Living Realities

LIVING REALITIES. CHANGING PERCEPTIONS. [LRCP] is a sociopolitical, transdisciplinary art project that focuses on the contemporary living realities of people who had to flee. The touring photography exhibition STAGES OF FLIGHT forms the connecting thread of the cooperation project with partners in Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece. From 2015 to 2017, photographer Simon van Hal and journalist and voluntary translator Nermin Ismail accompanied people who were forced to flee in seven different countries. The exhibition developed from their recordings aimed to counter the negative media narratives of the „refugee crises“ and make the stories and photographs of the individuals accessible to a wider audience. In all partner countries the exhibition was expanded by art productions and participative formats. Theme-related events and discourse formats that encouraged dialogue about current questions of arriving and living together, aimed at strengthening social solidarity complemented the framework program. An important impact of the project was the creation of a MULTILINGUAL TRAVELING EXHIBITION that acted as a critical activation frame showcasing the issue of exile in a polyphonic, contemporary, critical way. Addressing the plurality of experiences and the complexity of the topic motivated audiences for DEEPER ENGAGEMENT, inviting them to review their perceptions and privileges, to analyse present discourses and images. Creating this flexible while also deep-rooted AESTHETIC AND DISCURSIVE FRAME allowed each partner organisation to work with their audiences according to their needs and potential. Generating new ways of representation resulted in NEW AUDIENCES REACH and in the deepening of the relationships. An other impact was the creation of a METHODOLOGY FOR CHANGING PERCEPTIONS on multipe levels and through diverse aesthetic and relational approaches considering diverse aspects and barriers that are necessary to address when dealing with CHANGE PROCESSES, such as fear of interaction, distorted or reduced images, unequal power relationships, accessibility barriers, experiences of stigmatisation and exclusion, among others. Through the changing perception methodology BARRIERS WERE TRANSFORMED, generating capacity for transformation at an individual, organisational and transnational level. They were approached as TRANSNATIONAL CO-CREATION CHALLENGES among the partner organisations. This approach brought NEW WAYS OF THINKING AND ACTING improving the ability of each organisation to address social issues.