A lecture performance by Rabih Mroué (65 min, english) explores the image politics of ISIS videos in contrast with videos shot by drones. Based on research material comprised of recruitment videos secured by officers of the German Intelligence Services, Mroué asks not only what these videos reveal about their producers or the videos’ capacity to document killing, but also questions the politics inherent in dealing with these videos from the point of view of the state and the general public.

Written and presented by Rabih Mroué
Director: Rabih Mroué
Collaboration Research: Andrea Geißler
Translation to English: Ziad Nawfal
Translation to German: Lisa Wegener
Subtitles: Yvonne Griesel
Assistant: Petra Serhal
Special thanks to: Maria Magdalena Ludewig, Lina Majdalanie and Bilal Khbeiz

Produced by Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, as part of the project “100 years of present”, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in Germany.
Co-production with the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

Led by Palestinian musician Ramzi Abu Redwan, founder of Al Kamandjâti, this session explores music as a vital force for endurance, identity, and resistance in conflict-affected regions. Drawing from his experience bringing music education to communities under pressure, Ramzi will share how music goes beyond mere survival. The session offers a space to reflect on the daily challenges of maintaining artistic integrity in times of war, and how making music becomes a profound act of creative resistance that holds communities together.

Led by Krzysztof Czyczewski of the Pogranicze (Borderland) Foundation in Poland and Moldovan practitioner Rusanda Alexandru, this session examines how localised, small-scale cultural spaces foster dialogue and build communities. Drawing directly from practical experiences in Poland and Moldova, the workshop presents concrete examples of how small centres integrate art and popular culture into peacebuilding practices. Participants will explore how these local spaces engage with regional dynamics and sustain peace-oriented practices within their communities.

Since 2023, Eco’Band, initiated by Fundação MUSIARTE  in collaboration with Fundação Hakuna Matata, has engaged communities, children and young people in Cabo Delgado and Maputo through music, creative expression and the making of instruments from discarded and locally available materials, in contexts affected by conflict and displacement.

Participants will reflect on how artistic practice transforms people and relationships, strengthens community agency, and sustains creative processes, while addressing tensions between funding, local ownership and long-term peacebuilding legacy.

The 90-minute participatory workshop will introduce the Eco’Band experience through tangible artistic elements, such as a handmade instrument, artwork or audiovisual excerpts, followed by a collective reflection. Participants will explore the four dimensions of change, reflecting on what can be recognised, what remains difficult to assess, and what enables artistic processes to continue beyond external funding.

This hands-on, two-part working group explores how the toolkits of peace mediation and artistic practice can be conceived, designed, and deployed jointly. It focuses on a horizontal, reciprocal exchange of practical methodologies.
Both peace mediators and artists work in the realms of communication, relationship-building, systemic shifts, and the processing of complex, often unspeakable, narratives. By bringing together professionals from different fields, this workshop serves as an initial collaborative laboratory to map out overlapping tools. Participants and contributors will explore how artistic methods (such as non-verbal communication, metaphor, relational play, and sensory exercises) and formal mediation frameworks (such as systemic questioning, reframing, and structured dialogue) can learn from each other.

Peace dialogue processes frequently hit predictable sticking points where communication stalls, positions harden, or language reaches its limits. Taking these recurring, difficult moments as its starting point, this two-part working group brings peace mediators and artists together to work collectively through real-world case studies. Rather than exploring abstract frameworks, participants will analyse specific deadlock scenarios from mediation practice and test how artistic methods—such as non-verbal communication, metaphor, and relational exercises—can help reframe, redefine, and work through these sticking points in conflict regions.

This working group session sets out to explore the practical realities of socially engaged arts practice in conflict and post-conflict settings. Drawing on the experience of socially engaged arts practitioners working across diverse contexts, the conversation will focus on how artistic practice is shaped by the realities of conflict and its aftermath, and how these conditions influence creative approaches to building relationships with communities, navigating ethical questions, and contributing to longer-term processes of social change and collective healing. Rather than debating or justifying the role of art, the session starts from the premise that artistic and cultural practice does have an important role to play in conflict-affected societies. We are particularly interested in hearing about your own experiences and approaches: how you work with communities living through conflict and its aftermath; how you navigate the challenges, responsibilities, and complexities within your practice; and what you have learned from working in these contexts over time. The focus is therefore on understanding how this work happens in practice, examining the approaches, methodologies, and orientations that shape artistic engagement with communities under stress. The session also aims to incorporate a practical and interactive dimension, inviting participants to engage in discussion, share perspectives, and contribute to a collective process of reflection and meaning-making.

As part of the ELIA Dialogue Series Higher Education in Times of Conflict, this session explores museums and art schools as spaces for collective learning, dialogue and engagement with complexity. As society undergoes rapid transformation, institutions must strengthen their capacity to learn and to engage with their audiences in order to remain relevant and resilient. In a world shaped by conflict, acknowledging and conveying complexity has never been more essential.

Drawing on concrete examples - exhibitions on humanitarian action, the collaboration between the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and HEAD – Genève, and the perspective of a student from Zurich University of the Arts - participants will discuss how to engage with this complexity, and how art objects can open up spaces for dialogue and collective learning.

Together, participants will consider how museums and art schools can become active spaces for navigating conflict and complexity: enabling different perspectives to meet, dominant narratives to be questioned, and new forms of collective understanding to emerge.

Led by Moldovan curator and artist Vladimir Us (co-founder of the Oberliht Association) and Armenian artist and project manager Shoghakat Mlke-Galstyan, this session explores how grassroots cultural initiatives build the practical groundwork for peace. Drawing directly on Oberliht’s work with public space, independent cultural infrastructure and civic engagement in Moldova, in conjunction with Mlke-Galstyan’s artistic and community-based practices in Armenia, the workshop examines how site-specific artistic actions claim public presence and maintain democratic and relational spaces in conflict-affected environments across Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus.

Led by Maja Leo and Mir Mubashir from the Berghof Foundation, this session explores the practical intersections of artistic methods and peace mediation. Drawing on Berghof’s experience in international conflict transformation and mediation support, the workshop examines how creative, non-verbal, and process-oriented approaches can be integrated into mediation practice. Participants will discuss how artistic tools can help address sensitive conflict dynamics, reframe stalled conversations, and expand what formal and informal peace dialogues can hold.

Continuation of A4

Grounded in artasfoundation’s work in Abkhazia¹, specifically the Rethinking Digital Engagement project, this workshop examines how ephemeral artistic formats can counter artistic and geopolitical isolation. Led by artist and project manager Olivia Jaques alongside contributors from SKLAD_ cultural space (Sukhum/i), the session investigates how digital tools create unexpected spaces for dialogue, creative presence, and connection across restricted borders. Hosted alongside an in-room digital exhibition featuring works by Abkhaz artists, participants will collectively reflect on the potentials and limitations of art practice in sustaining relational spaces under conditions of isolation.

¹artasfoundation would like to underline that its use of names and titles particularly in regards to conflict regions should not be understood as implying any form of recognition or non-recognition by the foundation or as having any other political connotation whatsoever.