SHARING INTANGIBLE HERITAGE - A VIRTUAL RESIDENCY, PART OF A ‘CREATE SYRIA’ PROJECT
Monday 24 July 2023
In collaboration with Arts University Plymouth and Beyond the Now, GROW has been part of Create Syria Project: ‘Beyond the Now: Socially Engaged Art in a (Dis)Connected World’.
As part of the project Syrian artists have worked with mentors from Arts University Plymouth and participated in a live virtual event on Friday 9 June at The Box in Plymouth called ‘Art, Community and the Future(s) of Intangible Cultural Heritage’. GROW’s role has been to host artist-in-residents between June and August 2023 for two Syrian artists, providing an online space and opportunities to interact, share knowledge and a cultural exchange with artists from Grow Plymouth.
WHAT IS BEYOND THE NOW?
Beyond the Now: Socially Engaged Art in a (Dis)Connected World is an international research, development and cultural exchange focused on the role(s) of socially engaged art in an age of displacement. It includes a programme of mentorships, residencies, public dialogues, commissions, and other peer-to-peer learning for Syrian and Arab artists working across all art forms in the SWANA region, Europe and the UK.
A VIRTUAL RESIDENCY AT GROW
Over the course of 3 months, artists-in-residents, Abeer Sanyour and Yara Amayri, and GROW Studio artists, Chloe Georgakis, Nicole Gilbert and Jordanna Greaves met online to discuss their past and current practices and potential projects and life in their respective geographical areas.
Discussion also turned to holding an in-vivo event at GROW (see below) which the Plymouth-based artists could host to assist the Syrian-based artists in their inquiries into projects being developed by the artists as part of their involvement in ‘Beyond the Now’.
Public Baths
Abeer Sanyour’s project is called ‘Public Baths’ and is documenting the oral history of daily life in Syria, before and after the war, in a series of videos exploring encounters inside Syrian public baths, called Hammams.
Urban Tableaux
Yara Amayri’s project is called ‘Urban Tableaux’ which has a focus on music and artistic performance, exploring reviving the concept of the festival and the social implications of seasonal celebrations.
This residency and event is also part of an ongoing series at GROW called #DIYRESIDENCIES. As the space is in its very early stages, there is much scope for our artistic partners to shape thinking and plans as we experiment and explore the building, its surroundings, heritage and looks to the future in terms of sustainability, inclusion, food and drink, grassroots arts, music and culture.
SHARING INTANGIBLE HERITAGE- AN EVENT AT GROW
FRIDAY 11 AUGUST, 1-7PM, FREE AND OPEN TO ALL.
On Friday 11 August, the Plymouth-based artists will host an afternoon of activity to repsresent the Syrian artists and their projects on the ground floor of GROW. Drop in anytime between 1-7pm for an interactive taster of the work and research projects of Yara and Abeer. Help us explore the intangible heritage of Syria and what that might mean to those in Plymouth. Please note: Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
The outcome of the activity will be displayed on the windows on Saturday 12 - Monday 14 August 2023.
ARTIST BIOS
YARA AMAIRY
Yara’s journey with the arts began through music, where she had the opportunity to participate in many festivals and concerts in and around Damascus, and to work with children between the ages of 6 and 10 as a music teacher. After graduating from the Faculty of Architecture, she worked in the Consultative Center for Architecture, Construction and Restoration of Heritage Buildings, and she is part of the supervising team working on the restoration of Khan Suleiman Pasha in Old Damascus. She volunteered as a teacher of architectural design for first and second year students at the Faculty of Architecture at Damascus University. She also gave several lectures on the history of Syrian art in the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Arts and the Diplomatic Institute. She is pursuing a master’s degree in the restoration and rehabilitation of archaeological sites.
ABEER SANYOUR
Abeer is an architect with a masters in urban and environmental planning. She teaches urban planning and urban sociology courses in universities and participated in various trainings around tangible and intangible cultural heritage and renovation. She has worked as editor for the magazine Twenty-Two, specializing in architectural concerns through educating, training, habitation and culture– spreading. Among their volunteering staff are students, graduate architects, and researchers across the architectural spectrum. Abeer has also collaborated with the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums and is interested in social-spatial cohesion by working and connecting with local communities and their shared heritage.
JORDANNA GREAVES
Jordanna was born in 1979 and lives and works in both Plymouth and London. As an artist and curator, she explores the oscillation between the discombobulation and pain of living in a neoliberal spectacle; the sickening attraction towards it and the craving for other possible futures. Through her multidisciplinary practice, she asks what strategies we can use to resist its seductive charms and sickly attraction, to create other possible futures and reinvest the self into our day to day living. As well as an artist and curator, she is co-founder and director of community cultural hubs; Grow Hackney and Grow Plymouth.
CHLOE GEORGAKIS
Chloe is an Artist, Designer and Youth Educator. She was born in the UK in 1990 and now lives and works in the coastal city of Plymouth. Her work often explores natural and urban landscapes and energy systems. She is interested in the themes of environmental sustainability and restoration and uses a broad range of materials, making 3D artworks that are often interactive. In her current project ‘Future Meadows’, she explores new forms of communication around marine environments and climate change.
NICOLE GILBERT
Nicole Gilbert is an Urban Designer and artist, originally trained in philosophy. She was born in the UK in 1997. She is interested in places and the people that inhabit them at all scales. From cities, to towns, to the home, She explores preserving feelings and identity in the face of change and creates concept maps, paintings and illustrations from stories, observation and data. Nicoles’s current work is on aspirations in a coastal community in Cornwall, where she grew up. Themes include climate change, nostalgia, the loss of traditional industry, and social divides, in a rapidly modernising world.
ABOUT CREATE SYRIA
Create Syria seeks to increase the capacity of artists interested in arts and social change, to develop stronger, more cohesive communities through the design and delivery of community arts initiatives that focus on experience and artistic quality. Create Syria supports individuals and initiatives to build new skills, grow their experience and network with creative practitioners interested in the relationship between arts and community practices.
BEYOND THE NOW
Beyond the Now is a syndicated online platform, founded by partners working in locations across Europe and the Mena region. It aims to open new creative, cultural and political affinities for a post-pandemic world; and to amplify the necessity for and experience of solidarity in a time of crisis. Beyond the Now: Socially Engaged Practice in a (Dis) Connected World Programme, funded by the British Council International Collaboration Fund. Key partners include Ettijahat Independent Culture, Counterpoints Arts, Arts University Plymouth and Mozilla Festival.
This is also an Arts University Plymouth Knowledge Exchange supported by Research England’s Knowledge Exchange Funding for Smaller Providers.
PART OF A YEAR-LONG SERIES OF RESIDENCIES AND CULTURAL EVENTS
This residency at GROW is part of a year-long series of pop-up residencies and cultural events called #DIYRESIDENCIES working with partners to experiment and explore the building, its surroundings, heritage and looks to the future in terms of sustainability, inclusion, food and drink, grassroots arts, music and culture. The top floors have been converted into studios, which are now creative home to painters, audio artists, printmakers, installation and socially engaged artists.