No Borderland

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the

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author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Contents 1

Introduction

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Local partners

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participants

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final Exhibition

5

credits and acknowledgements

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Youth Exchange “No Border Land - Creative Visions of European Young People about Home and Active Citizenship.� was held in Den Haag, the Netherlands in the spring of 2014. The activities took place in the first week of May (2-10), oficially ending on the 9th of May with a closing art exhibition on the Day of Europe. The aim of the project was to promote active citizenship between young Europeans, and to give them the space and opportunity to discover, reflect and debate about topics such as Home, our role as citizens, cultural identity and our values/priorities.

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The environment of the crisis that we are facing in a lot of European countries, has a strong influence (or major impact) on the increasing mobility and quest for a better life (study, work and ultimately living). We wanted to explore the concept of Home in this (almost) no border land, that is Europe, understand the responsibility that we have to our home countries (to create a positive development with our European learning) and, on the other hand, our role as citizens of Europe and not only as citizens of our individual countries.

This is a topic highly connected with the host country and the countries involved since we are all part of EU and we have youngsters that are more close to the mobility programs and with the experiences of living abroad. Also Den Haag itself is a city recognized by the huge number of immigrants, on 1 January 2013 50,5% of its habitants were immigrants and 49.5% of the population ethnic Dutch.

The definition of Home was developed and explored by the participants through creative and

artistic methods. (What do I consider my Home?

Why? And does this feeling, at “Home”, change my position towards the community around me?)

They also had the opportunity to understand the vision of other youngsters (participants of the project) and the local community of Den Haag.

Moreover, thanks to the choice of non-formal education methods and artistic/creative expression in the program of the activities, the participants got more easily involved in the diverse working moments, sharing opinions, cooperating amongst themselves and learning from each other. The final results of this project were presented in a final exhibition on the 9th of May, Day of Europe, in the Barbershop, in Den Haag.

To create the artworks for this exhibition the participants devided themselves in groups related to the areas or fields of art that they wanted to explore: photography, collage, graphic design, installation and drawing. The concept of the artworks were all based in the meaning of “utopic home” and all chose different ways to look to the subject and to find answers to it.

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Youth Exchange “No Border Land - Creative Visions of European Young People about Home and Active Citizenship.” was held in Den Haag, the Netherlands, hosted

by Platform Spartak. Our participants stayed in the new hostel of the city “King Kool” and the activities and lunch took place in the “Barbershop & CO. We believe that these two palces were a good option for our project, not only because of the good location but for their ideals and concepts. Both KingKool and The Barbershop&Co are founded and run by young entrepreneurs who decided to create their own jobs, something we also felt very related to during the project that we were hosting.

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Platform Spartak is a learning platform that connects young people from Europe to the Hague and vice versa. The organisation envision a Europe based on strong and sustainable local communities, in which (young) citizens are socially involved and encouraged to express and develop themselves. Platform Spartak believe screative expression and cultural exchange are crucial to the development of such communities.

As part of Platform Spartak, one can gain experience on both local and international level: our projects range from Art Jams in The Hague to voluntary work in the Balkans. Young people have the opportunity to join existing projects, also to organize their own. Platform Spartak is a non-profit organization with a small dedicated staff. It has the ambition to work as a learning platform, where young people are supported and stimulated to implement new projects and realize their own ideas.

Strategic Goals: • Provide young citizens with the tools to ex-

press and develop themselves • Support local initiatives to strengthen the community • Offer a platform for intercultural exchange • Bring local youth work to a European level Activities: For 2014 the organizations aim is to explore, stimulate and support underground cultural networks amongst European youth and thereby oppose the current trend of social and cultural isolationism.

In order to achieve this, they have activities in two programs: one focusing on young artists and one focusing on local community development.

The focus of the young artist program is to inspire young artists to cooperate actively within a European underground cultural network. Whereas the community program focuses on promoting an alternative to current social and cultural trends (like xenophobia, social exclusion, and cultural isolationism) by informing and involving the local communities in these networks.

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The Barbershop and Co is a new concept store in the center of The Hague. It’s a conscious capitalist community building, where entrepreneurs have the opportunity to show the world what they are capable of, for a small budget, henceforth a limited risk! We believe that any small business idea can grow big if given the right opportunity.

// Phone: +31 6 24604181 // E-mail: info@thebarbershopandco.nl // Site: http://www.thebarbershopandco.nl // address: Torenstraat 35a, 2513, Den haag

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KingKool The Hague City Hostel is a Young, stylish, relaxed, sustainable, design hostel with a sense of humor, an eye for details and a personal approach.

// Phone: +31 70 215 8339 // E-mail: jan@kingkool.nl // Site: http://www.kingkool.nl // address: Prinsegracht 51, 2512 EX, Den haag

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Youth Exchange “No BorderLand� had 5 participants from the following countries: the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic and Turkey. We also could count on the big help of Platform Spartak volunteers and staff.

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The final results of this project were presented in the closing exhibition on the 9th of May, Day of Europe, in the Barbershop, in Den Haag. To create the artworks for this exhibition the participants devided themselves in groups related to the areas or fields of art that they wanted to explore: photography, collage, graphic design, installation and drawing. The concept of the artworks were all based on the meaning of the/a “utopic home� and all chose different ways to look to the subject and to find answers to it.

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“Home is something that you can bring it everywhere” Diana Wynne Jones - Howl’s Moving Castle

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// video: http://vimeo.com/94771273 // soundl: https://soundcloud.com/patchanking/no-border-land-installation

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We would like to thank all the participants of “No Borderland�, our partners: King Kool Hostel, The Barbershop & CO, F.A.S.T and the Platform Spartak team all their support and contribution to this project which turned out very successful.

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All the photos present in this book are made by the participants: Ana Catarina Silva, Portugal / www.behance.net/anapeixoto // Ana Carina Silva, Portugal / /www.behance.net/AnaCarina // Aneta Bendakova, Czech Republic / www.behance.net/mancaft // Alpgiray Kelem, Turkey / www.behance.net/alpgiraykelem // Berk Suvar, Turkey / www.talenthouse.com/berksuvar // Elisa Cesaretti, Italy, / Graziano Catucci, Italy / Giacomo Pigliapoco, Italy / www.behance.net/GiacomoPigliapoco // Hugo Castro, Portugal / www.facebook.com/lojadojulio.alfarrabista // Jirka Dvorรกk, Czech Republic / www.behance.net/jiridvorak // Kubra Aslan, Turkey / www.behance.net/kubizm // Laura Pezzi, Italy / Leonor Lima, Portugal / www.behance.net/LeonorLima // Marcello Pucci, the Netherlands / Margreet Lont, the Netherlands /

Megan Miller, the Netherlands / marchien.tumblr.com // Nikola Malenovรก, Czech Republic / http://nikolamalenova.tumblr.com //

Nuno Fernandes, Portugal / facebook.com/NunoFernandesMultimedia // Petra Komรกrkovรก, Czech Republic / www. minillery.com // Petra Bejdovรก, Czech Republic / www.behance.net/mancaft // Seniha Yildiz, Turkey / Sven Kooiman, the Netherlands / Tasneem Kakal, the Netherlands / Tommaso Migani, Italy / www.behance.net/JhonnyBovalo //

Zeynep KInlI, Turkey / https://www.behance.net/zeynepkinli // Design: Sara Lima // www.behance.net/saralima

Project Youth in Action, 1.1 Youth Exchange, funded by European Union.

Hosted by Platform Spartak in Den Haag, the Netherlands.

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