Introspektion und Interaktion.
ISSP Summer School of Socially Engaged Art 2022 in RUCKA (Cesis, Lettland)

Abstract

The report considers the ISSP Summer School of Socially Engaged Art, which took place in Cēsis, Latvia, from July 23-30, 2022. Jointly run by ISSP Latvia and New Visions, the event was aimed at artists and creatives from different disciplines from the Baltic region who work with communities or aspire to do so. Through exercises, workshops and guest lectures, the role of socially engaged art was theoretically analyzed and tools were provided to help build contextualized and equitable relationships in one’s own practice. The following report is based on participant observation and interviews with participants and organizers. Since group dynamics, the sense of place, and the social dynamics of events play a special role in socially engaged art, it explores motivations and expectations of initiators and participants, but also looks at the strategies and methods used by organizers to meet their own aspirations of creating a sustainable network. And finally, it asks what the participants took away with them after the week. An important focus is on the paradoxes of socially engaged art in the post-Soviet context.