Commission on Culture busy Year

This year promises to be an interesting and busy one for the UBC Commission on Culture (CoC). In addition to its regular meetings, events and publications, 2003 is an election year and will see the empanelling of new board of directors. The CoC also is coordinating the 5^th Baltic Biennial of Contemporary Art, which will take place in October, as well as undertaking of an interesting new project that will look at the history of the Baltic cities and cultural heritage of the Baltic region.

Annual Session of the Commission on Culture
The Commission on Culture of the UBC wishes to invite all the UBC city members to participate in the 7^th working session of the Commission on Culture to be held in Szczecin on 3-5 October 2003. The main purpose of this session is the election of a new Board of the Commission on Culture, the Board's election of its Chairman and vice Chairman, and a discussion about the functions of the Board, the strategy and the activities of the CoC in the forthcoming years.

The session also will be devoted to the organisations working in the field of contemporary visual arts (museums, galleries, artists-run spaces) with special focus on communication with the audiences, different educational and workshop projects and information-sharing about innovative ways of reaching out to grow their audiences.

A detailed programme of the session, information about regulations concerning election of the CoC board, and, of course, invitations, will be provided by the CoC Secretariat and sent to all member cities later this year.

MareArticum
Mare Articum, the Baltic magazine of contemporary art, will publish two new issue in 2003. The spring issue, "New Art in St. Petersburg", will be edited in collaboration with Ekaterina Andreeva, curator of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

In the fall, Mare Articum will examine incompatibility of perception and adventures of contemporary art in its public reception. This issue, to be titled "Tested on Art", will be co-edited by Aneta Szylak, a freelance art critic and curator based in Gdansk and New York.

Baltic Biennial of Contemporary Art
From 3^rd October, Szczecin will host the 2003 edition of the Baltic Biennial of Contemporary Art, entitled "Extra Strong - Super Light." The theme of this exhibition will look at the ways political changes have reshaped social relationships and intimate interaction between couples and families. Any changes to the social hierarchy of values stimulate new forms of partnership relations. Some of the radical political and cultural changes we experience re-model not only the structure of the social landscape. But they decisively affect the relationships and links an individual develops while contacting his/her most immediate environs.