From October 8-14, the EU funded project SPACES will launch Public talks in Armenia, bringing together artists, curators, researchers, architects and cultural workers along with civil society and students from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The aim is to foster cultural networking, self-education, social research and policy debates in the region.

Public Talks, organised by Utopiana.am, the Armenian partner in the SPACES project, consists of several components: artistic interventions in various public spaces, talks and presentations by Armenian art and cultural critics taking place in context-specific venues, study visits to independent cultural institutions and a final cultural policy debate that will follow up the events.

PUBLIC TALKS is the first major public program held in Yerevan as part of SPACES. SPACES is a three year project that takes place in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, with seven partners: Utopiana.am/Armenia, Loose Associations/Croatia, Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art/Ukraine, GeoAIR/Georgia, Oberlicht Association of Young Artists/Moldova, Amour Fou Film/Luxemburg and Oikodrom, the Vienna Institute for Urban Sustainability (Austria) as project coordinator.

SPACES activities over the period of three years include holding artistic and cultural events in public spaces, develop and carry out capacity building measures for non-institutionalized art and culture initiatives, carry out social research and research on cultural policy and an artist in residence program, develop and produce mapping, produce documentary films, and initiate and strengthen cultural networks in the region and beyond. SPACES is funded by the European Union through the Eastern Partnership Culture Program with Euro 699.997.

Photo from utopiana.am