Appel 2021 | The Common Ground Project (CGP – collaborative multimedia project)| NK Studio – Kika Nicolela (Br/Be)

As part of NoLA – No Lockdown Art initiative, the “Common Ground Project”, initiated and coordinated by the artist Kika Nicolela during confinement, proposes the creation of a growing database, with the collaboration of artists from around the world, sharing video, audio and/or text pieces. The main immediate goal was to collect a large and varied snapshot of what’s going on in different places in the world right now, how people are coping with these huge changes in their routine, but most importantly, how we can imagine and adapt the world after the lockdown(s).

For almost two years now the human species faces an invisible, faceless, brainless yet highly efficient enemy: a virus that menaces our lives and our way of life. While the virus does not discriminate and treat us all equally, this menace exposed our fragility not only as beings, but also as a society – social inequality, government control, structural racism and domestic violence as being some of the issues that were exacerbated by this crisis. Furthermore, confinement forced us into an unprecedented period of isolation, during which we had to face ourselves, and try to find alternative ways of being together and connected to each other.

Researchers worldwide have pointed to the fact that the transmission of viruses from wild animal species to humans is directly related to the degradation of ecosystems provoked by human economical and commercial activities. A lot of the factors that facilitated the emergence of this pandemic is closely linked to the global climate crisis and the rest of environmental disruptions of the Anthropocene. So while the first and more urgent response to the pandemic should be focused on human health, we need to think of new ways of being in this planet and to build a more sustainable, just, inclusive society.

The COMMON GROUND PROJECT proposes a creation of an international database of artworks produced since the end of 2019, that deal directly or indirectly with these questions. We invite artists around the world to share moving and still image, sound, text and/or web based pieces. Out of this database, a series of online and offline events and exhibitions will be curated.

The main immediate goal is to collect a large and varied snapshot of artistic reactions to the covid-19 pandemic. How did people in various corners of the world cope with the confinement and the post-confiment? How can we reshape the world and break with old patterns? This project should grow exponentially, and beyond the covid-19 crisis, so we can keep reflecting on how to create common grounds amonst humans and between humans and more-than-humans.