoundation.org
Brodac Gallery is a gallery space established by young visual art student Mak Hubjer in 2016 with the aim of providing visibility to young visual artists and promoting contemporary art in the country and internationally to bring about a positive change in society and fight against social-economic and political oppression, and youth indifference.
For more information, please write to brodacgallery@gmail.com
Terms
The fee for taking part in the first Kuma International Summer School is €280 per person which includes all museum entrances, a guided tour of the city and a welcome dinner.
Scholarships for local students are available.
The working language is English.
How to apply
Please send your application to info@kumainternational.org before May 28th, 2018.
The application should consist of a current CV and a motivational letter.
Kuma International Founder and Director
Claudia Zini is an Italian art historian and curator, focusing her professional interests primarily on artistic positions that engage with war memories and identity in post-conflict societies such as former Yugoslavia. She is currently a PhD candidate student at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London with a thesis titled “Post-War Negotiations: Art from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Global Fields”. She holds a Bachelor degree in History and Conservation of Art from the University of Padova, Italy (2008), a Diploma in History and Philosophy of Art from the Kent University, England (2008) and a Master Degree in Art History from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy (2011). In 2015, she obtained a Diploma in Islamic Studies from the University of Sarajevo. She gained her first experience as a curator of the exhibition The Imaginary Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009 in Verona, Italy. Between 2012 and 2013 she worked in the A plus A Gallery in Venice, curating the exhibitions of Bosnian artists Ibro Hasanović and Mladen Miljanović, among other projects. She lives in Sarajevo where she collaborates with Duplex100m2 gallery and Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art. Her latest curatorial projects include the exhibition Mevludin Ekmečić. Drawing the War: Bosnia 1992-1995 presented in Sarajevo in 2017 at the Duplex100m2 gallery and at the Bosniak Institute – Adil Zulfikarpašić Foundation and co-produced by the Bosniak Institute – Adil Zulfikarpašić Foundation and the WARM Foundation. In 2018 she founded Kuma International – Center for Visual Arts from Post-Conflict Societies.
