Mobile.culture.container
mobile.culture.container was a media and reconciliation project for young people in the Yugoslav war affected cities of the former Yugoslavia . Between 2001 and 2003 the project visited 14 cities for six weeks each. After each individual visit, borders were again crossed into another country. After the Balkan Wars, the aim of the project was to bring young people from different ethnic groups back together. They should be encouraged to re-create their future together. The project was carried out by the Vienna Fund Defense of Our Future .
prehistory
The initiator of the project and the fund was the German politician and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Freimut Duve , who had got to know similar activities in South America. His original idea was to set up a hiking high school in the Balkans . In 1999, European foreign ministers adopted the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe in order to counter the consequences of the war in former Yugoslavia. Duve took this up to promote the idea of a youth free of hate and prejudice.
concept
With the establishment of the Fund Defense of our Future in Vienna and the recruitment of some ambassadors to the OSCE in Vienna and some Austrian politicians, the foundations were laid. The German Achim Koch became director of the fund and head of the later project. In terms of content, the young people should be brought together primarily through the use of various media such as school newspapers, radio, video, and the Internet. In addition, joint dance, music or theater evenings and discussions should promote their rapprochement. In the future, mobile.culture.container should only travel to cities if the mayor has only received an invitation.
logo
The logo The Hand of the Writer was given to the OSCE Office Duves and the Fund by Günter Grass . He used it as a cover graphic for his story Das Treffen in Telgte , which deals with the time immediately after the Thirty Years' War .
staff
In addition to the fund director and project manager, the staff should come from all the countries that the project was to visit. All religions should also be represented.
technology
The technical concept of mobile.culture.container comprised sixteen containers that were set up in a circle and spanned by a tent roof. The containers were assigned to various media activities. The interior of the ensemble was laid out with a stage floor and equipped with event technology.
financing
On the basis of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg were won over for the financing. Liechtenstein, Norway, Austria, Spain and the Czech Republic later joined. The Allianz Kulturstiftung , KulturKontakt Austria , mobilkom Austria and VW AG were among the private sponsors.
implementation
The opening of the project took place in May 2001 in Tuzla ( Bosnia and Herzegovina ). It then visited Osijek in Croatia , Čačak in Serbia and Goražde in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2002 followed Mostar and Banja Luka in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Skopje and Bitola in Macedonia , Mitrovica in Kosovo and Novi Pazar in Serbia, in 2003 then Brcko , finally again Gorazde, Mitrovica and Mostar. During the tour, a large network of national and international NGOs , embassies, OSCE offices, UN agencies and the media had formed. In terms of content, the work has been continuously developed. With radio future, the young people produced regular radio broadcasts, but also television reports and films. In each place, mostly multilingual school newspapers, photo and art exhibitions, fashion shows, theater performances, music events and discussion evenings with writers, representatives of the United Nations or OSCE on human rights, the European question, the future relationship of the new states in the Balkans, but above all about the future of youth. The gathering of young people from Goražde and Višegrad , from the Bosniak and Croatian districts of Mostar and the Albanian and Serbian districts of Mitrovica was particularly outstanding .
effect
In July 2003, the project was completed in Mostar as planned. Several thousand young people from all ethnicities of the former Yugoslavia took part in the activities together. For many, this set the course for their future. Mobile.culture.container had also become an influential chapter in their lives for the employees and local supporters. The hardware was handed over to the Abrasevic youth center in Mostar. Parts of it are still used today.
See also
literature
- Günter Grass, The Meeting in Telgte, 1994
- Freimut Duve, Nenad Popovic, In Defense of the Future. Searching in the Minefield, Vienna 2000
- Freimut Duve, Achim Koch, defense of our future. Youth after the war, Vienna 2001
- Freimut Duve, Achim Koch, defense of our future. mobile.culture.container 2001, Vienna 2001
- Freimut Duve, Achim Koch, We are defending our Future, Vienna 2003
- Freedom and Responsibility. Yearbook 2001/2002, OSCE, Vienna 2002
- Freedom and Responsibility. Yearbook 2002/2003, OSCE 2003