UNIVERSITAS group show – on the subject of migration and learning – is presented by AthenSYN in collaboration with Avtonomi Akadimia at TRANSEUROPA in Madrid. Participating artists are Manaf Halbouni (SY), Joulia Strauss (DE), Ahmad Alkhatieb (SY), Kalliopi Vagiannaki (GR) and Yorgos Maraziotis (GR). The formats of the UNIVERSITAS exhibition range from film, text, photography, to drawings and sculpture. The exhibition at MATADERO- curated by Yorgos Maraziotis- marks an attempt to conduct a discussion about common learning in today’s Europe with an eye to our common future.

The exhibition is part of UNIVERSITAS, the artistic research project conceived by AthenSYN and Avtonomi Akadimia, a series of artist workshops with migrants and Athenians in the refugee camps of Athens and the venues of the Athens Biennale, curated by Katja Ehrhardt. Based on the combination of culture and education through shared knowledge, it aims to create a practice- based model of a “community of teachers and learners. It develops a new form of shared knowledge, which remembers its origin as a community; and sets a new paradigm by creating a place of study and horizontal transmission of knowledge for the less privileged that demonstrates the cancellation of existing bio-political exclusion of migrants. This new paradigm is shaped into a book of stories Krytyka Polityczna Athens, edited by Joulia Strauss. This documentation of UNIVERSITAS will be presented during the festival.

TRANSEUROPA is a transnational artistic, cultural and political festival organised by European Alternatives since 2007. In the past decade, TRANSEUROPA has attracted thousands of attendees and active participants through a decentralised event structure in over a dozen European cities and a high profile moment in one city. For the 2017 edition, Convergent Spaces, the main city for TRANSEUROPA is Madrid.TRANSEUROPA is a transnational artistic, cultural and political festival organised by European Alternatives since 2007. In the past decade, TRANSEUROPA has attracted thousands of attendees and active participants through a decentralised event structure in over a dozen European cities and a high profile moment in one city. For the 2017 edition, Convergent Spaces, the main city for TRANSEUROPA is MadridThe main goals of TRANSEUROPA are to provide an innovative, transnational and open format of cultural and political debate; foster exchange, cooperation and mutual support between the participants, and serve as a point of convergence for political, artistic and civil society actors. It runs over five days and covers three main thematic (Europe as a refuge, Cities of Change and the Commons) through a mix of formats ranging from lectures, participative workshops, artistic interventions, performance, cinema, music and political debates.

The project UNIVERSITAS was conducted in collaboration with the Allianz Cultural Foundation and supported by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union.