Living without Leaving

Context

Countries that were at war 30 years ago need to learn to cooperate in view of their accession to the EU. That’s why there is an EU strategy for EUSAIR and an Interreg programme.

However, few people are aware of these programmes. We wanted to create connections in real life with inhabitants regarding the various priorities of the cooperation programme, particularly youth.

The challenge

Few people are aware of these programmes. We wanted to establish real-life connections with the inhabitants regarding the various priorities of the cooperation programme, particularly those relating to youth.

Our role

We proposed launching an art competition for young art graduates in the region, focusing on the topic of migration. This would not just focus on moving from east to west in Europe, but also consider the fact that people now lead much more fragmented lives, moving from one country to another. For example, they might live in Berlin for six months while studying, before finishing their studies in the Balkans, and then returning to France or elsewhere for a project.

To ensure this success, cooperation was key. Our primary role was to identify reliable partners. We teamed up with a university of art in Ioannina to spread the word among their alumni, with MDA as local partners for Albania and Montenegro, and with accomplished artists to shortlist artists. We also decided not to create anything from scratch, but rather to join events and initiatives where the audience was already engaged, such as large cooperation forums, music and film festivals, and the most popular city park in Brussels.

This led to outstanding results: the client could invite artists to join their events, build relationships with their partners in different countries and trigger conversations about sensitive issues such as migration through art. In total, the various exhibitions were seen by 100,000 people, who spent an average of eight minutes discovering the artworks and the artists’ backgrounds. Even more people heard about it in the Belgian, Italian or Albanian press.

Why we value it

As well as producing a mini 360° campaign involving art direction, video, graphic design, web design and a great deal of coordination with the artists, we provided the client with a valuable team. Consisting of both established and experienced players, as well as unusual ones, we provided a combined team capable of achieving results that the client could not have hoped for.