Description
The Project is an attempt to restore the bridge by a contemporary reading of the myth: confronting us with the current questions concerning the art of coexistence with others, the risk of crossing but also blurring of boundaries, the clash of traditional values with modernity and globalization, the mystery of the "Golden Fleece" and its attractiveness to local communities, and the endangered community life and ethos of dialogue. The great potential of the project popularization is based on the symbolism of the bridge and the myth of Medea which has a universal dimension, while in its practical dimension it is strongly rooted in the local community. The project will create its own school of spreading the craft of "bridge building", both locally and internationally, through Art Workshops, Bridge Academy, Art and Science Symposium, presentations and workshops. Krasnogruda Workshops will be composed of the residents of the region Lithuanians, Poles and Russian Old Believers living in the Sejny region, as well as Norwegian participants. They will come not only from different cultural backgrounds but also age groups (children, teenagers, parents and grandparents). Krasnogruda Workshops will be a constellation of artistic and educational work on the memory and narrative of the place.
Summary of project results
The basic narrative of the project concerned the figure of Medea, a person of a different culture, language and faith, a struggling woman and mother, an excluded immigrant who in the process of bridge building undergoes a metamorphosis and transforms from an alien into someone other/our own. The Project was an attempt to restore the bridge by a contemporary reading of the myth: confronting us with the current questions concerning the art of coexistence with others, the risk of crossing but also blurring of boundaries, the clash of traditional values with modernity and globalization, the mystery of the "Golden Fleece" and its attractiveness to local communities, and the endangered community life and ethos of dialogue. The Project was bring together representatives of ethnic and religious minorities of Podlaskie region, the city of Notodden (new immigrants, including Poles and Muslims). One of the project`s result is creation of a pilot, new generation program in the field of intercultural dialogue and socially engaged art, combining artistic work, education for tolerance, craft of the "bridge building", philosophical seminar, an academy of the European spiritual heritage, public debate and culture produced as the binding fabric for a pluralistic community.
Summary of bilateral results
Project developed key lessons of all its partners while looking for a new, more capacious form of artistic and educational work, based on the art of interpersonal dialogue and human coexistence. Implementing the fully elaborated by the "Borderland" concept of the deep culture an action deeply immersed in the social and natural environment, it was focused on the process and long duration, geared towards social change and development and combine art, craftsmanship and knowledge, ecology with the empathy towards the Other, people's engagement with a high artistic level, tradition with modernity.