School of the Displaced / Kyiv Biennial

The School of the Displaced
at the
School of Kyiv – Kyiv Biennial 2015

In a time in which open warfare once again overshadows the European continent and an increasing number of violent conflicts and crises plague the world, the issue of displaced persons and refugees is of ever heightened significance. For the School of the Displaced contemporary artists who themselves are affected both personally and politically by forms of displacement have responded with works of a symbolic kind, but also in practically ways typical of the engaged art of our time. As a platform for learning through practice, the School of the Displaced aims to give rise to new ways of seeing as well as acting for the participating artists, musicians, curators and institutions, just as much as the newly-displaced persons themselves.

Gathering newly displaced persons, art-actors and associated institutions, as well as art professionals who themselves have a history of involuntary displacement, the School’s programme includes workshops, exhibition and performance projects, discursive events as well as longer-term pedagogical and institutional outcomes.

Initiated by Perpetuum Mobile (Helsinki, Berlin) and the Visual Culture Research Centre (VCRC, Kyiv) for the School of Kyiv – Kyiv Biennial 2015, The School of the Displaced uses the occasion of the biennial to begin to establish a sustainable post-biennial structure in the currently highly fragile Ukrainian predicament. It will engage real-world practices to constructively reflect on and develop new strategies not only in Ukraine, but for a global context in which the issues, problems and opportunities of and for displaced persons are a growing and highly public challenge.

Perpetuum Mobile has worked with Nordic Culture Point, SafeMUSE, ICORN, IASPIS and other organizations to secure funding for the School.