They:Live, the memory of university students (1945-2022). A photographic-contextual art project

Abstract

We present a summary of the research we are carrying out in the international project “They:Live - Student lives revealed through context-based art practices” in which six countries participate within the framework of the Creative Europe grant programme. The goal is to collect photographs of student life on college campuses from World War II to the present day. From among the body of work collected, we made a selection from which we conducted interviews with its protagonists so that they could tell us the inner history of the selected photos (oral story). All these photos and interviews were documented in the online repository Topoteka. Next, we launched a competitive call in which in each participating country chose a creative pair of artist and curator who had to propose a contextual artistic project that considered these photos and interviews – and that will take place on the participating university campuses. Previously, these creative pairs stayed at the Institut für Kunst im Kontex, Universität der Künste Berlin. Then, travelling exhibitions will be held, first in rooms near the participating campuses and, later, in an international one with all the works. It is, therefore, an interdisciplinary method with the application of contextual artistic practices. All this with the aim of underlining how the life of students and their activities represent a living reservoir of innovative ideas and relationships, a source through which an evolutionary development of intellectual heritage can be followed, and a completely new vision of European culture and its future development can be established. The results of our project will serve as guidelines for managers of cultural institutions and art galleries, curators, and artists to improve innovative approaches to the development of young audiences. All this will be turned into a book in Open Access (OA) that will be published by the British publisher Intellect.