Competition Artist

Denis Choni Adwar
The bridge in my community

A bridge carries someone from one point to another. The function of a bridge in my composition is expressed by how the lowly in the community labour to ease the work for those with higher social status in the community.

Luigi Antonini
The Shutter

It is a short story of a girl who believes that social media are the only way to be part of a community, and acts in reality as if she were one of those.

The lonely and bored moon sneaked into the bedroom of a girl in her prime, scattering in pieces inside. It rested without a precise pattern on the surface of the rug, settling among the various shapes that made it up. It said nothing, to avoid interrupting the young woman’s blissful sleep.
The moon is incapable of screaming, it is against its nature. Guardian of the stillness of the night, it can only whisper gentle words to accompany the sleep of those who watch. Even in the full moon, when it manifests itself in all its brilliance and enters the scene in an overwhelming way, its discreet nature leads it not to disturb the dreamers.
So it summoned some dogs who were wandering aimlessly through the ghostly and forgotten streets of the city. It asked them to gather and bark in chorus under the window of the person concerned, to make her wake up. It didn’t take long, a few seconds, and she opened her eyes.
The girl, still sleepy, was amazed at the carpet, which had taken on sparkling colours she had never seen before. She thought of photographing it, so that it would be easier to preserve the memory. But before she could pick up her smartphone, the moon said: “Sorry, what are you up to? I know what you humans do, and you don’t even ask permission. There’s no need to immortalise me, I don’t just vanish. Well, it happens rarely, but I really don’t want to”.
The young woman scanned the room around her, not understanding the origin of that sweet voice. She thought it was a child of the dream world she had recently abandoned.
Then, holding her mobile phone in her hand, she quickly started to scroll through the many contents that passed before her eyes. The choice was bewildering: pictures of succulent food, covers of newly bought books, funny videos, happy faces and indignation. She got lost.
Some time passed and she heard the voice again: “If you look out the window, you’ll understand”.
The girl gasped, but without hesitation pulled up the shutter, taking care to keep the noise to a minimum, and saw it.
The moon appeared in all its radiance, its brilliant glare impacting on everything. The roofs of the houses, the castle walls, the trees longed to guard its purity. Even the lampposts yearned to be freed from their hot lights to shine with it.
“My dear, why do you indulge in the frantic and deceptive way? How much do you think you learn and how much do you let slide? Can you not grasp the nuances out here?”. The moon asked.
“What are you referring to? Out here, as you say, we are all perfect strangers. Distrustful of each other. And then in the crowd everyone has their own business to think about. There is no time to get to know each other. Instead, through the Internet and the Web, it is possible to interact without obstacles, to experience oneself as an active part of a group”. She replied.
“I can’t deny how wide the perspectives are, and how many many nets you can entangle yourself in. But, for example, what can you tell me about the lady who lives opposite you?”.
“I know her children. They’re not much older than me, we used to play together when they were little. They haven’t been around for a long time”.
“Have you ever wondered why?”. Moon asked.
“No. I just browse from time to time what the two boys post. They seem happy”. She expected an immediate answer from her interlocutor, but it did not come. Dawn broke.
The next day passed quickly amidst the many daily tasks, and the evening arrived as if by magic for the girl, who, tired, decided not to have dinner. Mindful of the night’s chat, she peered through the window at the flat opposite. She saw a narrow, dimly lit dining room, pictures scattered here and there on the white walls, a small table in the middle, properly laid and filled with appetising delicacies. She thought it would be difficult to eat in such a cramped space. Then the lady appeared and slowly sat down at the table. She watched her for a while. Her head was bent over her plate, and without ever taking the cutlery in her hand, she looked up from time to time to cast a sad glance at the three empty chairs.
The young girl’s appetite was aroused by the food she saw in the distance and she joined her parents for dinner. When she had finished eating, she hurried back to her room and was surprised to find again the lady motionless in her chair, with no one
beside. She looked like wax, a statue. The scene suggested no further possible implications, a static and melancholic photograph.
In time, the girl got into the habit of keeping her neighbour company, so to speak, by hiding behind the thin curtains of the room. Each evening she witnessed the same scene. The lady alone, with a cadenced rhythm, set the table, cooked and let the dishes cool. Every now and then she nibbled at something, but her appetite seemed to be lacking. Her wait was never-ending, for the arrival of hitherto unseen customers.
Weeks after the first and one-sided interaction between the two, the girl, looking at her smartphone screen, saw a photo that caught her eye. One of the lady’s sons had posted a picture showing his family of birth together and happy. It seemed strange to her. She looked into it, quickly checking the old playmate’s account, and realised that this was not an unusual sharing. Such images appeared frequently. It seemed so different from what she was used to seeing from across the street. Then, the woman’s comment under the very recent photograph. This seemed even more bizarre. She directed her view outwards and discovered her neighbour with the mobile device in her hand and her eyes fixed on it.
Afterwards, the girl went back to keeping the shutter down, became more and more disinterested in this pastime and her thoughts towards the lady became fleeting. She later learned that the woman had been abandoned by her family in unclear circumstances. She heard all sorts of rumours about this, without any consistency of detail, which she never took seriously. The story was uninteresting, lacking in immediate attraction, perhaps too far removed from her world.
Autumn arrived and, lost in the streets of the city, the young woman felt drawn by the pattering of rain against a shed. She saw the lady sheltering under it. She smiled and tried to cross her gaze, but the lady, who was getting on an overcrowded bus, did not notice her. Protected under the cover of the umbrella, she watched the woman take her place and sit down, moving away motionless down the slippery streets.

Aleksandra Bek
Open windows

A humorous painting illustrating the challenges of interacting with only a virtual community. One side of the window is open to the world, the other keeps you out. Sometimes a digital heart can warm us up, other times it’s only a reminder of distance.

Staying home:
„There’s nothing wrong
in a little loneliness”
the thoughts are wide
open
the windows are floating
above.

One message arrived
With a heart
Somehow warms me up
Somehow leaves me empty

I’ll open that message
And another one
And I’ll try to remember
About people
Behind
all these windows
and hearts
and time.

Erica Buratti
Community

My work consists of a video, with impactful images, and testimonials from various people all over the world.

In carrying out this project, I realized that I myself had created a small community of connections, friends and people I keep in touch with. Thanks to all these people I know through my experiences, I was able to bring this video to life.
All this went beyond my expectations, because I did not believe it was possible to create a connection between people so far away and so different from each other.

Once we created this community of contacts, we shared together ideas, thoughts, words, feelings, sensations, discomforts, and this allowed the creation of a common code.

The meaning of community I wish to convey is the one which has no boundaries, does not belong to a certain country or specific group of people, but instead deals with a common shared feeling. A feeling of belonging that connects us all.
I thank all the people who have collaborated and helped to build and create this project.

Benedetta Cappelletti
The community like a beehive

Stylized beehive that forms a social structure. The bee colony is divided by a social hierarchy, each has a specific role that contributes to the good functioning of the beehive. As in the community of individuals where each subject is different but essential for well-being and the improvement of the quality of life.

Andrea Ciferri
The king’s choice

A fantastic story that narrates the adventure of a banished king, that after being exiled from his own kingdom, finds himself in a shiny and desolate city, where a daemon tempts him with promises of absolute power.

Exiled from his own kingdom, the prince found himself fleeing from familiar places, which began, as he proceeded on the road, to appear irretrievably different to him, and each time he approached to check what was actually dissimilar, he did not perceive anything that wasn’t the same as what it was.

Approaching the beginning of the precipice, boundary of its ancient domains, the sensation of the different found, however, an effective feedback. A burst of light came from the bottom of the crevasse. The light was so strong that almost nothing could be distinguished. There was something regular that came up again and again down there, but he could not quite grasp it. Now that his curiosity was reciprocated by an actual novelty, he could not refrain from investigating.

On the back of his steed, he threw himself into the thin strip of path that separated him from the ruinous end, reserved for foreign soldiers who had dared to attack him at the time of his power.

Once he arrived, he found himself in a huge and beautiful city full of crystals and of classic style. Beautiful city indeed, but also bizarre: there was too much silence. A profound silence, a silence that, with its deafening noise, perhaps covered all the small and delicate sounds, and sweet awkward noises. There was no one around, a desert of buildings, and by looking at them, practically all identical; buildings made of tombstones, a city turned cemetery.

Exploring the city, everything is in order, but there is no trace of human presence.

Trying to get back on his way after that unexpected excursion, he realizes that in the rocky wall opens a cave and decides not to ignore even that.

Once he entered, the prince is accosted by the axle smells of sulphur and sticky walls. Turning to exit the mouth of the cave suddenly disappears and everything gets dark.

“Welcome my King” says a hoarse voice coming from an unknown being just ahead of him.

“Who are you? Show yourself to me”

“Allow me to introduce myself, your highness” As the bizarre presence was speaking, suddenly flames light up all around and an odd and dim purple light reveals the deformed features of a wolf-like beast daemon.

“I am the spirit of all desires”

“Then, I suppose there is no need for me to introduce myself”

“Indeed, there is no exigency, I know thou very well”

“What is that you seek from me, daemon? Aren’t you aware of my exile? There is nothing I can give you.”

“I am well apprised of that, thy majesty, and this is the exact reason why I would like thou to have a small conversation with me”

“If you insist, then hurry up daemon, this darkness and this awful smell are not to my likings”

“I would never let thee wait, my King, I’ll be quick. can thou see this bright and quite city out here? If thou agree to be its ruler, there will be no more fights between thee and thine own brothers or people from other far, far lands. All will obey thee without any objection, thy volition will always be respected by thy servants, and no one will ever dare to contradict it, not even after thy death.”

“Still, what are you going to benefit from it, daemon?”

“Thou will certainly benefit from it, don’t bother about me”

“And should I trust a daemon?”

“I swear that thou will not face any harm from that; and thou know that a promise made by a daemon cannot be broken; or better demons cannot lie.”

“So what you are implying is that I can rule from this city all over the world, is that correct?”

He stopped for a second, he meditated over what the daemon said, and burst into a laugh. The daemon, who was already savouring the taste of victory, began to disfigure himself and his appearance to become more like that of a beast

“Why are thee laughing, Prince? Is my propose really that funny?”

“My dear daemon, in you believe that it is he king who rules over his people, your idea was flawed from the beginning: it is the will of the people to guide the kings”

“Prince, what are YOU blathering?”

“People are the roots, the warm and the helm of a kingdom, beast. it is the doing and the undoing of their ties and their wishes that creates the ground to a powerful reign; ruling without obstacles it’s not an easy task: it is simply not ruling”

“Do you really not care about being neglected and put aside from your land and not having motherland, Sir, aren’t you interested in your reign, don’t you pity yourself?”

“My dear evil spirit, of course I care, but because I do care I cannot erase my own kingdom: a community that has been realized, that has fulfilled the task for which it was formed, dissolves, ends to exist. If the desire of the kingdom has changed, it is because its desire has been reached and the fact that I was exiled, although it pains me to be exiled, it is a symptom of the fact that the kingdom will continue to live. If my wish was the one and one that moves it, my kingdom would have no history. I’ll tell you once again: one community that has come into being, that has fulfilled the task for which it was formed, is dissolved. And even if it were not to be formally dissolved, the mass of the remaining people would leave no trace in time, demon. It is impossible for me to think that the desire is untied from memory, my daemon, because without memory there is no future; you know… all the wishes that I have are turned to the future, because you can not desire the past and the present, you must act. Ruling over so many people rather than over their union would leave no trace, my genie. As for the brilliant, cursed city out here to which you are bound and which curses you in seeking her a master, ruling in this way would be only outward beauty, a beautiful light, but a light deprived from the heat of history; And I’m sure it’s not hot inside those crystal buildings at night. I am sorry”

“You are a philosopher, my lord, but not very clever. Because, you see, I am stronger than you and I am very capable of harming you. You complain that in this way you would not leave traces, but you do not have to worry about this; if you do not accept my offer you would not leave a trace anyway, because you will die, torn apart by my fangs, I kindly suggest that you accept.”

The prince laughed. The daemon’s heart froze, because he had already understood what the prince’s answer would be and prepared himself to jump on him

“I cannot condemn the future to my desire for nothing, dear devil.”

“Farewell Majesty” and the demon jumped on him.

“Farewell my demon” and the king smiled at him.

Eleonora Consoli
The community as a way for promote the inclusion of disabled people

The work represents the concepts of integration, cooperation, and inclusion of persons with disabilities, eliminating their diversity in the social sphere.

Miriam Cuccu
Branches and Roots

This is a handmade bowl in red clay (columbine technique) with a spiral pattern formed by seeds. The clay represents the ground and the return to roots. The bowl recalls the topic of home and shared rooms (like the kitchen) but also the symbol of the container that people pass from hand to hand making a circle. The spiral stands for the embrace that, however, leaves space for the opening. The spiral moves both from the center to the periphery and vice versa; depending on the point of view. Different seeds represent different lives in potential, together.

Inez Dapszus
Covidovelove, I lost society

I’m lost in society. This work is manifestation about my place in space, when we have quarantine. I wanted to show how the space with which you have to get used to crumbles, how it can cut off a person from another person.

Margherita Difabio
Community

In this painting, each line represents each person who, for common interests, joins with the other people to create a community.

Krystyna Dobrzańska
All about going abroad

The video is a registration of a local Varsovian community during the first lockdown in Spring 2020. The camera captures through the window casual situations that occur to inhabitants of Saska Kępa. The film is a story about the social condition of the Polish middle class. The community portrayed in the film is understood as a group that constructs its identity on an antagonisation against the Other, in times of uncertainty in the era of global pandemia.

Elisa Gatti
Help each other

The photography I propose for the project represents the hands of two students who helped each other to overcome the difficulties of life.

Francesca de Giorgi
The Montelago Celtic Festival, a bracket of community

I choose this photo because it narrates my experience at the Montelago Celtic festival, that for convenience we call only “Montelago”. It is an italian festival focused on Celtic music and culture and it takes place at the “Altopiano di Colfiorito”. This festival lasts three days in the first week of August (Thursday through Saturday) and the photo was taken during the sunrise between Saturday and Sunday. For tradition, the last night in Montelago you must dance all night under the main stage. The pic looks at the campsite during the daybreak. I think that this picture represents the idea of community because it represents the festival and it talks about community . All the people you can get to know are helpful and kind in different ways. For example, if you fall in the crowd during a concert every single person around you stops dancing and comes to help you. If you need something you can ask it of the tent near you, even if you don’t know who that person is.

Me and my friends have a tradition during this festival, we walk around all the festival and the campsite with something to drink to “help the thirsty” and the last year, during this stroll, we met a group of guys with whom we have started to talk about how wonderful the spirit of Montelago is and about the helpfulness of the people around us. Obviously this year the festival was not held, so to fill the void the organizers created a chat on Telegram for talks about all the stories, to share all the pictures and sing all the songs of our experience at the Montelago Celtic festival. I think that this festival has created a community.

Dominika Głowala
Tales about stones

Both videos are the personification of stones. The first one is their presentation, admiration for the sparkling structure, slow study. The second is a “thrashy” video of their funeral. The stones remind me of human presence. About the cycle of life. About a world where everyone is equal.

Patrycja Ilcewicz
Life fighters

Two black and white digital photos combined together, taken at home.

Brandon Wanje Jackson
Unfitted Couple

88 x 59 cm, water paints on canvas

The piece outlines the historical olden life style of the African Community, the Kenyan Community in the Coastal region of the Giriama/Mijikenda Community. It describes and portrays the inequality in treatment of the girl child when small girls were not allowed the right to attend school and instead they were forced to get married to old men in the community in exchange for wealth and animals. The portrait shows and informs us of the past life style and social interaction and relation to the communities in Africa. The old man takes local liquor (Mnazi) where the married small girl serves the old man (husband) with food, which in most cases, the girl (wife) was used as the breadwinners of the family.

Said Luganye Kahindi
African mask girl

I painted my feelings on the current issue to portray a message of coronavirus and its effect in different communities in Kenya and Africa at large. Bearing in that Kenya lies on the third world countries and is among the countries with economic challenges, poverty, corruption, and many more. Here now comes the daemon (coronavirus). How are we going to survive? The image has a loud voice of poverty and starvation which was caused by the disease.

Caleb Musembi Kivindu
The flower of Kenya

Pencil color mixed with pen ink drawing.

The work shows some forms of heritage that Kenya is proud of. For example, wildlife, traditional culture, rich agriculture, horticulture, and visual arts.

Michael Luande
The Google briefing

Digitally drawn conceptual/satirical cartoon illustration.

This is a cartoon concept of Google briefing social media apps in smartphone about coronavirus. It leaves us with the thought on how we acquire lots of information via our social media platforms with the aid of Google. I metaphorically made a meeting to take process on a smartphone as the venue wherein the social media handles and Google is personified.

Joseph Musungu Makau
Music to my ears

100 x 120 cm, acrylics on canvas:

The painting is about a man who is deeply in love with a woman. She’s got the keys to his heart
and like music she knows how to soothe and comfort him.

Laura Marcelli
Sense of community

The Sense of Community is described by psychologists as “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (McMillan and Chavis, 1986).

The title Sense of Community tells the main purpose behind this image, that is to show two different ways to express (or not express at all) a Sense of Community.

The sentence I can’t breathe, in the center, refers to and connects the protests pictured, which have been pretty representative of 2020.

I decided to draw two scenes of protest because I think that protesting itself is a form of expression of the Community.

On one hand, there are people protesting in order to defend their community and to safeguard every single member of it. They are demonstrating a strong sense of community.

On the other hand, there is another group of people protesting to only defend their own interests. They are not fighting for the Community. In fact, they are fighting to preserve their right to be selfish. In this case, the only sense of Community expressed is actually a non-sense of Community.

Francesca Mondin
Intersection of communities

Preamble: I find myself editing this project while traveling, blocked by a generalized state of emergency of some European airports. Nonetheless, I do not want to fail to participate in the project and so I chose to use a photo taken on my last trip to Norway, trying to give shape, with the very few tools available, to the various lines of reasoning that I had developed so far. I recognize that the artistic quality is poor and will not be able to compete in the international competition, but I wanted to focus on some key concepts.

Title: Intersections of Communities
“We live in plurality of communities, built, natural, artificial, in a complex system of ties, wanted or not, unspoken or said”.

Photo: taken by Francesca Mondin in Santander, Norway. 2019

Editing: made from mobile phone with the free Ishot app

Explanation: I have decided to exploit a single photo that “looked at” from different angles can provide different conceptual ideas, helping me with simple and everyday sounds of different environments and different communities. I have tried to start from some micro contexts to a single cooperative system, following the line of environmental ecological communities but bringing the concept of building such cooperation by human hand.

Description: The video is edited from a photo of a bug house sectioned into several parts to which broader reflections on some characteristics of the communities are linked. The bug house is a cooperative system of different insect communities that coexist in a single space, protecting and enriching the ecosystem of the environment in which they live. I chose this image because I am fascinated by the balance of nature in creating complex and sustainable systems by intertwining micro and macro with fractal dynamics, making everything appear under a single living community. In addition, I chose a bug house, taking some graphic sections as metaphors of some aspects of human communities, although they are more dynamic and changeable than ecological communities. Human communities made of diversity, roles and different spaces, sometimes narrow, sometimes comfortable, made of open borders and barriers, passable and locked; made of multiple natural or constructed memberships, which overlap.

Douglas Magubo Mose
Sweet escape; Mama Africa

Sweet escape:

Africa has a massive need for infrastructure to boost its economic growth. Upgrading transport infrastructure is
crucial as the state of roads, railways, and ports raises transit cost to the detriment of export competitiveness.
Current rail infrastructure in Africa is largely a legacy of European colonialism. Agenda 2063 calls for the
creation of an African integrated high speed railway network. This rail transport reduces cargo load congestion,
wear and tear of roads, reduces travel time, and enhances development of free port. It also saves the country
billions that would otherwise go to road repair.

However, Africa does not have to choose between modernization and wildlife: it is easy for the continent to
purse economic growth without sacrificing its wildlife and other natural resources in the process.

Mama Africa:

In the African community there is pride and honor in African femininity. In the African community, an African woman is beautiful, powerful, unique, feminine and authentic. She is phenomenally resilient, passionate in pursuit of her dreams, and inspirational in her drive to succeed.

She is multidimensional, seamlessly moving between the traditional and modern. For instance, in the art is
depicted the dressing code. Her strength is remarkable, it’s clear from the art the two women are working
together and are reproductive.

This art work therefore tells the community that African woman and femininity should be honored and respected the world over.

Joshua Mwendwa Munyao
The Beauty of Africa

Short description of work: The art work shows a beautiful lady who symbolizes the beauty of Africa, such as beautiful land and people. In African communities women are known to be the source and giver of life.

Mraya Omar Mwinyi
She was like the moon, beautiful, a part of her always hidden away

The artwork shows a lady caressing her body, while in mind there are thoughts of her hardships in her community. The piece speaks of the different hardships that the African woman goes through in her community, some of which are cultural, i.e. FGM and rape.

Nannie Na
Greetings from Poland

A greeting gesture noticed while participating in the pilgrimage, a gesture which has many meanings: saying hello or goodbye, greeting, showing respect. Documentation of people from roadside villages and towns a group of pilgrims walked through. Standing out of their homes. The author deliberately erases this context because the most important thing for her is the gesture of real people and a sincere smile.

The collection of photos was created in the summer of 2017 during a pilgrimage to the main pilgrimage site in Poland – Jasna Góra in Częstochowa. A look at people who live in the same community as the Catholic religion. Waving to the author – going along with the pilgrimage, but as a non-Catholic person.The photos document the greeting gesture and can be read in many other ways.

Agata Olszewska
Floors

Floors is a photo series I made in a post-Soviet block of flats in which I currently live. When I moved in, I noticed that on every floor there is a space where some people keep their personal things. On some floors these areas are private, hidden from others’ eyes. On other floors residents keep their things in plain sight. Through this project I wanted to show how people are managing their space. This community isn’t very big but consists of people of different ages or wealthiness. In Poland it’s common that in some old blocks of flats people keep their personal things or plants outside their houses, on the staircase. Somehow they have trust in their co-inhabitants that they wouldn’t steal their property. In my opinion it is somehow a phenomenon that lasted only in these kind of old buildings, where community is more open to one another.

Oriema Yuda Ounga
Confined Ideas

Humans are interactive creatures and during this pandemic (CoVid 19) these interactions have been disrupted. People were asked to go into isolation, being away from those they love and worrying if they will ever get to see them again. Many challenges were faced because it was something we were not used to. With that came boredom, fatigue, and depression, but people also started to realize their own potential, especially with ideas where we have seen a number of them actually helping out to calm the tension brought by the virus.

Some of these ideas could not have been even given a chance to be fully explored until we had more time on our side – we got to bring out the best in us. We formed another community, as I would like to call it “The Online Community”, that has adversely been of great assistance in keeping the human interaction going.

The piece Confined Ideas elaborates how the virus had its effect on individuals as well as the community.

There are two figures, one of which is enclosed in a cage and a bulb (idea) on top of its head. The figure seems to be tired of the fact that they cannot go and socialize with others, but during this period of isolation they were able to have personal time for themselves and thought on how to help salvage the situation. Most were able to create or even better already existing ideas into something more productive and helpful to the community. Sharing these ideas through the internet went a long way in consoling people that brighter days are yet to come. An example of such is online live concerts which brought many together in one spirit of celebration. The cage represents the barrier (coronavirus) that we face, making us not have the freedom of physical interaction unlike before the pandemic.

The second figure outside the cage represents outside world. People have embraced the new normal and have opted to stay safe by keeping distance to avoid the spread of the virus. Its hands are holding the bulb to acknowledge the creative methods people have formulated to keep in touch with the outside world in order not to feel alone. These ideas have gone a long way in keeping people together as much as we are far from each other but we still feel closer than ever.

The importance of this work is to emphasize the need for a community to encourage and empower individual thinking and how they can go a long way in helping them solve some of the major issues they face.

Alessandra Paladino
The ground is shaking

I tell the experience lived by the Norcia community in the tragic moment of the earthquake.

The ground is shaking.

We feel like we can’t breathe, and the trailer in which we’ve encamped seems to roll away, the ground seems to open and wants you to be swallowed, immediately you feel so tiny and vulnerable. One endless minute and then everything stops, a grey cloud passes on our eyes full of tears.

But what came next was unbelievably even worse: our city was destroyed and our houses collapsed.

There are rubble everywhere, houses closed up on themselves, people screaming, people praying, people hugging each other and crying, and all you can do is cry and pray and hope that your loved ones are fine.

Absence, indifference, envy and jealousy seem to have suddenly dissolved, suddenly everything that’s not just you seems to be worth more than anything else.

You feel like you want to hug all those people who cry. They want you to hug them.

Nothing is worth more than a hug.

The great suffering has brought us in front of the void and darkness, has taken everything away from us, but has also brought us a valuable asset that we are protecting carefully today: solidarity.

We have become an united community, by holding our hands, and we’ve restarted by making strength from difficulties and suffering.

Four years later there is still much to be done, but by working together our small town, Norcia, will grow up stronger and more beautiful than before.

Nikola Palej
Global colding

The work I have done is a video performance. It is a response to how I perceive  society in the 21st century. 

The main color associated with cold is blue. The cold freezes the tissues, causes them to slowly die, until they stop functioning after some time. The light that surrounds us is increasingly blue. We hide from the heat because we start to feel safer when we freeze. Supposedly, Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. I don’t believe it, I know more of these places and they surround me every day. We don’t talk like we used to. We are not staying like we used to. We’re not as close as we used to be. Everything has been frozen… 

Tomasz Seidler
Mask community

Coronavirus came from almost nowhere. At the beginning people didn’t believe that it may strike and hurt. After a couple of months more and more people got sick. Some of them deadly. The virus spread around the world and finally started to be treated seriously. But for many of us it was too late… The virus revealed our sensitivity and vulnerability. That what we thought that is human’s power showed their weakness. Technology and many other tools from people’s arsenal seemed to be useless. Now we found a vaccine against corona. There is a hope, we started to have hope. The faces have been deprived from their normal appearance. Only eyes stay visible and become an utensil of showing feelings – fear of life in “Corona World” from one hand and courage and hope from the other. The virus made us equal – masks caused us the same. Your place of residence, gender, or color of your skin don’t have any meaning for corona. It’s the same deadly for everyone. To prevent our lives we have to wear masks. We – Mask Community.

The series of pictures have been taken during Good Friday at the time of the first coronavirus lockdown in Poland in 2020. Most of the pictures have been taken close to “Manhattan” market in Szczecin. Polish people were forced by law to wear masks as a prevention tool against corona. Wearing such masks in the middle of the city, during shopping, working, and so on, was very unusual. People felt very strange wearing the masks.

Miłosława Skomra
Hotbed

70 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas

Intense colours and soggy forms, taking part into the reconfiguration of earth matter.

Klaudyna Szymańska
Equal movement

For me, community is equality, the unity of being. It is an impulse, primal feeling. In my performance I’m showing myself as a human being in my real cultural enviroment, this is where my feet come from. I am a typical Slavic woman in a typical Slavic outfit. In the field behind me, the rites of Slavs used to take place and nowadays I also celebrate them. From the terrain, through the skin, to the seasons and rituals, we are so different but have a lot in common – the heart. Observing the beautiful Kenyan folk dances, I was touched by the incredible happiness that they convey through their body. I decided to test myself and without any preparation I went to the field in December to check and show how my body reacts to singing from distant lands, the Maasai. The biggest truth is in the primal instinct of movement, emotion and flow, equal movement.

place: Szklarka Śląska

music: Maasai, John Johnson

Irene Trotta
Lights and shadows

Technique: Mixed technique (permanent marker, pencil, pastel, glue and glitter), A4 drawing paper.

The positive aspects of the community are portrayed on the left side of the paper. These aspects are based on the dialogue among generations and cultural interchange, represented by the different drops of color that mix together and generate new shades of colors. Dialogue and interchange makes it possible for a person to make choices about his/her belonging to one or the other community, generating progress. The community (and communities) in its complexity reflects also negative aspects that are represented through the colors black and red, expressing death and blood. The negative facets of the community are portrayed on the right side of the paper: rejection, denial, or the feeling of superiority towards diversity has repeatedly justified the dominance and cancellation of other human beings, erecting walls, barriers, barbed wires, spilling blood, generating destruction and interrupting vital beats and bonds. Finally, humans have always considered themselves as superior beings, at the apex of the food chain, destroying nature to design a world tailored to their needs and causing strong imbalances and damages to the entire ecosystem. The consequences of this behavior generate environmental catastrophes that we all have to deal with and for which future generations will pay the expenses.

Hubert Wencel
Stork collage

How do I, as a Polish citizen, perceive Kenya? Things I really don’t know about this far away country. I decided to compare for example the traditional Polish folk group “Mazowsze” (which is settled very close to my hometown) with the Maasai People. The stork is a bird “deeply rooted” in traditional Polish culture. It is said that he will always come back to Poland from Africa. We don’t know what he actually sees during his stay in Kenya…

Also, because I think it is not really common to inform with “easy accessible” media what is going on in Kenya (or even in almost every African country…), I decided to show my point of view by using old Polish recordings from the 70’s. I also used a few samples from these documents to make a new background music for these videos. It is a demo version/introduction to a multimedia installation based on field recordings in Kenya which I am able to create during the 1-month “residency”.

I would like to be a reporter in my own way. (for example creating an instagram daily vlogs, etc.)

Paweł Wołowczyk
Let’s make a tea

Memories are one of the most magical things in the world. Getting back to what happened some time ago in our lives can take place at any time by feeling something similar to one of the senses. In the idea of the game, I would like to present the method of how to remind some of the past stories and share that with others, all in the sensory way of a tea ceremony.

Dementia is one of the most pressing social problems. As the societies of many countries inside and outside of Europe are getting older, the problem is becoming more universal and foreseeable to most of us. In many cases senility heads to Alzheimer’s, forgetting events and the actual state of being. At the same time memories from many years back are bright and sharp. They can become a gate to deeper memories. That’s why many specialists use objects from the patient’s past as tools to work with reminiscence. Speaking aloud about what we just remembered re-saves better information in the human brain.

The game “Let’s make a Tea” is a unique form of psychotherapy. Letting a therapy method step into the home can make it possible to do work about memory impairment in a cozy, private atmosphere. At the same time, it can be just a method of how to get to know new mates, or your family and friends better. It creates a special space to share your experiences and confront them with others. The ritual of composing together a special tea infusion creates an opportunity for more creative meetings. Giving time and sensory experiences create a unique space to connect with ourselves and each other. In the project, there are included: formula of the meeting, 6 sensory cards made from personal souvenirs, and a handmade ceramic set.

The concept is based on personal deep observations and research, as well as broad interviews with specialists. It is being tested now. If you would like to play don’t hesitate to email me: pawel@wilczurak.eu

Project was designed in Multisensory Design Studio – Design Department,
Academy of Art in Szczecin 2020