| Kunst als Botschafter / Art as an Ambassador (Turkey / Armenia 2016) |
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Kunst als Botschafter Art as an Ambassador An Embassy Founding Project (Turkey / Armenia - since 2016)
As a friendly declaration of intend to found the until today not existing diplomatic relations between
With this project of founding diplomatic relations, first as an art intervention and herald to initiate later real embassies in both countries, they continue with the ideas and dreams of Hrant Dink about normalization of relations and to foster dialogue between Turkish and Armenian people.
It is an ongoing project combined with travels and art workshops on both sides of the closed 311 km long Turkish-Armenian border until the politicians of both countries will establish offical embassies.
In the sense of Hrant Dink, only from this moment the efforts dedicated to discuss and deal with the legacy of the Armenian Genocide can be encouraged.
With this reversible imprinted brass-plates a first travel occurred in May 2017 as a kind of mobile Embassy in Armenia and Turkey together with the children of Hrant Dink, meeting people in both countries.
Horst Hoheisel & Andreas Knitz (2016)
Istanbul / Entrance to the building of the AGOS Newspaper (former desk of AGOS) The son of Hrant Dink holds the brass plate at that place where his father was shot to death on the January 19th 2007.
Yerevan / A public space between the Embassy of France and the Embassy of Italy as a temporary place to initiate an Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Armenia
“Art as an Ambassador” / An Embassy Founding Project
Horst Hoheisel & Andreas Knitz together with the Hrant Dink Foundation
Since nobody can cross the 311 km border between the neighbor countries Turkey and Armenia (as an impact and due to prevailing political situation, since 1993 there is no diplomatic relationship between both countries) the artists Horst Hoheisel and Andreas Knitz announced the Embassy Founding Project “Art as an Ambassador” in 2016.
After the first travel in May 2017 through Armenia, by carrying the brass-plates with us, the plates were permanently installed at the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory in Istanbul.
Now the plates are shown at the new temporary exhibition in Yerevan, waiting for a permanent place to be mounted, which might be the precursor of the Embassy of Turkey in Armenia.
The next step of this project will be – because no one can cross the border – that a group of people from Armenia, Turkey and other countries, will travel around this border and they will encircle the border. From Yerevan to the north, to Georgia where we pass the Armenian-Georgian border (Bavra), continuing to the Georgian-Turkish border (Türgözü), following the borderline southwards until the group will travel via the Iranian-Armenian border (Agarak) back to Yerevan. It will be a group of artists, sociocultural workers, translators and members of the Hrant Dink Foundation in a group-size of around 15 people.
It will be a Travelling Workshop – a kind of Mobile Embassy – where the group will give real-time feedback via social media about all the meetings at the different stages and places, where there will be performances, political statements, meetings with regional politics, mayors and people that live close to the 311 km long border – on both sides.
We will carry the brass-plates with us again and declare every place where we are as an embassy.
The Project “Mobile Embassy” can be planned for April / May 2023
Our mission and aim:
Following the ideas and mission of Hrant Dink to establish political and diplomatic relations as well as to encourage dialogue and normalization between both countries Turkey and Armenia, we are continuing to initiate embassies, first with art and cultural interventions.
The purpose of the Embassy Founding Project is that 110 years after the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, so at least in 2025, there should be established real Embassies and Consulates in both countries, Turkey and Armenia.
This project will foster the AGOS – the seed-furrow – with the already planted seed.
Andreas Knitz and Horst Hoheisel
March 2022
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