Towards cultural transformation: CTM artistic productions organised across Europe

In May 2026, ZŌ Culture, led by Artists/Agents of Change Elie Laucher and Emanuele Miceli, presented the first edition of Guasta Fest in Catania, Italy.

Developed in collaboration with local cultural organisations, collectives, and community groups, the festival organised over two weekend focused on amplifying voices that are often underrepresented in cultural programming, including LGBTQIA+ communities and young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Through a diverse programme of artistic works and events, the festival created space for dialogue, reflection, and creative exchange.

The festival weekends included, among other things, dance and theatre performances, film screenings, site-specific works, and artist-led explorations of identity, memory, belonging, and social norms. The programme also incorporated Italian Sign Language (LIS) performances and interpretation.

Between October 2025 and March 2026, Artist/Agent of Change Farila Neshat led Spines: Dreams, Stories & Memories in Wood, a co-creative workshop series at Brunnenpassage. Over five months, nearly 30 participants worked with traditional woodcutting techniques to explore themes such as origin and migration, climate change, and geopolitical conflict, translating personal experiences, memories, and dreams into a shared visual language.

Throughout the workshops, participants engraved their stories onto wooden columns, creating a collective artwork that reflects diverse perspectives and lived experiences. The project explored how artistic processes can create understanding and resilience while imagining alternative forms of coexistence. The resulting installation was presented at Brunnenpassage in May 2026.

Curated by Artist/Agent of Change Lera Polyanskova, together with Ksenia Ulyanova, IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives and the Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture, a group exhibition Transit Zones was opened in May, exploring how experiences of war shape artistic practice and forms of representation.

Open until 22 August, the exhibition brings together artists serving in the Ukrainian army, civilian artists currently living in Ukraine and Ukrainian artists from the diaspora. The exhibition examines the realities of living between presence and absence, home and exile, and frontline and rear. Through a range of contemporary artistic approaches, Transit Zones reflects the condition of being "in-between" as a space where memory, trauma, and lived experience are constantly transformed and reinterpreted.

At VIERNULVIER in Ghent, Belgium, Artist/Agent of Change Mira Bryssinck developed Iemands zus (Someone's Sister), a stage work exploring how disability shapes family life.

Drawing on interviews, family conversations, collective storytelling, and documentary material, the performance series explored the delicate balance between giving and receiving care, as well as the experiences of siblings of people with disabilities.

Using fiction as an artistic tool, the work challenged dominant narratives around disability and care while creating space for more nuanced and personal perspectives. The performance unfolded as a cinematic coming-of-age story, accompanied by original music by Simon Raman, and brought together experiences of care, family relationships, and growing up alongside disability.