How can an absence be transformed into something productive?

Following two previous conversations on the topics of antagonism and autonomy, we looked at the topic of absence. The field of independent and socially engaged art in Moldova is shaped by absences: a lack of cultural strategies, of local funding, of spaces and other types of infrastructures. Additionally, the massive emigration of the last decades has also affected the cultural sector, with many artists living and working abroad. For this discussion, local cultural workers were invited to “bring their own absence”: to think of which particular absence shapes their artistic or socially engaged practice. Together, discussed what forms of practices these absences have created; considered if there are any types of absence that can be transformed into something productive, and how?

The discussion built upon ideas and concerns put forward by participants during its last iterations (which you can find written down here) and additionally centered the question of absence and the way it shapes the field of independent culture and socially engaged practices in Moldova.