PRO HELVETIA SOUTH AMERICA IS HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THE SELECTED PROJECTS FROM «TO-GATHER», OUR INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION CALL

«To-gather» is a 2–3-year collaboration program between arts practitioners, cultural organisations and institutions in Switzerland and their counterparts in the regions of the Pro Helvetia liaison offices.

Received through an open call, applications were considered by experts from both our South American and Swiss offices. The program aims to support time for critical reflection on the current situation, for sharing ideas towards more equal forms of exchange between cultures and across contexts, and for experimenting with new formats for collaborating.

Selected Projects from South America

«Life Plan for Art & Social Change / Landlocked lands: shifting peripheries and paradigms»

Through an ecology of practices, the project pairs Bolivian and Swiss artists to investigate peripheries in landlocked territories. Between 2022 and 2024, there will be encounters among the artists and a period of residency at Kiosko Galería (an independent and alternative platform for emerging contemporary art) in Santa Cruz de la Sierra [BO]. At the end of the project, a publication will be made.

Participants: Kiosko Galería [BO], URRA Art Residencies [AR], Rodolfo Andaur [CL], Arterias Urbanas [BO], Sabrina Fernández Casas [CH/ES]

«Expanded Translation Platform for Reflection, Co-Creation and Activation, Switzerland/Latin America»

Translation house Looren proposes an expanded translation platform with three projects. The first will gather literary collectives in South America and Swiss collectives in an international online forum. The second proposes a workshop to translate prose and poetry by young Romansh authors. As for the third project, it is a virtual workshop-laboratory between Brazil and Mozambique. The aim is to search for common ground between language and discourse in Brazil and Lusophone Africa.

Participants: Übersetzerhaus Looren [CH], Looren América Latina [SAM], Escuela de Literatura Creativa Universidad Diego Portales [CL], Proyecto Prisma [AR], Associação Cultural Scala, Maputo (MZ), Centro de Estudos Africanos (MZ), Universities of Zurich and Geneva [CH], Lia Rumantscha [CH]

«OpenScape»

Here, the proposal is to create a digital platform for the transnational promotion of artistic and curatorial exchanges. This space aims to promote regular online meetings where performing arts practitioners can exchange ideas and share emerging topics. Local partners in different regions will help identify thematics, aesthetics and commission regional artists and curators to engage over time.

Participants: Materialise [CH/HK], Reso [CH], iPanda [CN], Mwenya Kabwe [SA], Nave [CL], Nika Parkhomovskaia [RU], Sandbox Collective [IN], The Khan [LB]

«Amazonia Revisited»

The project sets out medium- and long-term exchanges between creators from Brazil and Switzerland, with multiple collaborators from Latin America. Among the actions are the restoration of a sound material captured in the Amazon in 2005 by the sound artist Thelmo Cristovam [BR]; virtual residencies; phonographic and audiovisual releases; radio-art programs; and a virtual catalogue on sound art, poetics listening, biophonies, and anthropophonies.

Participants: CMC Festival [BR], IOIC – Institute for Incoherent Cinematography [CH]

«Emerging Futures»

Through various face-to-face and online sessions and residencies, the project aims to expand the work of REDIV a network of Ibero-American festivals, artists, and collaborators that focuses on dance films. The proposal articulates actions between Swiss and South American artists and cultural managers, activating collaborative productions.

Participants: Fundación RED GESTIÓN CULTURAL [AR], Casa Parque [AR], ATDaM – Asociación de Trabajadores de la Danza [AR], Movimiento en Foco [AR], COBAI [AR], Danca em Foco [BR], L’Abri – Geneve [CH]

«Exchange program between SACO Biennial and Swiss institutions»

An exchange program between Corporación Cultural SACO [CL] and two Swiss institutions, the project consists of artistic residencies connecting specific territories. The idea is to increase the flow, dialogue and exchange of experiences between curators and artists from Switzerland and the Altiplano of South America.

Participants: Corporación Cultural SACO [CL], Atelier Mondial [CH], School of Commons [CH]