WHAT IS THE YOUTH EXCHANGE ABOUT ?

On this youth exchange the focus will be on graffiti and street art and how it can be used to raise awareness and create a change regarding human rights issues. We will use the issues participants highlighted for their homework as inspiration for topics to work with on this youth exchange. We will meet young graffitiartists and visit Fabrika - a main graffiti scene in Georgia. We will focus on how we can be creative and give a message with our art, and get hands on experience by being graffiti artists ourselves and creating art.

The relevant objectives:

-To promote activism and campaigning skills through creativity and non-violent action;

-To gain specific artistic skills and competences to express ourselves creatively (with focus on graffiti and street art),

Before the last youth exchange, participants will also work on different tasks and/or local initiatives in their communities. Participants will decide upon this during the youth exchange in Georgia. By this we will meet objective:

-To develop a readiness to act, sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mindset through taking part in organising local activities and public events.

We were very happy to see each other again. There were three new participants so we had some namegames to get to know each other, integrate back and integrate with them. After that we did a teambuilding game in which taught us that not all of us has the same role in the group and we needed to contribute using our specific skills and it was very important to listen to each other. Even we didn’t manage to fully complete the task, the activity was very dynamic and afterwards we had a very good and interesting discussion.

In the afternoon we split into groups and by using theatre we presented what we have done in the first phase of #ACTLAB. Later we had presentations of the local actions which happened between phases. We were all impressed that all the teams took some actions in their countries. There was also an introduction of the second phase of the project. We got to know more about the topic, programme and the place where we are. Everyone shared their feelings about their expectations, fears and contributions on the paper which we discussed and divided the roles and responsibilities between us during the whole project.

In the evening we had BBQ in the open air after which the bus took us to Tbilisi where we visited the famous Fabrika. We had a small excursion there discovering some local street-art and afterwards we walked to Bassiani club situated under Dinamo stadium. We had a very good time there.

In the conclusion we had a great start of the second phase and we are looking forward for the upcoming creative days.

Photos by: Łukasz Rogowski

We started the sessions at 12 so everyone had a chance to rest well for the important topics which were planned for the day. The theme was human rights, issues and activism in our local communities.

As the introduction there was presented current situation in Finland. We got to know about some nationalistic movements there and we watched a presentation connected to it and a movement which is against it. Just after it we had a very interesting meeting with two activists from Georgia representing the fight for “Green Tbilisi” called Guerilla Gardeners.

After the lunch we divided into country groups to discuss some issues happening in our communities and then shared it with the whole group. It was very important for each of us to see what is happening in our countries. At the end of the day we defined the concept of words “activism” and “activist”.

Photos by: Berta Martirosyan

Photos by: Łukasz Rogowski

We started the day with a silent walk to the center of Rustavi. Keeping the complete silence helped us to focus on the issues which are happening in the city and to pay attention to the details. We shared our reflections on the main square and we took a walk back.

At the beginning of next session we had a small discussion about the minorities which live in our countries. We divided into groups, each group got a topic which we had to analyze and present it by using photography – the technic we were working with during the first phase of #ACTLAB. After 20 minutes of preparation we presented our pictures and the other groups had to guess which minority it is. At the end we reflected all together about the topic of minorities.

In the afternoon graffiti artists from finish group started the topic of street art so we could learn a lot from them. We had a chance to see good examples of street art from their country and some pictures of their personal work. One of the examples was Tom of Finland who had a big influence through his art on international environment about the attitude to LGBT issues. Apart from that we saw a very good movie about finish graffiti artists where were shown different styles, attitudes and aspects connected with graffiti and street art, including the big question of legal or illegal part of it.

In the evening we had the intercultural night which we started with presentations prepared by participants about street-art in their countries. Thanks to that we learned about different topics and styles which are used in each culture. As in the first phase the participants brought some national snacks and drinks from their countries and shared it with the group.

Photos by: Ina Mikkola

Photos by: Isan Maher

Photos by: Łukasz Rogowski

4th day of #ACTLAB was mainly focused on the excursion in Tbilisi where we had free time.

Before we left we started a day with a session where Finish team taught us how to properly draw and develop graffiti letters, explaining different styles and techniques. We did not know before that there are such a lot of variations of including letters into the art. Some of them are easy to read and for some of them we really need a practice to see the text. Everybody has a chance to start drawing itself.

When we arrived in Tbilisi some of us decided to walk around the city, buy some souvenirs and observe local comunities and culture. During this time Georgian and Norwegian group leaders had meeting with municipality. After a lot of discussions we finally received a permission to paint whole underground which is located under the Heroes square. The space is three times bigger than we expected before. Knowing this little change, after the dinner in Kiwi cafe, we decided to visit the tunnel which is our future work place. Afterwards we got back to our Georgian home.

Photos by: Łukasz Rogowski

Photos by: Isan Maher

5th day of the project started with the workshop about graffiti. At the beginning, we started with a possibility to draw on paper. Several guys from Finnish group are professionals. They supported the beginners, gave them suggestions and made others' into working mood. In the beginning everyones’ face looked confused. But then all of us managed quite good graffiti-sketches (which were sent to the municipality afterwards as the confirmation which topics we are going to touch and leave on the big-wall).

After the lunch, second half of the day was dedicated to brainstorming. We were divided into groups according to the different topics in which we are mostly interested in. Among others it was: censorship, homophobia, ecological problems, gender issues, freedom of speech etc. Later in the day we worked mostly in this groups, clarifying the ideas, making bigger sketches and printing the first stencils.

Photos by: Łukasz Rogowski

#ACTLAB is becoming more and more intense. Some of the participants spent whole night cutting their stencils, everyone was motivated to start painting process as soon as possible. They helped each other a lot. In the meantime the Finnish team also prepared the temporary artificial wall (made out from a stretch foil) on which everybody had a chance to try spraycans. For many of us it was a big surprise how many factors are important during spray-painting - different brands, different type of paint, different cans, different ending, different speed, different pressure force - all of them makes different lines and different drawings.

When this work was done and after the lucnch, participants started preparation for the real wall-painting. They arrived to Tbilisi. According to the sketches and ideas the place in the underground was divided. Participants were responsible for repainting their part of the tunnel with white paint which made it ready for the final graffiti-making planned for the next day.

Photos by: Isan Maher

Photos by: Ina Mikkola

The seventh day began with an active energizer after which we moved to the bus going to our workplace in Tbilisi. We started to paint on the white walls in the tunnel that we have prepared the day before. We had a lot of spray cans provided and the great DJ joined us with his music during the workday. The day was very productive and participants helped each other with everything possible.

On the lunch break we went to the nearby restaurant and had traditional Georgian Khinkali. After the creative and hardworking day we had the famous Adjari Khachapuri served for a dinner. Then tired but very happy, we took our way back to Rustavi.

Photos by: Ina Mikkola

The last day of our project we went back to Tbilisi where we spent the most of the day on finishing our paintings. In the afternoon media visited us to record us while working, make an interview and take a group photo. Each of us received a special gift – T-Shirt with the logo of #ACTLAB. At 6pm all our works were finished, we were very happy and proud about it.

After going back to Rustavi and a small break, we gathered all together and shared our reflections from the action days. Then we divided in our country groups to discuss some future plans about what are we going to do between the second and third phase, we also shared it with the whole group. At the end we did the evaluation of all the project and we exchanged our Youthpasses. We enjoyed the last evening in Georgia and we are all really looking forward to see each other again in Norway.

Photos by: Ina Mikkola

Our graffiti now has the online version too: graffiti.actlab.info

The video-documentation of the youth exchange created by Aleksandra Mamcarz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oztnMWBiK18

The video-documentation of the youth exchange created by Nika Danelia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMJy2fQ2tE

The official photo-documentation created by Łukasz Rogowski: slickpic.us/1549597BkkU

The youth exchange is part of the long term educational project #ACTLAB - Creative Activism Laboratory, which is supported by Erasmus+ and the Norwegian NA Aktiv Ungdom. Applicant organisation is Shokkin Group Norge, hosting organisation for this youth exchange is Armenian Youth League, and partners of the project is Youth for Peace and Equality, Olemisen Balanssia ry and Fundacja Instytut Spraw Rodziny.