Protest movements against the gold mining project in the Romanian village of Rosia Montana have mobilized tens of thousands of Romanians over the last few months. One of the main players of the grassroots movement was the NGO Alburnus Maior which triggered the Save Rosia Montana Campaign, which connects the local opposition in Rosia Montana and activists from all over Romania fighting against plans for Europe’s biggest open-cast gold mine.
Protest movements against the gold mining project in the Romanian village of Rosia Montana have mobilized tens of thousands of Romanians over the last few months. One of the main players of the grassroots movement was the NGO Alburnus Maior which triggered the ‘Save Rosia Montana Campaign‘, which connects the local opposition in Rosia Montana and activists from all over Romania fighting against plans for Europe’s biggest open-cast gold mine.
The protests have provided fertile ground for
incredible creativity and shared responsibility.
Since cultural gatherings are an exception to the law
requiring authorization for large public meetings,
cultural acts – from dance, to singing or performing
– have been part of the protests both as a means to
raise awareness and to give them the required legal
grounding.
A concrete example of the social creativity
produced during the protests is the mobile projector.
A homemade tool – made from a led torch, a magnifying
lens and two pipes – the mobile beamer helped
protesters project messages on the facades of the
buildings on the streets they marched along, inviting
people to step out from the comfort zone of their
homes and join the protest.
The ’Save Rosia Montana Campaign‘ is the biggest
environmental movement in Romania and as a
mobilizing force is a prime example of a socially
innovative project that so far has kept the plans for
the mine from being realized.
Social creativity from Cluj
The campaign was part of the workshop ’Cluj
Caravan‘ on social creativity that took place in the
western Romanian city of Cluj last month. Participants
from ten predominantly Eastern European countries
reflected on different aspects of culture and sustainability:
the resilience of the arts sector and other
value-based sectors in a climate of austerity and
shifting values; the contribution of culture to a more
responsible use of natural resources as well as the
need for sustainable alternative models for different
social and cultural practices.
The Autonomous Market of Cluj functions on the
’gift economy‘ principle, which states that goods and
services are offered without an explicit agreement or
expectations of a reward. The goal is to meet up every
month in order to create a money-free space, which is
equally free from social division.
Like in other cities, Cluj citizens have also launched
an urban gardening project. The Butterfly Garden is
part of the Urban Community Garden project which is
taking place at the moment on the rooftop of a former
industrial factory. However, the Romanian context
for the development of urban gardening as a form
of civic engagement is different from that in other
European countries. Above all else, the project aims
at promoting urban gardens as a framework for public
involvement in community life. It therefore serves as a
catalyst for civic action which is not really acknowledged
or encouraged at local or national level.
In contrast, Kitchen Stories is a project with a more
culinary approach. As a series of events it brings
together the simple act of cooking and eating with
strangers, combining this with presentations, talks,
film or screenings. The so-called ‘Mobile Kitchen’ is
a self-made minimal construction that has the main
utilities of a kitchen and acts as an open cooking
space. The kitchen is a modular space that can be
installed anywhere in the city, encouraging participants
to share the experience and interact with others,
while also learning about cooking.
“What we do through our Kitchen Stories events
is to transform the simple act of cooking that is
omnipresent in our daily lives, mostly as a common
routine, into an alibi for bringing people together
and building the bridge between life and art”, says
Corina Bucea who initiated the project. Events are
performance actions where the kitchen is used as an
open source space for sharing and creating things
together with participants.
Interestingly, over the last three years local
studies have shown that although the budget of
cultural organizations has decreased, their audiences
have grown. The explanation provided by cultural
researchers is that cultural organizations here have
managed to adapt to the difficult conditions and
optimized their ways of producing, primarily because
the cultural sector here is highly collaborative. But
how can culture contribute to imagining new models
of social interaction and organization?
Another good example of a common initiative
is Fabrica de Pensule, located in Cluj where the
workshop took place. About four years ago, a group
of sixty artists and independent cultural producers
initiated the project by renting the space of a former
paintbrush factory and transforming it into studios for
artists, galleries, and performing arts spaces. It can be
seen as a genuine bottom-up initiative born from the
demand for cheap industrial, non-central spaces where
audiences can be brought together.
It’s an impressive example of the opportunities
that conversion areas can offer. As a collective project
developed by the independent cultural scene in Cluj
it became the flagship project of contemporary arts
from Romania and it increased the cross-discipline
cooperation and the capacity of the cultural sector to
contribute to the life of the city.
Cultural network of knowledge
Most of the time, initiatives that are relevant for
social innovation are local, since they need a very
particular context to manifest as well as specific
people to be committed to certain values and open to
experiments. By mobilizing culture to the benefit of
local communities the initiative A Soul for Europe, an
organizing partner of the Cluj workshop along with
the Balkan Express Network, gives cities a European
platform.
Since its Berlin Conference in 2012 the initiative,
which comprises cultural managers as well as
intellectuals and experts from over 20 countries
across Europe, has started to focus on the way in
which culture can problematize the questions around
a sustainable way of life. This helps to translate the
local experience onto a European level: By bringing
together people working in different fields of social
innovation A Soul for Europe connects different local
experiences in a network of knowledge and encourages
a joint reflection on what sort of processes may
help Europe to reinvent itself and to shape its future.
The initiative set up a Cultural Coalition which is a new
model for collaboration based on a new approach that
connects civil society activists, artists and intellectuals,
as well as politicians, citizens and policy makers.
It is to empower citizens from all sectors of society in
building a better Europe.
In general, projects that aim at generating
alternatives for different social functions require
long-term commitment, as organizers need to work in
one and the same community for a longer period of
time to create a meaningful relationship with the local
people. In addition, artists need to show some open
mindedness, willingness to learn and even humility
during the process. Aiming to change others without
being open to the social environment could not only
be seen as arrogant but also to a certain extent as
unethical.
Participatory, innovative and open approaches
have to be reinvented constantly, and the issues that
are relevant for the respective communities have to
be identified: They must be able to create ownership
and empowerment among the members of a given
community. Interventions should be seen as a process
of value in and of itself, not simply as a result-oriented
management process. If nothing else, failure is part of
the experiment and learning.
However, there are also shortcomings to the approach
of social innovation: Most of the initiatives do
not live beyond their initial phase. Other may, but can
fail to reach a critical mass to achieve social relevance.
Often those projects don’t involve large numbers of
people and thus remain an artistically isolated and
exotic experiment. Some of the actions may scrutinize
and even challenge legality, which is of course their
role. But on the other hand they may also generate
ethical confrontations that society – or parts of it – is
not yet able to face. Ethical and ideological aspects
of such projects frequently generate controversies or
fuel discursive clashes. And last but not least, socially
innovative projects are context sensitive.
In this respect, artists and cultural contributors
believe they can play a role in the transformation of
our societies. They scrutinize today’s realities, call
their audiences to question and reflect also upon
themselves. In addition, artists imagine new models to
cope with today’s complex and dysfunctional realities
like social and economic injustice, abuse of power
or the failure of representative politics. They try to
involve a wider public in direct action. Participation
and social creativity are culturally coded skills that are
crucial for a self-determined society. This explains the
desire, especially of the cultural sector, to encourage
participation and enhance social innovation.
Creativity is not only
manifested in the art projects,
but also by means of working
together and sharing resources like
spaces, equipment, or generating
mechanisms to attract donors.
In a context where there is little
support at policy level, the capacity
of cultural organizations to create
and reinvent themselves is utterly
crucial.
Andreas Bock works with the journalist
network n-ost.
Rarita Zbranca is director of
the AltArt Foundation
Auteur: Tekst: Andreas Bock & Rarita Zbranca Andreas Bock works with the journalist network n-ost. Rarita Zbranca is director of the AltArt Foundation
