The research project Contemporary Art, Popular Culture, and Peacebuilding in Eastern Europe (2022–2026) is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based at Zurich University of the Arts, Institute for Contemporary Art Research. The project’s website is called “Small Peace” because we are not investigating top-down peacebuilding by professional institutions, but mostly small initiatives by independent individuals or organizations trying to contribute to positive peace. At the center of our research interest are the potentials and limitations of contemporary art and popular culture for peacebuilding in three (Central) Eastern European countries: Poland, Moldova, and Armenia. Recognising a gap in peace studies, which often overlook Eastern Europe, the project studies the nexus of contemporary art, popular culture, and peacebuilding by exploring three types of conflict.
In Poland, researcher and project leader Jörg Scheller focuses on social polarisation and “culture wars” from the perspective of contemporary history, art theory, and media theory, informed by political science. In Moldova, researcher and PhD candidate Rada Leu investigates the socio-political impact of art and culture in a region affected by the frozen conflict resulting from the 1992 Transnistria War and the ongoing war in Ukraine since 2022. In Armenia, Rana Yazaji conducts action research on the Nagorno-Karabakh war to explore the potential of art and culture in addressing impending violent conflict and resulting displacement.
All three sub-projects highlight bottom-up approaches by artists and cultural practitioners who pursue what the project terms “implicit peacebuilding”: efforts by independent individuals or groups that do not explicitly identify as “peacebuilders” but help to create conditions that make (positive) peace more likely. These efforts include making downplayed causes of conflict visible, building non-partisan networks in civil society, or experimenting with equitable forms of cooperation and exchange (to name just a few examples). Semi-structured interviews accompany the research in all sub-projects.
The project involves intensive collaboration between the researchers, the Zurich-based artasfoundation for art in conflict regions, and long-standing Eastern European partners on the ground such as the Oberliht Association in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. The main outputs of the project will include scientific and theoretical studies, a doctoral thesis, a practice-oriented handbook for peacebuilding practitioners, various conferences and workshops, and a final exhibition in Zurich.
Title image: Jarek Sedlak, Power to Flowers, Chisinau, 2011, organized by the Oberliht Association
