Thank you for joining the Parallel Traces Live Event! 

Thank you all for participating in our online event Parallel Traces- An Artistic Perspective, launched on December 1st on our YouTube channel!

This live discussion gave us a chance to go behind the scenes through the words and perspective of our Guest Artists, Coordinators, Artistic Director and Project Officer. The event provided a full vision of the Parallel Traces’ activities, especially in light of the impact of the current pandemic situation, showing how eventually this resulted in new stimuli for the project.

Our Artistic Director Rosa Juanco walked us through the genesis of the project and the propelling motivations behind it. As new technological and communication tools are so important and widespread in nowadays life, the fundamental idea was to provide a “new lens” with which to create a renewed look at Jewish Heritage, making the digital aspect the main ingredient of the project. She also highlighted her most impactful moment as Artistic Director, mentioning how artists who joined the contest were able to create and share beautiful and meaningful artworks.

The digital aspect of the project is its main strong point also according to our Project Officer, Olga Sismanindi: despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, the intrinsic audiovisual technology component of Parallel Traces allowed the project to deal with the “new normality”, and to successfully adapt to the evolving dynamics of the cultural and creative sector. Looking at future perspectives, it will be essential to continue on the path of digitization, being sure at the same time to maintain the human interaction aspect, in order to create sustainable solutions to diffuse culture and heritage.

We also had the amazing opportunity to discuss the perspective and artistic journey of two of our Guest Artists, Daniel Grünfeld and Nikola Radić Lucati. In the work of Daniel we can see and feel the relevance and presence of the time element, leaving on the images “a physical trace of what happened in those places”, creating “an actual connection” to the Jewish past. In Nikola’s photography work we find the importance of the historical memories and stories behind each place, creating a real connection between the past and the present. Quoting Danilo Kiš, Nikola remarked how we need to approach heritage as something that needs to be created every single day to ensure it will stay alive – and as AEPJ’s Director Victor Sorenssen said, “as a laboratory where we study the past to look for new experiences and meanings in the present”.

The pioneering aspect of Parallel Traces also emerges in its democratic perspective, bringing together jewish and non jewish points of view, and creating this way a common sense of heritage. As Olga Sismanindi highlighted, the powerful element of the project is the ability to create communities and connecting them, bringing a sense of belonging and of shared values and culture. Creating new channels of intercultural dialogue between different worlds plays a fundamental role in terms of promoting a better understanding and knowledge of the common european history, showing the richness of cultural diversity, added Victor Sorenssen.