Partner’s organizations

Urban Movement (Mostar)

Urban Movement Mostar has existed since 1999 while its Association was registered in June 2001, with the permanent membership of 30-50 from all over the world (France, Australia, Sweden and the U.S.A., but mainly from Mostar). Our members are students, intellectuals, workers and pensioners…

The goals of the Urban Movement are to develop critical and individual thinking, to demystify newly established national values and the media, to overcome national mythologies, to raise public awareness on the relevance of public good, and to put an end to urban devastation.

The tools used by the Urban Movement initiative are radio, television, press, literature, and various artistic actions. Urban Movement has realized numerous actions, such as the series of radio programs “Walking down the Victims of Democracy Street”, the exhibition entitled “Beauty of Reconstruction and Construction” presented in France (Chambery, Lyon and Grenoble), satirical tales, etc.

The initiative to construct the monument commemorating Bruce Lee in Mostar began with an public debate on the “Monument to Bruce Lee”, held on  July  20, 2003, on the anniversary of the death of the “man who has been simply loved by everyone”. The proponents of this initiative highlighted  that one of the reasons to build the monument was the fact that it represented, in the times when politics and ideology has poisoned all pores of everyday life, the memories of our childhood and of true human values that had nothing to do with politics and the “grand causes”. Today, when all the moral values have collapsed, when children walk around armed with guns, criminals being their role models, the monument to Bruce Lee in the heart of the City of Mostar would be a reminder of children’s dreams of a more just world where sheer force would not be the value that matters, but rather the skill, speed and will power of the man who fought for justice.

Confident of our noble mission that brings back to the streets – which it actually originated from – a popular icon, a champion of justice whose ethnic background is absolutely irrelevant to us all, we – boys and girls from the Urban Movement Mostar – see the statue of Bruce Lee, cast in bronze, in his original size and in his typical martial-art posture, set on a low podium, and with the fountain from which only those who stoop low enough to pay tribute to the great hero would be able to drink water.

“I hate to tell people that I am from Mostar since they immediately ask me whether I am from East, i.e., Bosniak, or from West,  i.e., Croat Mostar. That is one of the main reasons for building this monument. We hope that one day people would say: Yeah, I know Mostar. That’s the city with the Bruce Lee monument. (Nino Raspudić)*

*Excerpts from the texts from the www.bljesak.info website

Center for Informative Decontamination (Banja Luka)

The Center for Informative Decontamination (CID) is a non-profit, nongovernmental youth organization founded in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The role of CID is strengthening local and regional community through raising awareness for establishing modern civil society.

The CID has several branches: legal, cultural, information and online. After the Law on Free Access to Information was drafted the Center launched a campaign to inform citizens on their right to demand specific information from the local and Republic authorities. Cultural branch deals with issues like concerts, exhibitions, book promotions, round tables etc. CID is the only NGO in the region that produces the printed media (Buka magazine) dedicated to providing truthful information to the young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The majority of young designers and some of journalists, who were involved in similar projects prior to this time, joined us and actively contributed to sharpening the critical edge of our magazine. Beside BUKA Magazine we have one of the most popular web sites (www.6yka.com). The most ambitious project run at the moment is Buka TV Talk Show that is broadcast at Alternativna Televizija Banja Luka (ATV).
ATV signal covers more than four million people and according to the most recent survey Buka TV Talk Show is one of the most popular shows currently broadcast in the region.

Before we embarked on establishing the CID and projects relative to information we’d been involved in student media (we run Banja Luka University Magazine- BUM for three years). During this period we had been promoting critical thinking among students in Banja Luka and BiH, whilst at the same time we deeply supported free media and student movements from Serbia who fought against Milošević’s regime. For few consecutive years we had direct cooperation with OTPOR from Serbia, in terms of providing them media support, printing and distributing anti-regime materials, especially during the times when most of free and independent media were officially banned from work. In that respect, in order to cover Serbian market we often transferred BUM across Serbian- Bosnian border over illegal channels since that was the only possible way to get the independent news in the country. (www.6yka.com)

The Children’s Movement for Creative Education

The Children’s Movement for Creative Education is a non-profit organization that helps children and teenagers learn to overcome ignorance, hatred and violence at the personal and group level through focused academic projects and art-based curricula. Working in inner-city classrooms, we invent new approaches to standard educational material that emphasize cooperative learning and an informed understanding of world events. In schools in post-war countries we work with young people to create location-specific, culturally resonant programs that give them the opportunity to describe their experiences during and after a conflict, and through the process begin to heal. Through international presentations of artwork and writing produced in these programs, CMCE helps young people find their voice in the world and educate the global public about the consequences of war. All CMCE programs cultivate self-expression, self-awareness, collaboration, and the mutual respect needed to build a peaceful future.(www.childrensmovement.org)

Neuer Berliner Kunsverein

n.b.k. was founded in 1969 on the initiative of a group of Berlin citizens. Since then, its aim has been to introduce contemporary arts to a wide public by means of exhibitions and other forms of presentations (one of the Kunstverein’s priorities is the organization of exhibitions of contemporary art). After the reunification of the two parts of the city, these tasks have extended to cover the whole of Berlin, and the n.b.k. is seeking to make its own contribution as eastern and western districts gradually grow together in the field of culture.

In 1970 the n.b.k. founded the first Artothek (Art Library) in Germany, which lends works of art to the inhabitants of Berlin free of charge. This department also includes the Artothek mobil, which compiles and arranges thematic exhibitions mainly for schools. Our Video-Forum, which has existed since 1972, comprises a comprehensive collection of international artists’ videotapes that may be shown to interested viewers on request. The collection also includes our own productions. We have also started a CD ROM Collection.

A matter of great importance of the n.b.k. is its function as a mediator between contemporary art and the public. For this reason, we do not only organize exhibitions, but numerous supplementary programs, such as the weekly Treffpunkt n.b.k. (n.b.k. Meeting Point), which offers lectures, discussions with artists, performances and other art related activities.
The work of n.b.k. is subsidizes by the Berlin Senate Administration of Science, Research and Culture and is financed primarily by donations from the Foundation Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. (www.nbk.org)