N.E.W.S. - INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

COMMISSION ON CULTURE HOLD 
ITS THIRD SESSION

Szczecin, together with Riga and Gotlands's Community, is organising the exhibition presenting new phenomena in the visual arts of the Baltic Region. 
The idea of new international art exhibition in Szczecin was borne in 1995 as a result of Szczecin's activities in the UBC. The first show named Horizone Line was the main event on the agenda of the 3 rd UBC Festival of the cities in Szczecin in summer 1995. Later, a new edition followed in 1997 and was named Baltic Ikonopress accompanied by launching of the promotional issue of the Mare Articum. The success of the show and rapidly developing artistic contacts resulted in establishing the biennal Baltic art exhibition in Szczecin. 
The new formula was proposed to have a travelling show in three cities: Szczecin, Riga and Visby. 
The artists recommended by the associated editors of the MARE ARTICUM magazine were finally selected by the curatorial board consisting of city representatives. The 20 artists are invited to participate in the N. E. W. S. project starting in Szczecin, and develop their works during the exhibitions in Riga and Visby. The artists are invited to each location so that they can response to the different context in each city. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of seminars and video presentations. Two comprehensive catalogues are planned to be published in the course of the project; the first one for the opening in Szczecin presenting the artists participating in the show, and the second one for the final presentation in Visby collecting the texts from the seminars. Project development was possible thanks to the financial and organisational support by the cities of Szczecin, Riga and Gotland's Community.

The 3rd Session of the Commission on Culture took place on 27-29 May in Kalmar, Sweden, and was attended by 15 member cities of the UBC. 
The Session began with presentation of CoC achievements for the years 1994-98, which included the cultural network within the Baltic Region, and several projects such as: Baltic Music Network, UBC Catalogue of Cultural Institutions, Mare Articum art magazine, Baltic Choir Festival, UBC Library Network, and others. 
The important matters discussed during the first day of the session included the possibilities for development of the ongoing projects, involvement of the new ComC members in organization of recent and future projects, improvement of the collaboration network between the cities. Several interesting proposals, related to art education, cultural and historical heritage of the Region, web pages 

on art and culture were presented during the Session. The second day of the Session was devoted to the future of the ComC. The members worked in two groups. While one group discussed future cultural events, the other one sorted out possibilities of improving the structure and routine tasks of the ComC. 
During the session, the Committee of ComC was elected with the representatives from 5 cities: Bergen, Helsinki, Klaipėda, Szczecin, Visby. The role of the Committee is to develop the future structure, status, and the ways of functioning of the Commission. The next meeting of the Committee of CoC is scheduled for 2-3 October in Klaipėda, Lithuania.

Bartlomiej Sochanski, UBC Vice President participated in two major conferences on cross-border-cooperation in Russia and Finland in March 1999. First, he presented the management structures for CBC in Euroregion Pomerania (EP), whose main goal is "to undertake joint actions aiming at reaching equal and sustainable development of the region, and bringing people from all sides of the border together". Different legal systems, administrative structures, economic disparities, Shengen border, language gap and mentality, including memories from WWII are hindering cooperation. He also tackled the issues of 

coordination of joint projects (Interreg IIC/Phare CBC), both being subject to different procedures in Brussels, and PolishSwedish-German Concept of EP Development 2000-2006. 
The second conference tackled issues related to transfrontier cooperation for the protection of the environment in the Baltic Sea Region. In his presentation he focused on concrete projects developed on the local level - the cross border cooperation proper, carried out within the Euroregion Pomerania, which is a tri-partner CBC cooperation. He referred to the EP's experiences in developing joint environmental projects.