Since 2008 Abart has been working as an
independent group based in the Youth Cultural Centre Abrašević (Mostar), and focusing
on the production and support of several art projects. Based on an open
platform model, Abart is focused primarily on research projects and the
implementation of artistic interventions in the context of Mostar. Our goal is
also to promote and establish an active collaboration among local and
international artists and organisations which adopt similar concepts in their
work.
As politically
active and engaged subjects, we take the situation of Mostar and its
polarisation as the starting point to open up a discussion about divisions and divides. We are not only interested in religious and
ethno-national separations, but rather in observing the ways in which the urban
divide affects public spaces and the everyday.
Considering the
impossibility of adopting a singular strategy to approach and deal with the
complexities of the urban reality we are embedded in, the nature of our
platform is based on the idea of socio-political engagement through innovative
cultural and artistic practices. We believe that art-based interventions hold
the potential for a critical re-thinking of given values and to open up new
perspectives in discussing forms, functions and values of public space.