1-         ‘CROSSING THE DISTANCE’ PROJECT, an ongoing project

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‘Crossing The Distance’ link emerging young artists from different nations in a creative, collaborative, cultural exchange that focuses on their lives, thoughts, environments, and experiences. Explore relationships between perception, mediation and communication through a collaborative art experience that focuses on the lives of emerging contemporary artists in different nations.

The "Crossing the Distance" project is a groundbreaking initiative designed to bridge gaps and foster connections between artists, particularly the emerging artists with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, the project encourages collaboration and mutual understanding. This exchange of ideas and cultures enriches the artistic community and promotes a more inclusive and diverse environment.

Through the use of virtual communication and art, the project transcends the physical and metaphorical boundaries that often divide us. It enables artists to connect and collaborate across distances geographical, cultural, linguistic and temporal distance through virtual communication and art to build and establish a bridge over the present walls.

 and time. This aspect of the project is crucial in our increasingly globalized world, where fostering cross-cultural understanding and dialogue is more important than ever.

The project explores the role of contemporary art as a tool for empowerment, promoting an open society, gender equity, and inner and global peace. Contemporary art has the power to challenge societal norms, inspire change, and provide a voice for marginalized communities. By highlighting these aspects, the "Crossing the Distance" project underscores the importance of art in addressing social issues and promoting positive change.

 bjectives,

 

• Establish closer, more active, and constructive artistic and cultural relationships between young emerging artists from different background, Perspectives and experience.

• Crossing the boundaries of geographic, cultural, linguistic, politics and temporal distances through virtual communication through art.

• Link emerging artists in a creative, collaborative, and individual art experience that focuses on cultural exchange, lives, thoughts, environments, and experiences.

• Explore the role of contemporary art as a tool for empowerment, open society, gender equity and inner peace and global peace.

 

• In 2023, The CCAA in EXiLe introduced the ongoing project to the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts (Torino, Italia) in virtual workshops to address the issue of forced migration from different perspectives. The result of the workshop was an exhibition in Torino and Frannkfurt with pulbishig of a catalogue. Without  the support of Dr. Carolyn Christov Bakargiev the implementation of the project was not possible.

 

“ I am very glad to introduce this catalogue about an exhibition so important for its contents. The show is the final result of a two-year workshop in which Afghan and Italian students worked together about the issues of forced migration, violence and discrimination. Prof. Rahraw Omarzad, presented by Carolyn Christov Bakargiev, had set up the workshop and the Albertina Academy, with prof. Cristina Giudice, enthusiastic excepted the proposal, giving a group of students the possibility of a unique experience. This catalogue reflects the rhythm of the workshop in each one of the different sections, which are the mirror of the articulated paths taken by the students. I wish that this catalogue could make its way around Europe delivering the positive message of “crossing the distance”. Paola Gribaudo President, Albertina Academy of Fine Arts, Turin

 

“ I am pleased today to see the birth of Crossing the Distance, a project developed by Omarzad in collaboration with the Albertina Academy of Turin. Crossing the Distance brings together emerging contemporary artists from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Turin, Italy, to promote a creative and cultural exchange that reflects on issues such as forced migration and political asylum. The exhibition concluding the project is the result of this cultural collaboration strongly desired by the artist, whose practice investigates the origins of the Afghan conflict by highlighting the contradictions of the globalized world and offering a critical look at contemporaneity. Thus, students from the Albertina Academy and Afghan students who have remained in their country cross 14 Crossing the Distance the boundaries of geography, time, culture, politics, and language to forge new connections and address the most relevant issues of our time. With Crossing the Distance, Omarzad’s artistic and intellectual work once again offers a fresh look into the field of contemporary art, and, in this context, the Castello di Rivoli is as committed as ever to supporting and enhancing it”. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev Director, Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli,Turin 2023

                 Asylum and Forced Migration In particular, Afghan asylum in connection with terrorism, violence and extremism is one of the most controversial issues today. Italy is one of the countries that has sheltered many Afghans and is facing the phenomenon of legal and illegal immigration.    Migration is one of the cases of crossing the borders. Because it introduces people together and the visual discussion reinforces the text. The exchange of cultural experiences and greater understanding of each other further strengthens the culture of diversity and interdependence.   The result of the project was publishing a catalogue of 147 pages.

Artists of the exhibition

Martina Berra, Valeria Natalia Moncada Bustamante, Marco Curiale, Brenno Franceschi, Eleonora Furini, Veronica Gambula, Rosa Giurlanda, Mariapaola Infuso, Palmira Montanari, Paola Pavan, Alessia Poppa, Gabriele Provenzano, Elena Ester Sementino, Diana Caterina Sonetto, Angelo Spatola, Ayattullah Ahmadi, Razia Akbari, Lina Akrami, Bahara Arfan, Angila Delawarzada, Maryam Jahanbin, Waisuddin Mohammadi, Asiya Moheby, Nasir Emaan Niazi, Sajia Sedeqi, Mohammad Shahab Sahel, Zohal Shuja, Iqbal Tarnak, Yama Usmani, Husna Yaqin, Farida Zamani.

• In 2014 to the Maryland Institute College of Arts, MICA to Crosse the distances.

CEC ArtsLink Projects Award

 

Crossing the Distance brings together emerging contemporary artists from Afghanistan and the United States in a creative exchange and traveling exhibition. With the Internet as their creative lifeline, student artists from the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan (CCAA, Kabul, Afghanistan) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA, Baltimore, MD, USA) developed individual and collaborative artwork in response to crossing the distance virtually.

Crossing the Distance presents the efforts of an extraordinary group of young artists determined to reach out and communicate despite the challenges of time, geography, politics and culture.

The result reflected on the catalogue of the workshop and the Exhibition at The Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts (VisArts) Rockville, Maryland  (Washington D.C. Metropolitan area, USA) and Kabul, Afghanistan.

    Participating artists include Alex D’Agostino, Ali Akhlaqi, Luis Arboleda, Jalil Barati, DeAndre Britton, Renato Flores, Kata Frederick, Angela Hong, Nabi Hussaini, Mariam Nabil Kamal, Mumtaz Khan Chopan, May Kim, Sara Nabil, Setareh Salehi Arashloo, Bailey Sheehan, Arzoo Waseeq, and Mohammad Mahdi Hassanzada. The exhibition Crossing the Distance will be on view in the Kaplan Gallery at VisArts from Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 31. An Opening Reception and Artist Talk will be held on Friday, March 8 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Admission to the exhibition is always free.

The project included the following public presentations by Rahraw Omarzad and U.S. Colleague, Susan Main (Adjunct Faculty- Maryland Institute College of Art, Curatorial Consultant- VisArts, Artist):

 

• October 25, 2012- Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, Maryland)  Artist Talk and Presentation- 47 attendees

• November 12, 2012- University of Maryland Baltimore County (Baltimore, Maryland), Brown Bag Lecture Series- 12 attendees

• November 16, 2012- The Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts (VisArts, Rockville, Maryland)- 20 attendees

• November 20, 2012- The Embassy of Afghanistan (Washington, D.C.)- 30 attendees

• November 21, 2012- Voice of America Interview on “TV Ashna”, a popular prime time television news program in Dari and Pashto that is broadcast daily in Afghanistan.

The Carver Center for the Arts and Technology (Baltimore, Maryland)- 200 + attendees

 

 

 

 And in 2011 to the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, KHiO titled Oslo Kabul Art experimental.  .

The Oslo Kabul Art Experiment

 

“The Oslo Kabul Art Experiment started out in the autumn og 2011 as an open ended project to prepare the ground for dialogue, communication and exchange between students and artists at The National Acadamy of the Arts in Oslo and Center For Contemporary Art Afghansitan (CCAA) in Kabul. On November 07. 2011 we opened a closed group on Facebook. Participants that was not already on Facebook opened individual profiles and was later added to the group. Different from many other artistic projects or institutional workshops this project set out totally relying on the participants ability to have dialogue and communicate with each other through Social Media and the Internet. This publication is a status report on how the dialogue between the members of the group developed during the winter/spring of 2011-12”.

 The wish and aim of Oslo National Academy of the Arts is to be involved in the international art world, including in places where society is dominated by conflicts of interest, poverty and war. We recognise that it is in places where freedom of expression and human rights are under threat that we, as artists and colleagues, can make a difference. In our field it is particularly interesting to interact with cultures and groups of artists that contrast our own. It is all about establishing contacts and communicating through art, about identity building and self-expression.

Due to the on-going war, it has been difficult to realize our common objective of concrete exchange between Oslo and Kabul, and we were delighted that an alternative project was launched in the autumn 2011 under the auspices of the Department of Visual Arts and Anne Lise Stenseth. Through its Facebook page,

"The Oslo Kabul Art Experiment" is an online project that has given students and artists an insight into each other's day-to-day life and artistic processes. The participants have had a unique opportunity to interact with artists from another part of the world and the most active have established contacts far beyond the framework of the project. The online meetings contribute to an understanding of cultural and social context and have challenged the participants' notions of artistic freedom and collaboration. This publication is a status report as of 30 April 2012 from the project "The Oslo Kabul Art Experiment".

The entrance to the content of the publication is brought to you by Hilde Methi in her essay "Understanding and Difference, Politics and Commerce: When Art Participates in Cultural Exchange" where she discusses different aspects of cultural difference and exchange relating it to artistic practice. Her long-standing experience in the field will provide you with reflections highly relevant far beyond this project. All of this text is taken from the exhibition catalog.

I want to thank all the participants in The Oslo Kabul Art Experiment for their contributions to the project and this publication. Torkil Sandsund and Miriam Prestoy Hilde Methi, Anne Lise Stenseth, Elisabeth Jarsto, Ingjerd Hanevold

 

 The artists,

Jahan Ara Rafi, Helen Coward, Sara Nabil, Yalda Ati Noori, Margareth Kaale, Mette Birkeland, Julian Bulai, Sultana Sadeqi, Johanne Bockmann, Frozan Kabiri, Maryam Khamosh, Najia Ahmadi.