N.E.W.S. Baltic Contemporary Art Biennial

On 31 August the biggest and the most complex project run by the UBC Culture Commission was successfully drawn to an end with its final show at the Gotland's Art Museum and the Baltic Art Centre in Visby. N. E. W. S. (North-East-West-South) was a collaborative project of the MARE ARTICUM editorial board (international contemporary art magazine published since 1997 under the patronage of the UBC). N. E. W. S showed works of 20 artists representing 10 Baltic countries on three big scale exhibition in Szczecin, Poland, Riga, Latvia and Visby, Sweden. All the exhibitions were accompanied by the theoretical symposia, the output of which was published this year in MARE ARTICUM 1 (6) 2000.

The N. E. W. S. project continued the MARE ARTICUM's goal to stimulate the discussion on the present artistic situation in the Baltic region. For the participating artists and curators N. E. W. S. was the unique opportunity of creating a new model of common European society.

Within the N. E. W. S. project MARE ARTICUM network provided a meeting point and common public forum where the artists, cultural workers, politicians and intellectuals from the Baltic Sea Region led a creative dialogue across national, economical and cultural boundaries. N. E. W. S. involved an exchange of experiences, ideas and thoughts focusing on capacity of art, culture and cultural policy for promoting freedom of expression and diversity, democracy and security. The organization of N. E. W. S. was possible thanks to generosity of: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Warsaw, Poland; the City of Szczecin; Batory Foundation in Warsaw, Poland; Soros Foundation Latvia; City of Riga; Cultural Capital Foundation; Partnership for Culture; the Swedish Institute; the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs; Municipality of Gotland; Gotland County Administration and many others.

MARE ARTICUM net prepared lately the new edition of the Baltic Contemporary Art Biennial that was organised in Szczecin, Poland in October 2001 with the guest participation of artists, critics and theoreticians from Belarus and Ukraine.