September 17, Saturday; 15.30 – The Future of Migration Society - Migration Project
                                                               
Speakers: Kathrin Rhomberg (Director Kölnischer Kunstverein and Leading Member of the Curatorium "Migration Project"), Marion von Osten (Institut für Theorie der Gestaltung und Kunst at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in  Zurich and Leading Member of the Curatorium "Migration Project"), Aytac Eryilmaz (DOMiT,  Dokumentationszentrum und Museum über die Migration in Deutschland e.V. and Member of the Curatorium "Migration Project"), Regina Römhild (Frankfurt Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University  in Frankfurt/Main and Member of the Curatorium "Migration Project"), Levent Soysal (Ethnologist and Professor Kadir Has University, İstanbul), Esra Ersen (Artist, İstanbul)

Moderator: Kathrin Luz

Launched by the Federal Culture Foundation [Kulturstiftung des Bundes] in 2002, the Migration Project was designed to depict the societal changes that migration movements have brought about. The Migration Project was designed as a multiple-stage process spanning several years. Rather than set out on new research approaches or artistic projects, the Migration Project serves as a clearinghouse, among other things, working to promote  broader, deeper ways of perceiving the issues migration involves.  To date, more than 120 events illustrating and underscoring the causes and implications of migration in a variety of ways have taken place under the project’s auspices, events such as in-house and public workshops, film and lecture series, theatre performances and cooperative arrangements with media, scholarly research with film and art projects, and an international symposium for scholars. The six panel participants will talk about the topics and structure of the Migration Project, their projects on the issue of migration as well as related artistic projects.

September 18, Sunday; 14:00 – Leaps of Faith

Speakers: Katerina Gregos & Erden Kosova

Could an art event contribute to the efforts to construct a togetherness that escapes the official political discourses and nationalist ideologies dominant in Cyprus? Is there a possibility for discussing various social problems pushed aside under the omnipresent problem of de facto separation on the island? How can social issues be touched upon in an art scene that is deliberately kept distant to politics? What are the ways of realizing site-specific art projects within an exhibition structure designed to be independent from the local official institutions? How can the effects of such a project be sustained? The preparation phase, outcomes and difficulties encountered by the exhibition Leaps of Faith realized in Nicosia last May are recapitulated by its two curators Katerina Gregos and Erden Kosova with a visual presentation.

September 18, Sunday, 15:30 – Art in Afghanistan

Speakers: Rahraw Omarzad (Faculty of Fine Arts in Kabul University, Afghanistan), Leeza Ahmady (Independent Curator, Critic and Art Administrator, Specializing in Contemporary Art of Central Asia, and the Central Asian Diasporas. Currently, Managing Director of Asian Contemporary Art Week, at Asia Society, New York), Tawfiq Rahmani (Head of the Department of Fine Arts in Herat University and artist, Afghanistan), Ghafaar Ghafoori (artist, Herat Province, Afghanistan)

Moderator:  Rameen Moshref Javid (Executive Director, AFGHAN COMMUNICATOR, Serving the Afghan Community, NY)

The panel will be on the contemporary art practices of the Afghan artists through the examples of diaspora artists and artists living in Afghanistan. Artists from Kabul and Herat will talk about their own artistic works and give an overview of the different artistic approaches in the region. New York based Afghan curator Leeza Ahmady will talk mainly about Afghan diaspora artists and their works and the importance of the development of contemporary art, cooperation and interconnectivity between artists of other Central Asian nations, and their exposure to and in the international art scene/discourse.